Building a Site
Building a Site You Like
By Bob McElwain
Note: Bob McElwain ran his highly successful Sites Tips and Tricks website for many years. When he closed the site to pursue other activities, he granted permission to reprint his articles. Some are very outdated now, but there are so many gems of knowledge that we decided to publish the enitre series on Smart Web Center, just as they were originally published.
Some webmasters say, “Hey, I like my site. If you don’t, tough.” In the end, we all have to take this position, for it is impossible to please everyone. Still, it’s a good idea not to decide too soon. To put this another way, don’t be in a hurry to open a new site. Or to modify one you already have. The following works for me.
Build two pages with different ideas on each. Maybe different borders, different kinds of buttons, maybe one without buttons at all, and so forth. Then ask friends and anyone you can find to answer some questions. Keep it simple, else the results may not be helpful. Something like: Do you like the background on PageA or the one on PageB. Most folks will be glad to answer four or five such questions.
The problem, of course, is they won’t all agree. Hopefully, though, on a couple of points, you will get a consensus. And comments may help. Suppose one reply is, “The border on PageA is okay, but I like the one on PageB better.” You can’t count this as a vote for PageA, but this person is not likely to object to what is on PageA.
One element at my original site over which there was much discussion was the bamboo which framed the left side of the page. I felt it was delightful. Two people suggested it was a bad idea. Most said it was okay, but preferred other options. Only three said they liked it. I decided to use it for two reasons. First, the three who said they liked it were very enthusiastic about it. Second, so was I.
I finally said, as you must at some point, “I like my site.” However, I’m open to suggestions. Have you got one?
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