What Works Online?
Skip Intro, Please!.

Ease of navigation and organizational clarity have become primary for Web users pressed for time. Long animated introductions no longer amuse viewers who want to locate information quickly.

"If your art is exciting and competent, a simple, straightforward presentation has the most appeal," says illustrator Ilene Winn-Lederer. She thinks gimmicks are often "used as a foil for mediocre work."

One might say that Jennifer Wilkerson of Aurora Design in Niskayuna, N.Y., has seen it all. Over the past year she looked at hundreds of sites in an effort to locate a firm to carry out the Guild's branding effort. "Between branding and posting my own site, I really scoured the Web." What keeps her coming back to a site? "Information. A resource of articles and other writings that I can refer to. I don't like having to scroll. I don't like music. I don't like waiting for long animations. I like orderly navigation."

Jeff Yas, a graphic designer in Brooklyn, N.Y., makes the point even more directly. "If a viewer is paying attention to the design of a site, something's wrong." Yas goes on: "People really read. They're more interested in the content than the design." He tailored his site, jeffyas.com, to smaller organizations that need Web maintenance or a design tune-up. The feedback he gets confirms that he's hitting the mark with a focus on content, not coolness. Recently, he received his first unsolicited assignment directly attributed to his Web presence.

Santa Monica, Calif., graphic designer Ilene Weingard recently revamped her site, idsla.com, to simplify the navigation. She cut copy and made the portfolio easier to get to. She also added a client-only area to make viewing artwork easier on her clients. Because much of her work is viewed by client teams, she can send an e-mail to them linking to the password-protected section of her Web site without sending pesky attachments.

"There's always someone who can't open a file," explains Weingard. "We would have to resend the file, and it just took longer before we had the client-only area." By going to a dedicated area on the site to view presentations, Weingard can be sure she and the client are all on the same page.

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What Works Online?
Contents:

Introduction

Building Relationships

Feeding the Beast

Linking Up

Skip Intro, Please!

Chapters Help Drive Traffic