5 Questions to Ask When Evaluating a Web Site Design

By Joshua on March 31 2008

Photo by ecstatisist (license)

It is pretty common to hear web designers complain about clients' not understanding good web design. Sometimes the complaints are justified. But many times the problem isn't the client but the designer's failure to educate them about what constitutes good web design.

And there are also times when, despite all odds, a web designer might just be wrong.

In all of these situations, it is important to have a clear set of questions to ask so that both web designers and clients can evaluate a design objectively. Here are five such questions.

1. Does the design get in the way of the content?

Everyone says "content is king," but if the design is getting in the way of the content, then someone doesn't really believe it.

The most basic test for most web sites is whether the content is easily readable. If the design is so crowded and overwhelming that reading becomes a chore, then the design is almost certainly a failure regardless of how impressive the graphics are.

Another test is whether interaction with the website is easy, intuitive, and conforms with conventions. One of the most common offenders in this area are Flash portfolios which use "innovative" navigation. If the interaction prevents people from finding site content, then it is time to head back to the drawing board.

2. Does the design support the theme and tone of the content?

Once the design has gotten out of the way, the question is whether the design actually supports the content. For example, a medical website would probably be quite safe with medical blues and greens.

But that doesn't mean that all medical websites should be the same. An academic journal should look considerably different than a blog about amusing medical accidents.

The design's color and overall style should support both the theme and tone of the content.

3. Is the design appropriate for the audience?

This question follows naturally from the last, but is a bit different. Consider the case of a sophisticated website with an elegant, minimalist design in shades of gray. The only problem is that they are targeting the 50+ crowd, many of whom who can't make out the gray on gray type.

Even though the design supports the content, and might be perfectly fine for most 25 year olds, it isn't appropriate for their audience.

4. Does the design emphasize the most important content?

In web design, all content is not created equal. People have a limited amount of time and attention, and a good design will help ensure that it is directed to the most important content.

The question, of course, is what content is the most important? This will vary from site to site, but for a blog it is usually the most recent article or the most popular posts. For an ecommerce site it might be current specials or the latest product.

A good design will help these things to stand out from the crowd.

5. Can the design accommodate future growth?

Many websites are given a design which serves its initial needs quite well. But over time as more content is added or the site grows beyond its original specifications, the design no longer works as well as it used to.

This is especially common in navigation. A structure which works very well for navigating a handful of pages quickly becomes unwieldy for navigating dozens.

Another common problem is the use of inflexible technologies, such as Flash or static HTML. Both of these have their place, but if a site is going to be updated even semi-regularly, they quickly turn out to be much more trouble than they initially seemed.

Do you have more good questions to ask? A disagreement with one of mine? Let me know in the comments!