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Design of a website is user interface design rather than creative pretty-ness and this has recently been highlighted to me (again).

Firstly, in a usability session with a client and a stranger, which allowed the client to subjectively see how someone used their website and also confirmed again today by Jakob Neilsen with his Top 10 Application Design Mistakes article.

The key thing is with people is that they are, if nothing else, creatures of habit and when it comes to displaying ‘rules’ we need constancy. That’s why we can all understand road signs when we go on our summer hols - because they are so similar to the ones in the UK.

It’s the same with a website. People will ‘expect’ navigation to be in a certain place - either across the top or down the left-side. If they see a search button, you can assume they probably know how it works.

There is though still a tendency to apply print design rules onto new media. The problem is, if you don’t stick with the very basic premise that at the end of the computer is a person, you may leave them staring at your site wondering…