subject: Web Design And Site Functionality [print this page] . The truth is that in order for a website to be successful, there has to be a balance between creating a visually attractive site without taking away from the functionality and usability of it. a website that is supposed to offer shipment tracking, for example, would not do anyone any good if it looked great but made it very difficult for customers to track shipments, right?
Think about this: if a visitor comes to a website and can not quickly and easily navigate through it and find what they are looking for, they are probably going to quickly just leave that website and go to a competitors site that is much more user friendly. Having customers leave a site defeats the purpose of having a Web presence to promote your company. Your goal of course was to increase sales, after all.
Functionality and Web design have to go hand in hand a site has to not only be user friendly or not only be attractive. It is getting to the point that the two overlap quite a lot and that much of the design aspect of a site is the back door operation side of it. It is now a matter of fact that design has to include designing that functionality! In order to do any of this though, you have to know who your target audience is or you can not construct a Web site with design that is geared towards them.
Your target audience will determine, in part, if you need to concentrate on making the site easy to use or you will concentrate on making it look good. If you have a site that is geared towards older generations, you will probably assume that they are not quite as Internet savvy as younger people might be, so you will want to create a Web design that includes an easy layout and simple navigation for them.
At the same token, if your target audience is a much younger group of people who grew up with the Internet, chances are pretty good that you will not have to worry so much about them finding their way around the site. Instead, you can probably assume that they are Internet Savvy enough to find their way around the site, and for a successful Web design for them you should probably focus more on making the site attractive.
