Something I've wanted to talk about for a while is website design. Since this blog is mostly about rabbits, I'll focus on rabbitry websites.
I haven't had high-speed internet for that long. Until recently, dialup was my only option, and I really had issues with site design and certain hosts. I gave up on visiting many sites because it took way too long to load. I now have wireless broadband, and while not blazing fast, it's 95% improvement over dialup. I can do almost anything I want, but some things still take a bit of time to load. There are still dialup and slower connections out there, and webmasters should keep this in mind.
I'm a firm believer in designing a website so anyone can view and navigate it fairly easily. Some "webmasters" (I use that term very loosely) seem more interested in showing off fancy coding and graphics than creating an easily navigated site that loads in a reasonable time for even slower connections.
A lot of rabbitries use free hosts such as Weebly and Webs. Back in the day, there was Angelfire (I used AF until I got my current host) and Geocities. Angelfire is still around, and is affiliated with Tripod. Geocities went gone (good riddens). Angelfire/Tripod are real bad for the ads that slow the pages down, and I don't see them used much anymore. Geocities was so slow, I rarely bothered trying to see them. I think most of the AF/Tripod sites are just sitting there in cyber space, and every now and then you'll come across one on a links page.
I'll talk about Weebly and Webs for a minute. These are probably the best free hosts around right now. I got myself a Weebly account just to see how it works. I was impressed with how easy it was to create a good looking and fully functional site. It looks like Webs uses the same kind of setup. The pages load quickly and they aren't overwhelmed with ads. In fact, ads are so minimal on Weebly, you're barely aware of them. I give them 5 stars for free hosts.
One of the things every webmaster needs to understand is that every page on the site should link to every other page. A visitor shouldn't have to go back to find the full site menu, it should be available wherever they are. This was very easy to do on Weebly, and Webs sites are easily navigated as well.
Then there's Wix. I detest Wix sites! I mean I really do, and mostly I blame the webmaster's lack of knowledge about how to design a site. Wix uses Flash which is a dynamic and very heavy type of animated coding most often used for online games. Sure, it can look impressive, but it's slow for even my decent broadband. I have to look at that damn "loading" animation while it loads most of the site. Ok, once it's all loaded, it is fairly fast, but the heavier the site, the longer it takes to load.
I've yet to see a Wix rabbitry or home business site that was done well. I don't know if it's because actually setting it up isn't easy or what. I've never tried Wix. Maybe I should just to see what's going on and if I could do it better. Bet I could.
So what do I see on Wix sites? Mostly sloppy, clunky, and amateurish. Links are often animated, and flash-generated graphics aren't that great. Trying to see photos is time consuming and sloppy, and I usually have little choice about the ones I get to see. They're often loaded in a slide show and I have to wait for that whole thing to load. If I come to your site to see your sale page, I want to see the photos and info right now and all in one place. Very few Wix sites have the site menu available on every page. I have to look around or go back to find it. The webmaster might have set up each page with different graphics (takes longer to load), and different links, and I'm forced to figure it out. More than once I found myself stranded with no way to get back to a menu. My only option was to close the window and reload the site at the beginning. It shouldn't be that hard to get around a website.
When I see a Wix site, my first impression is that the webmaster is just trying to impress me. I'm not impressed. You're given software to work with, you don't need much real knowledge. And it shows. Software can only do so much, you have to understand how it works. A webmaster must understand what the visitors are coming for and give it to them as easily and quickly as possible. We didn't come to see your elaborate code, we came to see your rabbitry or product. Dialup or slow connection...forget about it...you won't be able to view a Wix site unless you have all day to wait for it to load. Why would anyone trying to sell something want to use a setup that not everyone can view?
Another thing. I see so many breeders proudly post their new rabbitry site and when I get there, I find it's still under construction. It's barely functional, and many of the page links are dead or blank. Updates are posted to forums or Facebook, but the site is still incomplete. They even ask for link exchanges. If I offer a link to my visitors, I want it to be a site they can actually use, so until the site is operational, I'm not interested in a link exchange. Finish it before you reveal it to the world. You can finesse the pages later, but don't send visitors to dead space. If a page isn't ready yet, don't add it to the menu until it is.
What impresses me? Well-thought out site design and navigation, attractive but not over-powering graphics and color theme, reasonable photo file size, and most of all....finished and fully functional for any visitor regardless of their connection speed.
tnt
