Elizabeth Boling, Barbara Bichelmeyer, Kurt Squire, and Sonny Kirkley
Elizabeth Boling, Barbara Bichelmeyer, Kurt Squire, and Sonny Kirkley
The slide version of this article, a simplified set of pages, was actually presented at the conference. The slide version pages proceed in sequential order ... simply click on the AMTEC logo at the bottom of each page to go to the next slide. The logo at the top of each page will bring you back here.
Millions of World Wide Web users are accessing terrabytes of information from the Web today. Many of us in the field of instructional technology find ourselves responsible for designing the pages on which that information resides. Most designers are expected to use the page layout and graphics capablilities of the Web, and many search the Web itself for guidance when making decisions about visual design for Web pages.
We have assembled a collection of Web Design Guidelines, which continues to grow every time we search the Web or even stumble onto a new site with another list of links to guidelines. Many individual guidelines pages are well-organized and helpful, but taken collectively the accumulated guidelines are --
- overwhelming,
- redundant,
- context-free,
- confusing,
- sometimes contradictory, and
- occasionally erroneous.
This study is based on the assumption that decisions about the visual design of a Web page or site should be influenced primarily by the goals of the site. The authors hope to reduce confusion for Web page designers by developing a set of profiles based on the purpose of the Web site, and to construct a meaningful framework for making appropriate decisions regarding the visual design of Web pages.
Last updated 9 June 1997
URL: http://www.indiana.edu/~iirg/RESEARCH/AMTEC97/main.html
