[Sigia-l] seeking rules

[Scott, Josephine (J.S.)]

Christina asked

Hey all, 
I'm seeking "rules of web design" that are absolute and erroneous in their
over-simplicity. Such as "users don't read" "users don't scroll" "Have only
seven links on a page" and so on.
Anyone have any of these (anecdotes not necessary, but always welcome for
entertainment value) 
thanks! 


christina wodtke 
http://www.boxesandarrows.com 



Some reactions - 
 
1.  Cool.  Looks good to me.
2.  I agree with that one too.
3.  Animated GIFs are bad.  They are annoying and basically useless.  I have
yet to see an animated GIF that added so much to a site that it could not be
replaced by a static image.
4.  I love flash but it still has a way to go before it becomes truly
useful.  Its still just a toy.
5.  They are bad - they take longer to render and make site maintenance a
pain in the ass.  Some times you need to use them but they should only be
used if nothing else will work.
6.  They don't unless they really want to see something very specific on the
page.
7.  Horizontal scrolling is bad because it represents lazy design unless
your site _only_ scrolls horizontally.
8.  Agree.
9.  They do - the Web is a medium of communication and is acquiring a set of
user expectations that are very different from GUI apps.
10.  Always keep it simple - as simple as possible to meet the goals and
expectations of the end user.