The KISS Principle for Websites
by Robyn Harton
Jumping, jiving, flashing, shrieking, in your face
websites are not what work best on the web. What actually
works, whether it's for selling things or giving
information, is the old KISS principle.
Keep It Simple Stupid
OK, you're not stupid. You could get caught up in the
flash and dazzle though, when planning your website. It's
easy to do. You get emails and see sites that tell you
how
wonderful your site would be with this fancy gizmo or
other.
Web gizmos don't get visitors, though. And web gizmos
sure don't keep visitors. Of course there are the rare
exceptions, but generally this is true.
So keep it simple.
In particular beware of things that
1) Weigh down your download time.
Things like Flash or extreme graphics can do that
2) Require plug-ins to view.
Vistors may or may not have that plug-in and most won't
go
download it if they don't have it.
3) Don't work on most browsers.
You can't force people to use the latest browsers. It's
a
waste of effort to try.
If you keep it simple, chances are you will reach more
visitors and keep them there to see your content.
