Website Graphics

Unlimited colours and high quality displays create a temptation to go mad - and it's easy! However, a jarring or inappropriate choice of colours will compromise performance.

The Internet is awash with beautiful examples of digital art but—impressive though they are, are they persuasive? Visitors want to complete tasks, not admire pictures.

It is possible to create a graphically rich website and attain a respectable search ranking, however, whether this website is also user friendly is another matter.

The thrust of any marketing website is to get seen and to get business. Anything that compromises this task should be jettisoned which includes gratuitous graphics. Any graphic material must be an asset and and assist the visitor to complete his tasks.

Header Graphics

Should reflect the website topic and be no larger than required. It is still common to see header graphics 400 pixels deep and occupying much of the screen area. Not everyone has high bandwidth or a large screen. Ideally, a header graphic should be no deeper than 200 pixels.

Often seen are animated Flash header graphics which are almost inevitably expensive, irritating, add nothing and are counter productive.

Incidental Graphics

Should be relevant and add to the visitor's experience. The graphics should be compressed for fast downloading, not dominate the page and only of a size to add value to the page.