Should I abandon my design and use Dreamweaver 8 templates?

[Travis Newbury]

Having it doesn't mean you use it.

bla bla bla bla bla

 

[Krusty]

Yes, but what a web deigner values in the look of a site is often not what
the user values.

Then that's a VERY bad "designer".

 

[Jose]

Then that's a VERY bad "designer".

Alas, all too common.

Jose

 

[xyZed]

There is circumstantial evidence that on Wed, 15 Feb 2006 17:35:45

› > See you make the assumption that viewers don't want to be awed too.
›
› Yes, I make that assumption. I don't think it's unreasonable that the
› view of a site is different from designer to user... in most cases a web
› site is =about= a thing, and not the thing itself. But for the web
› designer, it =is= the thing itself.

I think the truth is somewhere in between. I agree that a substantial
percentage of web designers over design and are motivated mostly by
showing(off) what they can do. They need to produce something that
looks designed, even (and often) at the expense of content and
usability.

At the same time, a site that looks amateurish can lose credibility
with a substantial amount of visitors. Personally, I aim for something
that looks well designed in the sense of nicely laid out and easy to
use, but with content being the revered king. I think users looking
for "information" just want to see nicely laid out, easily accessible
content and anything else just gets in the way.

--

Free washing machine help and advice.

www.washerhelp.co.uk

www.xyzed.co.uk/newsgroups/top-posting.html

 

[dorayme]

At the same time, a site that looks amateurish can lose credibility
with a substantial amount of visitors. Personally, I aim for something
that looks well designed in the sense of nicely laid out and easy to
use, but with content being the revered king. I think users looking
for "information" just want to see nicely laid out, easily accessible
content and anything else just gets in the way.

Could not agree more. I think the (largely unspecified) studies
that Travis uses to suggest to the OP that he might well abandon
or modify his designs and look to fancier templates needs to be
taken with a big dose of salt, as are many market research
projects. When someone goes to a site with a problem about a
washing machine, I would likely bet quids against the conclusions
of web based stats (mind you, I would need to see them and know
how they based their samples, their methodology etc and no, I am
not going to research this matter, it is extremely complicated in
fact).

 

[xyZed]

I've just used a few parts of the template and tried to keep the same
feel to the site. Currently the home page and a few of the main
sections are the new design while the rest of the site is the old
tabbed design.

I hope people think it is an improvement.

--

Free washing machine help and advice.

www.washerhelp.co.uk

www.xyzed.co.uk/newsgroups/top-posting.html

 

[dorayme]

I've just used a few parts of the template and tried to keep the same
feel to the site. Currently the home page and a few of the main
sections are the new design while the rest of the site is the old
tabbed design.

I hope people think it is an improvement.

It looks nice. Washing suds blue eh? Why not post a link to how
it did look before to remind us?

 

[xyZed]

There is circumstantial evidence that on Mon, 20 Feb 2006 14:40:56

› In article <[email protected]>,
›
› > I've just used a few parts of the template and tried to keep the same
› > feel to the site. Currently the home page and a few of the main
› > sections are the new design while the rest of the site is the old
› > tabbed design.
› >
› > I hope people think it is an improvement.
›
› It looks nice. Washing suds blue eh? Why not post a link to how
› it did look before to remind us?

Thanks. The home page and each of the four main sections have the new
right nav design but most of the rest of the site is still the old
(tabbed) design.

--

Free washing machine help and advice.

www.washerhelp.co.uk

www.xyzed.co.uk/newsgroups/top-posting.html