Images/Graphics
Web page graphics must serve a function. If a graphic image's only function is "to look cool," you are unnecessarily increasing the download time of your web pages. "Looking cool" can ultimately cost you more money and make you lose potential customers.
The following list is a summary of the types of graphic images that are acceptable on a web page:
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Navigation buttons - Used to help visitors navigate your web site. If designed well, these buttons can be much easier to read and find than text links.
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Image maps - Also used to help visitors navigate your web site. If designed well, image maps greatly add to the visual appeal of a web page but can considerably increase the page's download time.
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Logo - Used for your corporate or business identity. Logos increase brand name recognition and add visual appeal to any document or web page.
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Bullet points - Used to draw your visitors' eyes to the main points of your document. Also used to break up a web page full of paragraphs.
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Mastheads - Also known as a title graphic. Main function is to let your visitors know which web page they are on. Adding clip art or an illustration to a masthead adds more visual appeal.
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Divider lines or horizontal rules - Commonly used to separate footers, categories within a single web page, and FAQ questions and answers.
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Background images - Used to enhance the visual appeal of a web page and make a web site easier to navigate. One of the most common background images is a sidebar which usually contains the links to the other pages in your site.
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Headings (text graphic) - Commonly used preserve a typeface that many people do not have on their computers.
- Photos - Commonly used to make your web pages seem more personal and more inviting. Visitors' eyes are naturally drawn to photos of people. An absolute necessity to showcase products on certain e-commerce sites.
All graphic images on your web site should match in color, typeface, and special effects. The general rule is to keep web page size between 40-60K. If you are a graphic designer, photographer, architect, or programmer, a 75K web page will still give a relatively fast download time on a 28.8 Kbps modem.
Animation
Animation on a web page is any form of movement of objects or images. Animations are usually done in Adobe Flash, although Java and GIF animations are also used in many websites. Streaming video in Flash is coming increasingly popular.
Reasons to have motion on a web page are to draw attention to something, to provide a demonstration or to entertain. The need f
or movement on a page depends on the purpose and content of the page. A financial institute would not really need animations on their pages, while an entertainment site obviously would have such movement.
Video
Due to bandwidth constraints, use of video should currently be minimized on the web. Eventually, video will be used more widely, but for the next few years most videos will be short and will use very small viewing areas. Under these constraints, video has to serve as a supplement to text and images more often than it will provide the main content of a website.
Currently, video is good for:
- Promoting television shows, films, or other non-computer media that traditionally have used trailers in their advertising.
- Giving users an impression of a speaker's personality. Unfortunately, most corporate executives project a lot less personality than, say, Captain Janeway from Star Trek, so it is not necessarily a good idea to show a talking head unless the video clip truly adds to the user's experience.
- Showing things that move. For example a clip from a ballet. Product demos of physical products (e.g., a coin counter) are also well suited for video.