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The Principles of Beautiful Web Design
The Principles of Beautiful Web Design
<strong>Users recognize each page as belonging to the site</strong>
<strong>Users can move about easily via intuitive navigation</strong>
<p>The most important thing to keep in mind is that design is about communication. If you create a web site that works and presents information well, but looks ugly or doesn't fit with the client's brand, no one will want to use it. Similarly, if you make a beautiful web site that isn't usable and <a href="http://www.sitepoint.com/%5C%22/glossary.php?q=A#term_61%5C%22" class="\&quot;glossary\&quot;" title="\&quot;Accessibility" deals="" with="" issues="" of="" making="" online="" content="" available="" for="" experience,="" enjoyment,="" and="" use="" by="" all="" visitors,="" including="" those="" who="" do="" not="" fit="" the="" standard="" &quot;web="" user&quot;="" mould.\="">accessible</a> <span class="tiny">[7]</span>, people may not be able to use it. Indeed, the elements and functionality of a finished web site design should work as a single cohesive unit, so that:</p> <p><strong>Users are pleased by the design but drawn to the content</strong></p>
·sitepoint.com·
The Principles of Beautiful Web Design
Blasting the Myth of the Fold - Boxes and Arrows: The design behind the design
Blasting the Myth of the Fold - Boxes and Arrows: The design behind the design
Screen performance data and new research indicate that users will scroll to find information and items below the fold.
<p>The most basic rule of thumb is that for every site the user should be able to understand what your site is about by the information presented to them above the fold. If they have to scroll to even discover what the site is, its success is unlikely.</p> <p>Functionality that is essential to business strategy should remain (or at least begin) above the fold.</p>
·boxesandarrows.com·
Blasting the Myth of the Fold - Boxes and Arrows: The design behind the design
Blind users still struggle with 'maddening' computing obstacles
Blind users still struggle with 'maddening' computing obstacles
Computerworld article on the minimal progress made in assistive technology and accessible design. Vista is substantially less accessible than Windows 3.1, for example; there are actions in Vista which cannot be done with a keyboard.
<p id="first_paragraph"> Put your graphical user interface to this test: Adjust the contrast on your display until the screen is completely black. </p> <p>Now, perform basic e-mail, word processing and Web-browsing tasks.</p> <p>What? Having a problem?</p> <p>Welcome to the world of the 1.3 million Americans who are blind.</p>
·computerworld.com·
Blind users still struggle with 'maddening' computing obstacles
Make Your Blog Design Work For You | chrisbrogan.com
Make Your Blog Design Work For You | chrisbrogan.com
Design ideas from someone who says that every part of his blog design is intentional. It may not be perfect, but he's thought about all the elements and how they help him accomplish his goals. Some of this is visual design, but a lot of it is general usability and effectiveness.
·chrisbrogan.com·
Make Your Blog Design Work For You | chrisbrogan.com
Sakai 3 Proposal
Sakai 3 Proposal

Vision for what Sakai could look like in the future. The authors envision an LMS based on widgets with lots of flexibility, social networking, and content creation tools. The proposed changes to the organization (doing away with sites) would make Sakai much more flexible outside of a traditional academic course environment. The ability to have groups persist outside of courses would allow cohorts to be part of a group together, which creates some interesting possibilities.

"In summary, our ambition is not merely an incremental improvement of Sakai nor is it to copy Google. Our goal is not simply to create a better and cheaper version of Blackboard. It is time to arrive at a clearer understanding of the capabilities that represent needs unique to education and for the Sakai community to focus its development effort on providing these capabilities while taking advantage of established open‐source efforts to provide more generic capabilities. We should, in short, strive to create a different type of academic collaboration system."

·mkorcuska.files.wordpress.com·
Sakai 3 Proposal
A List Apart: Articles: In Defense of Eye Candy
A List Apart: Articles: In Defense of Eye Candy
Why aesthetics are important to web design (and by extension, online learning)--we shouldn't approach visual design as an add on, but a core part of the design
According to a <a href="http://www.consumerwebwatch.org/news/report3_credibilityresearch/stanfordPTL.pdf">2002 study</a>, the “appeal of the overall visual design of a site, including layout, typography, font size, and color schemes,” is the number one factor we use to evaluate a website’s credibility.
Researchers in Japan setup two ATMs, “identical in function, the number of buttons, and how they worked.” The only difference was that one machine’s buttons and screens were arranged more attractively than the other. In both Japan and Israel (where this study was repeated) researchers observed that subjects encountered fewer difficulties with the more attractive machine. The attractive machine actually <em>worked</em> better.
·alistapart.com·
A List Apart: Articles: In Defense of Eye Candy