Readings

Recipe for a Successful Website
The main focus of this reading is how to decide what things you should and should not put into a website. Many people get carried away and put way to much information into a site, or try to please everyone which ends up just creating a confusing, boring and forgetful pages which really appeals to no one. Other people don't keep their sites fresh and relevant or forget about making a decent quality product. Also, just because something is flashy doesn't mean that it is good. If it has no relevance to your product, than it is meaningless.

The Order of the Order
This site simply notes how there are many different way for a designer to catagorize and order information. There are the common ways just as using bullets, numbers, weights, etc., but it is also possible and sometimes appropriate to organize different sections using something out of the ordinary.

Reading Four
Reading four goes over the major points of working with clients and co-workers during the preliminary section of designing a web page, and really just working with them in a general design sense. There are many very important things to keep in mind when working with clients. A designer has to learn what makes that certain client "tick" and what design firms and styles they have used in the past. Designers have to learn who is in charge and who has final say. The last thing anyone needs is to put lots of work into something and then have some "random" guy who happens to be the boss come in and insist on scrapping the whole thing.

Organizing content is also highlighted in the article. There is a very different way to show clients what kind of content you are using and they often need it shown to them in a simple and easy-to-understand way. You don't want them confused or misunderstanding the information.

The second part of the reading talks about organizing the web site's content into sitemaps. They are important so that you can get a visual of what will be in the site without actually having to create it. It is also much easier to move information around and/or add and delete information.

The creation of wireframes is also talked about. These are simple diagrams showing how the site will look without spending the time on creating too much of the extra visual images. It's like a simple map of where things will eventually be placed.

Question: In the article Recipe for a Successful Website, the author mentions several things that page designers often do to web sites that detracts from their effectiveness such as adding way to much information, adding irrelevant information, a page lacking personality, shooting for too broad of an audience, etc. Which of the design mistakes mentioned in this article is done most often on the internet?