While the number of web pages that are available online increases every day, the
quality of these pages seems to be declining, with more and more people (and
programs, to be fair) violating basic design guidelines. There are a variety of
reasons involved, but one that's common is a simple lack of experience with layout.
Some design rules might seem obscure, like
minimizing the color
palette size, which is clearly specific to the World Wide Web, but others,
such as being
sparing with graphical elements and
focusing on the intended user of the page, are basic rules
of
any design.
The most important idea is that
good web pages start with good content
rather than with good form, layout or design. The design
should spring from the content and the information therein.