March 22, 2007

Judging a Web Site Through Dirty Glasses

What's the first thing you do before meeting up with a new business person, considering buying from a vendor or etc? You check out that person's web site. Right?

If someone's web site really sucks (or just plain sucks) I hesitate working with them. On the other hand, someone who has a GREAT web site - they get an A+ in my book.

However, the Joshua Porter, got me thinking.

Just because someone has a "pretty web site" does that mean it's good.

This issue goes beyond the business, but is also factoring into the skills of the person who designed the web site.

He writes Too many of these judgments are superficial, focusing only on a quick visual inspection of the site. They use terms like "look" and "feel". They also focus on things like color palette choices, validation, which tags were used, or which technique was used to round the corners. They deal with how the site looks or how the code looks.

Yet, we know better. We know that this sort of thing isn't very accurate or even helpful. First impressions are trivial, and rarely provide insight into the work that was done. We even have this idea crystallized into hackneyed sayings like "don't judge a book by its cover".

The next time you look at a web site - consider is it really as bad as you think it is?

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