Simplicity and Efficiency

Two rules can sum up this chapter:

Do not make things more complicated than they have to be.

Do not waste your visitor's time with unnecessary pages, elements that do not work, or features

that are awkward to use.

Flash animations, video, sound, and complex coding that adds glitz to the page is almost always unnecessary.

There are very few sites where those features enhance the site without having a negative effect that outweighs

the benefit. They are only appropriate where the business is highly contemporary, the majority of site visitors

using newer computers and high speed internet, and where there is a healthy budget to support them (high end

or complex features invariably cost more initially, make it more expensive to market the site, and then cost more

to maintain).

Most of the time, a simple, attractive design, which functions predictably, with simple coding and

familiar navigation will get you further than a site with cool features which slow down the site and annoy

the visitors.

Simplicity is also the key to cost containment for businesses on a strict budget.

Simplicity does NOT mean it is

not professional!

In fact, simple sites can be quite elegant, and can contain a high degree of professionalism.

When site options are being considered, it is wise to choose the least complicated method of achieving a

satisfactory result. Generally, the more complicated the plan, the more expense is involved, and the more things

can go wrong with it. Choosing simple solutions costs less in the short term, takes less long term maintenance,

and is almost always more predictable and functional for the visitor.

This is not to say that complex features are not ever needed. They can be, but they are not usually

necessary for the average small business.

And for those who DO need them, they often need just a single

high end feature set, and not the same kind of solutions that large corporations use.

Website features are

scalable to any level of need, and good assessment at the outset of what you need now, and where you

are going, will keep your site working well, without undue annoyances.

I've been on sites that wasted my time with Flash intros that told me nothing, home pages that said nothing but

“click to enter” (I already DID that!), and useless pages in the site that had no real reason for their existence. I've

used search functions that failed to return a single useful result (and these were not mom and pop sites either,

they are sites that are major information sources getting millions of hits per month). I visited a major chain store

site once where the menu rolled off below the bottom of the screen, and the designer had put in a “no scroll”

command so I could not even SEE the other options. Every single one of them earned a fervent promise on my

part to NEVER go back!

Some mistakes occur because the designer and owner view the site on large monitors with fast internet, and

never consider how it might function on lesser equipment. Some occur because some designers think that newer

and more complex is always better – and some occur because someone just learned a new trick and wants to

show it off.

Many errors in function happen from using templates that are old and outdated, or which were created without

actual practicality in mind. FrontPage templates were notorious for producing badly functioning sites. Some

DreamWeaver templates are also full of unnecessary features which fail to work correctly in the variety of

situations that they are needed in.

People really do appreciate a fast, efficient site, more than a cumbersome, awkward, badly functioning one.

If

you make it easy for them to get what they want, they'll stick around and come back.

If you annoy them,

they won't, unless they have absolutely no other choice (and then you have an angry customer!).

Keep it simple, and keep it predictably functional. It will save you more, and earn you more.