Philosophy
All pages by blechtrottel.net were developed following one philosophy, which is the same in all the different fields of application. It is our very own philosophy based on our experience. Your opinion may digress, naturally.
Content
Q: Whazzup? - A: Proper style and grammar
If you do not care to write proper legible sentences, you cannot expect them to be read. Or put differently: You cannot shove the burden of your work onto the readers. Your website will resemble a DIY-kit where the parts do not match. No webmaster can remedy this.
Seriousness cannot be replaced by a lack of humour
Whoever are serious about their job and have proper know-how, can always use humour as a means of communication. Lack of humour, in our experience, often is a sign of minor competence.
Freak language is for freaks
The very same goes for pseudoscientific pompousness by using freak terminology. If you know what you are talking about you do not need it.
Design
Little houses are more inviting than big building sites
Pages with a big sign promising content for the future are as interesting as last week's headlines. It is absolutely ok to announce a new website, but one page is enough for that. Additional content should rather be written than announced.
Graphics are a luxury, typography is a must
Books with green pages and white text are not widespread, neither are magazines that are half a meter wide but only ten centimeters high. Hardly anyone has a book in mirror print and practically no newspaper use five different typefaces on one page. Yet websites constructed similarly can be found without number, to the less informed this is sold as design.
You can learn what properly set text looks like. The craft is typography and has evolved over the last 2000 years or more. Its basic rules are the same all over the world. Good typography makes reading easier and faster. Therefore it is essential for conveying information.
Graphic elements, however, can be done without, should you run on a tight budget. If you can afford a good graphic designer, consider yourself lucky, for this too is a craft that must be learned properly.
Being able to turn on a computer without assistance is not enough - in either case.
A good website moves its visitors, not itself
Books with built-in motors and colourful lighting effects are not dominating the market; yet the book market has not collapsed. Those who seek entertainment look for online games, not for a classic website. Here it is important to make information available quickly. All elements (be they moving or not) that hamper the search for information are out of place.
Labyrinths belong in baroque gardens
One of the entertainments in the baroque era was finding the intimate corners in and the exit from a hedge labyrinth in a palace's garden. Websites however cannot please visitors by posing similar challenges.
Contrary to common misconception a website is not the place for complacency, it is more of an encyclopedia. (Even if it is just an enlarged calling card with name, address and telephone number.) If it has no recognisable structure, if information cannot be found, it is of no use.
Constant renovation is a must
We know of a shop (in operation), the door of which in 2012 bears a sign pointing out new opening hours as of April 2006. This is an exception, of course. The Web on the other hand is full of proof for the saying "Nothing is as old as yesterday's newspaper." Here too, it is more attractive to your visitors when you have a few pages that are updated more or less regularly. This also applies to pages that do not offer news.
Parts of a good website
(by order of importance)
- Editors
- Content
- Structure
- Content
- Usability
- Content
- Graphics