10 Principles Of Effective Web Design (Smashing Magazine)

• Link to 10 Principles Of Effective Web Design

"(Web) Users:

1. Appreciate quality and credibility!
2. Don’t read, they scan!
3. Are impatient and insist on instant gratification!
4. Don’t make optimal choices.
5. Follow their intuition.
6. Want to have control (Source)."

No wonder SCORM does not appeal to learners (and educators) (above 5 years old)! Below 5 years old? Only because they think it is some kind of worm, or it sounds cool!

10 PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE WEB DESIGN?

1. Don’t make users think!
2. Don’t squander users’ patience!
3. Manage to focus users’ attention!
4. Strive for feature exposure!
5. Make use of effective writing!
6. Don’t be afraid of the white space!
7. Strive for simplicity!
8. Communicate effectively with a “visible language”!
9. Conventions are our friends!
10. Test early, test often!

If this does not make any sense, click here to read between the lines.

SMASHING MAGAZINE?
"Founded in September 2006, Smashing Magazine delivers useful and innovative information for designers and web-developers. Our aim is to inform our readers about the latest trends and techniques in web-development. We don’t try to convince you with the quantity, but with the quality of the information we present. That’s what makes us different. In fact, we smash you with the information which will make your life easier. Really (Source)."

MASTERMINDS?
"Smashing Magazine is maintained by Sven Lennartz, the owner of the Dr. Web Magazine and Vitaly Friedman, the creator of The Web Developer’s Handbook (Source)."

OTHER SMASHING POSTS?
The previous post on OCW collections for web designers was an amazing learning discovery. However, I am not sure if I have the time or patience to explore 60+ courses to find nuggets of learning juice relevant and useful to my learning adventure. No doubt the OCW collections have tremendous value, but for now I am simply looking for smashing articles on specific web stuff that I want to learn (Or discover by accident!). And when I discovered this Smashing Magazine, I was like, "This looks interesting! Hey, this looks even more interesting! WOW, this is the one I am looking for!" Smashing Magazine provides you with short and engaging nuggets of learning tailored to the things you really want to know (in design). They smash you with the learning juice!

To illustrate my point, here are some smashing posts (titles) discovered that I really want to explore soon:

• 170+ Expert Ideas From World’s Leading Developers
• Evolve Your User Interface To Educate Your Users
• 30 Usability Issues To Be Aware Of
• 10 Usability Nightmares You Should Be Aware Of
• 20 (Alternate) Ways to Focus on Users
• White Space and Simplicity: An Overview
• 25 Mind-Blowing Gadgets
• Award-Winning Newspaper Designs
• PDF: Five Smashing Wisdom Treasures
• Google PageRank: What Do We Know About It?
• Google AdSense: Facts, FAQs and Tools
• 45 More Excellent Blog Designs
• Monday Inspiration: Innovative Designs and Devices
• Monday Inspiration: User Experience Of The Future
• Monday Inspiration: 3D-Experience in Flash
• 65 Excellent Flash Designs

Absolutely SMASHING! So, if you are looking for a course on web design stuff, you have 60+ courses to explore, and if you want to find some short and juicy learning nuggets on web design, Smashing Magazine is a great alternative. Mix formal and informal learning resources and you might just have a smashing learning experience :)