The Good, the Bad & the Ugly in Web Design January 16, 2007

At a basic level, a "good" web design would communicate its purpose in a clear, logical, and aesthetically pleasing manner. It would have symmetry, balance, categorization headers and assistance tools to aid in navigation. Williams refers to these as the "four basic design principles" - contrast, alignment, proximity and repetition. A "good" design allows the reader to glean the necessary content and to then, use that content to make connections to themselves and the real world.It is difficult to navigate a page whose data extends too far to the left or to the right - far outside the marginal view of the screen/window. Scrolling to the left or to the right to continue reading text feels "unnatural" to the pattern of (web) reading I've become accustomed to. When reading a text or novel the words and images or graphics are confined to the marginal limits. However, "bad" designs (although sometimes unintentional) don't have to follow such conventions because novices, like myself, can create sites seen by millions in seconds. Whereas, those millions may or may not read from the same book or novel if print media were the focus.Along the "bad" design continuum are the sites I consider "ugly." Perhaps this doesn't fall academically under the four design principles, but these sites violate another set of more important principles - moral principles. Sites that feature child molestation, child pornography or sites that fail to censor solicitation of minors are "ugly" in my opinion, no matter how much alignment, proximity, repetition or contrast they have! This is one reason I have such issues with sites my students often invite me to, like MySpace or Facebook - I know that many of them are vulnerable, naive, needy young women seeking love and attention from anyone or everyone, oftentimes, in negative ways. I wish there was legislation or some sort of monitoring board, similar to the FCC to control internet crime and sexual perversion. It's one thing to offer adults the option to appease their fetishes (similar to those that were used to renting or buying videotapes, pay-per-view and/or playboy in the ,60's,70's, 80's and 90's), but it's another thing to not protect our children. How hypocritical was it for the American public to be appalled by the Janet Jackson-Justin Timberlake incident at the Superbowl when the nation's youth see worse filth in the music videos, video games and on the internet? We need to be conscious of the kinds of messages/lessons we are teaching our youth about ethical internet use and how to discern what's appropriate and safe and what's not - even when their hormones tell them otherwise.In creating this site and the one using Comcast.net, it became clear that Task Stream had the superior software application. Of course, a more advanced site could be achieved by utilizing Dream Weaver software offered at my school, but unfortunately time didn't allow for me to learn it in a few days and I had not taken time the last 6 years to learn along with past student bodies. Initially, I sought to utilize AOL but found that feature to be discontinued. I found Task Stream's tools to be fun and easy to use. Although the limited style and color options were disappointing, I am pleased with the end result. I felt that I was limited in my ability to have 100% control of the four basic design principles due to the pre-determined confines of the software.