Front and Center: Moderation

It is so much fun for many people to create a Web site full of fun graphics, cool backgrounds, great pictures, and cute clip art. With a product such as FrontPage 2003, all these effects can be done with a few clicks of the mouse and are almost always guaranteed to make someone say "Wow!"

That's the good news.

Now for the bad news:

You don't always need to. As a matter of fact, you seldom need to. Admit it, what do you do when you visit a site with ugly backgrounds and more graphics than needed?

I'd bet a good steak dinner that if you removed 80% of the graphics from the Web, no one would notice, the Web would work a lot faster, and a lot more business would be done.

Take a look at your Web site. Why are those graphics there? Here are some questions you should really ask yourself.

Do I need this background image? What does it really do for my site?

That clip art why is it there? Does it need to be there? What would happen if I took it away?

That slideshow does anybody care? Could I reduce the pictures by 50% and have the same effect?

Do I need so many horizontal rules to break up my text? Is a paragraph break enough?

Why did I put that Splash Screen there? If I finally get people to my site, do I really want a page that says "Welcome to my site, click here to visit my site?"

Moderation. Moderation. Moderation.

Another simple question should be asked, "Am I the one best qualified to create the graphics for my site?" Many people who aren't graphics designers or artists by any means somehow feel qualified to produce images for a Web site because the tools are so simple to use.

The tools might be simple, but you still want someone who knows what he is doing on the other end. Yes, hammers are very impressive, but I'm still going to let someone else build my house for me.

If you aren't qualified to build your own graphics, what can you do? Sometimes, someone on your team can help. Ask around; you might be surprised with what you find.

There are several other options for you: You might need to purchase the talents of an artist to help you design the graphics you need. You might want to purchase a clip art or stock photography CD to assist you in your needs. Or, you could consider buying a third-party Web theme or Web template to help push you in the right direction.