On the choice of colours in a web page colour scheme

[lindiril]

A note to webdesigners: yes, it is nice that you can change the properties of links on pointer hover; that does not mean that the links should be indistinguishable from normal text when the mouse is not over them. I would argue that it is particularly important to be able to distinguish the presence of links without moving my mouse over every word

Comments

[musesshadow]

Although really, calling someone who does such a webdesigner might be too high praise: 14-year-old-girl-who-complains-about-someone-stealing-her-HTML might be better.

Webdesigner is not just a title, it's a way of life. Putting yourself in the mindframe of the stupidest possible person and making sure that while they are wiping drool from their mouth with one hand, they can navigate your site with their other on the mouse.

I still have flashbacks to the days of developing the ETV website for Environment Canada... *shudder*

[lindiril]

Heh. The person who instigated this post was whoever designed the theme/layout I'm using for my LJ right now. I only noticed today that I was missing links on my friends page, and spent time I could have used not being late for class (or eating a stationary breakfast AND not being late for class, more accurately) trying to make the links slightly more detectable. I kind of like making the links a different colour and making them underline when you mouse-over to confirm the presence of a link; it's not necessarily the most accessible kind of design, but it appeals to me anyway. The "making it a different colour" bit is important, though

[musesshadow]

When ever developing a website, there are a few things to make sure that your site is easily navigable:

1) As you so eloquently put it, make the colours easy to read. A high contrast between background and text will usually do it.

2) Make the flow of the site logical. Don't make people fish around to try and find something.

3) Keep it organized. If people have to scroll and scroll (AND SCROLL...) to read it, they may get bored. Split articles or long pieces into subheadings and make the subheadings available from any related pages.

4) Make information accessible. If people have to click more than 4 times to find your info, they're going to look somewhere else.

5) An under utilized tool is a table of contents or search engine. Search engines are complicated, but a table of contents (accessible from any page) with link-backs to other sections can be a helpful navigation tool. If you really want to get fancy, a graphical layout of the site with an image map may go a long way.

These are just some basic things to keep in mind.

[lindiril]

Thank you very much! I will keep your suggestions in mind while I'm working on the project and in any future page-writing endeavours.

[stonehilt]

First, I agree completely with your post.

And secondly, hi, I was one of your frosh this year - the tall one that hung out with the annoying Asian ("two strikes" - and I have permission from him to use the annoying Asian characterization, he suggested it in fact :P ). I was checking out LJ's school functions, found uwaterloo, saw your response in the voting post discussion (pretty much exactly what I was thinking) and recognized the pic, haha.

Anyway, randomness is cool, and that's about all I have to say about that. Peace!

[lindiril]

Hi there! Hope your first year at UW has been kind to you. Tell "Two Stikes" hi for me--I remember him, though to my shame I can't for the life of my recall his name any longer. Are any of you guys thinking about participating in orientation week from the leader end? It can be a lot of fun, and they're always looking for folks to help out.

[stonehilt]

Haha, Two Strikes' name is Tyler. First term was awesome. I'm on co-op right now back home in Toronto, and looking forward to going back in the summer.

I know Tyler's definitely looking into being a frosh leader. I was considering it, but I have no idea when I'd do the training. Do you know if they offer it in the summer or anything? (Being honest, I haven't really looked for myself yet... heh).

[lindiril]

Ha ha, thanks for the name refresher. And, assuming your journal info is accurate, you're Matt, right? That's my brother's name, too.

I'm pretty sure they hold OLT sessions in the summer term, mostly near the beginning of the term. Waterloo is pretty good about catering to its off-term co-op students for that kind of thing; heck, engineering is co-op--only, so they pretty much have to. I think I took my OLT sessions in the summer term before my first round as a frosh leader (I was scheduled for a winter term session, but I slept in for the all-important first session, oops). It looks like the orientation site isn't even fully set up yet for 2006 (the title still talks about 2005), but you can view it hereYou and Tyler might enjoy the experience a good deal, and I definitely recommend giving it a shot. You (or Tyler, anyway) would have to tone down stuff like dissing the other faculties and using that to prove that women are stupid (heh) for the week, though. The OLT sessions would fill you in on what's considered to be appropriate.