Web Design Ideas > Top Ten Design Thoughts & Ideas

From Jakob Nielsen's excellent book, "Designing Web Usability", Simplicity in Web Design.  Visit www.useit.com.

Instead of impoverished facsimiles of reality, design from a basis of strength and go beyond realities to things that were impossible in the physical world.  It is painful to use the Web, so reward users by giving them something new and better that they didn't get before.

Here's your Top Ten list, just like David Letterman:

Web Design Idea #10

• Be non-linear.  Don't force users to live through a stream of time that they can't control.

Web Design Idea #9

• Customize service.  Computers can do different things for different people.

Web Design Idea #8

• Be asynchronous.  A customized link to check the status of an order allows a customer to resume a "conversation" many hours later without spending any time on re-establishing context.

Web Design Idea #7

• Support anonymity.  If people don't have to reveal who they are, they may be more willing to do certain things.

Web Design Idea #6

• Link liberally.  Links are the foundation of the Web and can make anything into an extension of your own service.

Web Design Idea #5

• Support search and multiple views.  Different people have different preferences, and there is no need to be limited to a single way of doing things on the Web.

Web Design Idea #4

• Be small and cheap.  Because of the efficiencies of computers, it is possible to deal in smaller units than before.

Web Design Idea #3

• Be free.  It costs very little to offer free samples over the Web, so a book publisher could offer a free chapter and a consultant could offer free advice on some frequently asked questions (while charging for the full product or service, of course).

Web Design Idea #2

• Ignore geography.  Support users who access your site from home, the office, the car, while away on business trips or vacations, and from anywhere in the world.

Web Design Idea #1

Contact us.  And take a tour around this web, lots of helpful info here.  If you need help with web design, search engine optimization or internet marketing that goes beyond your website, we are at your service.

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