There it is – the Meaning of Life. The Lost Scroll. The Fate of Atlantis. Master this and you have Real Ultimate Power.

Art and design is largely about “image”. While this is true, many artists fall prey to Too Much Image when it comes to designing their website. I believe that a website should be the frame for your brilliance. It shouldn’t eclipse your work. It also shouldn’t take excessive time to load or otherwise alter the user’s browsing experience. Today, I am going to talk about some guidelines for making the best impact with your website.

1. Avoid Flash: I personally don’t like Flash unless it is specifically for a flash cartoon or game that you have made. I have never sat through a Flash intro to a website and said afterward, “Gee, I really liked sitting there waiting to get to this website I have never heard of before.” Never. Most people will not wait.

Flash also doesn’t display on an iPhone and most other mobile devices, so if you must use Flash, make sure there is a non-Flash option.

You might say, “What idiot only uses an iPhone to browse the internet?” Well, that idiot would be me. I work hours that would make a large man (or even David Hasselhoff) cry. I rarely am able to get to my own desktop computer. A Flash only website is enough to prevent me from seeing it entirely. I do not have time to “surf the net” in the few hours I have at home each day. Also, I am not alone. Our culture is going mobile in a big way.

2. Don’t have music that auto-plays: There had been some debate about this in the case of bands. Some bands insist that the best way to get their work to their customer is to have their music auto play. I disagree. It is important to quickly get your work to that person’s ears, but politeness toward your customer always supersedes any sales tactic.

Always.

These bands aren’t considering people who are browsing at work or school. Just looking at my personal web traffic, I see that most of my readers come right when they get to work or school. I think the entire internet would be empty if you removed this type of traffic. At worst, that MP3 file is an embarrassment to the person who hasn’t had time to adjust the volume on their speakers to prevent the whole planet from hearing it. At best, it’s annoying to the person who was already listening to iTunes.

Both of these scenarios happened to me. Both of them resulted in my immediately closing my browser and never coming back.

3. Don’t change the user’s browsing atmosphere: Changing the end user’s browsing atmosphere is similarly rude and jarring. Things like changing their cursor to a cross hair or forcing you to view their website full screen so that you can’t see your OS’s navigation menus are just plain inadvisable. Most people react with fear to new things. This is no exception.

4. Take different browsing scenarios into account: Will your website run on a computer that has a 800X600 resolution and a dial-up modem? How about on both Mac and PC browsers? Does it display on an iPhone, Palm OS, and on Windows Mobile?

As I said before, the range of ways someone could be browsing the internet is wider than ever before. While you can’t test for every single device or browser, do at least some testing to make sure things aren’t totally blown looking on something, especially if the something is very popular (even if you don’t like/use it personally).

5. When in doubt, don’t do it: If a feature doesn’t speed up the delivery of your work to the person loading the website – it should not be used. Trust me, if your work isn’t good, no amount of “cool” features are going to get you a sale. When in doubt, don’t add the feature. Focus on content first, then add whiz bang stuff later.

So there you have it – some basic guidelines about how to design for your customers so that you can optimize those valuable first 7 seconds and keep a new visitor for life.

Like all guidelines, there may be some special case where some of them can be broken. Have you used any of these features (or others) and made them work for you? Or, have you see a hideous offender of poor web design that sends customers running? Let me know in the comments!

I am not saying that Deviant Art “sucks”. Deviant Art is awesome. For no investment, anyone of any skill level can experiment with online publishing. This is a great way for someone new to the field to figure out if this is something that they would like to do. Probably every artist should have some sort of presence there – just like MySpace and Facebook – simply because you can. More exposure is always better.

However, Deviant Art should NOT be your main website.

I say this because:

1. Their interface is quite confusing for the end user. You cannot customize it to make your work easier to view by someone who is not familiar with the Deviant Art culture. The first 20 times someone linked me to their Deviant Art page I left without seeing their art because I couldn’t figure out where the gallery was. It can be very annoying.

2. When Deviant Art is down…it’s down. You can’t fix it. If your work is unavailable for weeks you have no recourse because you don’t control it.

3. Your URL is YourName.deviantart.com. This might be good for networking with others on the site, but it is not so professional for people who aren’t.

4. Passive ad revenue is one of the the largest and easiest source of income – and you can’t do that on Deviant Art. You actually are making them rich – not yourself. Of course since the cost to host your stuff is free, it’s a balance–but still, eventually you’ll want to make money (I assume) off your work.

You might say, “Hey, Oni! I get a lot of people buying commissions from me on Deviant Art. Why do I need ad revenue?”

There are two ways of thinking about it:

1. Working yourself to carpal tunnel cranking out as many commissions as you can for a small amount of dollars. Generally you will probably find that this leaves you too busy to augment your brand. Oompa loompa doopity doo…

2. Do commissions for x amount of dollars when you feel like it and collect far more than x dollars for doing nothing but getting people looking at your work. Have tine to build your brand and a social life.

For my purposes, I choose 2.

If jumping right into working with something like WordPress is daunting, a good thing to do is to at least buy your own URL/domain name that redirects to your Deviant Art. This way, when you finally take the plunge you won’t lose your hard-earned fans out of confusion. They’ll go to where you direct them.

I am a big advocate of controlling where and how my work is presented on the web because it is just that important. Nobody else cares if your work is represented well. You need to care.

They say that you should dress for the job you want, not the job you have. This is very true. It is also very true for how you “dress” your work.

I urge you to try out free sites like Deviant Art and to even maintain a presence there. Just remember that the end game is about making money for you by developing a healthy career. If you hope to achieve that, you need to take control of your work. Too many artists are concerned about the immediate future and don’t invest in a holistic approach to career development that will give them strength 30 years from now. A balance needs to be understood if one hopes to thrive.

In these cases Pixgallery will detect that the folder wasn’t written and present you with options to create the folders later. On the settings/options page for Pixgallery you’ll see a link at the bottom of the page to create and switch to the default cache folder. If the folder was originally created properly there will be a statement there saying that the cache folder was already created.

On the Manage Pixgallery Galleries page you’ll see a button at the top of the page that says Create Default Gallery Folder. If this folder was created properly during plugin activation there will be a statement that the default gallery has already been created and will list the gallery path.

This ability is just one of the small hidden ways that Pixgallery has been designed to make your life as website admin easier.

First thing you need to do is go to your web server and go to your MySQL administration tool. Typically this is a program called PhpMyAdmin (which I’ll be using to demonstrate–but any program will work as long as you can access the same areas I’ll be showing).

Start by selecting your WordPress database. This is the database you input into the wp-config.php file when you originally set up WordPress. You can select from your current databases by using the drop down menu on the left side:

Once you’ve selected the correct database you need to go to the AWSOM News Announcement table that’s in the database. It is named awsomnews but has a header prefix that’s typically wp_, but could be a custom one that you added to the wp-config.php file. click it’s name in the list under your database name on the left and it should open a new page in the main area showing details of that table.

Notice that there is a column called “collation” and it lists “latin1_swedish_ci”–this is the default language type that MySQL uses unless specifically told to use a different language type (MySQL is originally a swedish product). This language type does not display Asian or other non-English lettering based languages well (and honestly has issues with regular English also). What we need to do is change this to the correct language for you.

You can do one of 2 things at this point. You can mark the checkbox next to “newstext” and click the bottom pencil icon or more simply click the pencil icon in the same row. This will open up the individual field for editing.

Now, the difficult part. In the collation drop down select the language type you’d like. Yes, there are a very large number of them and it’s not always easy to know which one to use. For regular English “utf8-bin” is good. You’ll need to look this up for your own language since I have no idea what’s good for any other specific language. Once you know which one you want make sure it’s selected in the drop down box. Then click the “save” button.

That’s basically it. Go and try it out.

One of the things that you can select when adding a new news announcement is what viewer level is able to see that particular News Post, and each News Post can have different viewer levels. By default it’s set to “everyone”, but you are able to restrict the viewer to any of the regular WordPress registered user levels. So, you can make a News Post only visible to Subscribers or Administrators, or any level in between. This makes the News Post a handy way of informing other members of your site about important information that only applies to them.

Of course an obvious usage is to restrict certain things so that only registered visitors can see/use things. An example is an audio/video player for extra site content. With the “run php” setting in News Announcement turned on you can embed any player that requires javascript or php code to function. Now you have created an incentive for visitors to sign up to your site.

Conversely you can do things so that ONLY non-subscribers see certain News Posts. By selecting this as the viewer level for a post, it only gets shown to general visitors–>which makes it an excellent way of displaying ads to non-registered users while making it a “benefit” for people to sign up to your blog so that they aren’t presented with ads. Since any content can be added to a News Post and can run, almost any ad company code or system can be set to display in a News Post.

So not only do you now have a way to give your readers information, but you can present ads and reserve enhanced content and generate more reasons for visitors to interact with your blog.

The first such feature is the ability in AWSOM Pixgallery to select and display a custom image for a sub gallery in the thumbnail view. Normally Pixgallery uses your sort option setting to determine what image it uses to represent sub galleries in the thumbnail view–so it will typically show either the last added image or alphabetical image as the folder image. This means that in many cases the image displayed by the folder will change over time if you add new images to the folder. This can be good to alert visitors that new images have been added to a folder. However, in some cases you may not want this to happen and would prefer to have a set image for a particular sub gallery.

With Pixgallery it’s very easy to accomplish this. All you need to do is place an image file within any sub gallery folder and call it “pxggalleryimage” with any standard image format type (gif, jpg, png–so pxggalleryimage.gif is an example), and Pixgallery will use that image for the folder. This image will NOT appear as a member of the sub gallery, so you can use an image that you don’t even want to have actually appear in the gallery itself if you want. Every sub gallery can have it’s own individual custom image file, and you can even mix and match with some being automatic and some being preset. It’s yet another way that Pixgallery speeds up your workflow but allows you flexibility when you need it.

I plan on adding new tutorials over time to detail out all of the different capabilities of this plugin as well as others in the AWSOM series. Upcoming tutorials will feature how to use the FastFlow method of setting up your AWSOM Pixgallery image/gallery captions as well as details on how the different settings in Pixgallery affect your gallery look and feel.

Please feel free to contact me or leave comments if you have specific ideas for tutorials you’d like to see. I’m also considering creating regular Wordpress video tutorials which would go through the core areas of Wordpress set up and usage.

There is one big dilemma that most new website creators encounter: Different or the Same. Do I want my site to be different and unique, or look the same and consistent with people’s expectations. To some degree this is dependant on the goals of the site. It is my opinion that in 90% of all cases you should choose to look similar to expectations. In a small amount of cases, looking and acting totally different from other sites can work….these cases usually revolve around “artistic” sites that are specifically designed to show off something unique about the web creator, but they are NOT meant to be information sites or to allow the user to really get in touch with the artist or their work (think all show, no real depth). They act like a picture in a museum–nice to look at, but of no real informational value other than a pretty picture. Even in these cases I would suggest you consider otherwise. I know there will be many people screaming at this, but there is a bigger issue here.

Consider this: In studies done on average websurfers, if the person is unable to discern what they are supposed to do on your site within 7 seconds of arriving at your site, they tend to leave. As a design function, it is best to make it very obvious what is on your site, and how to get to this information. While this might seem boring or inartistic from a design perspective, it’s important for your overall main goal:having people come back and use your site, not just look once and leave.

Many website designers fall prey to the “designers dilemma”. This is where you as the designer come to believe that everyone who goes to your site automatically knows as much about the site as you do. Imagine you are going to a meeting somewhere you’ve never been, to a building you’ve never been inside. You walk inside the building–what do you want to know first? Well, it’d be good to have a panel or sign saying where all of the offices are. It would also be good to have this sign give all of the company names and what floors they are on, and maybe in the case of a big multi-floor company, exactly which floor houses each department of that company. Many website designers forget this experience. Grouping of information on pages should be as obvious as possible. You aren’t in the business of hiding information. Just because YOU know that the company Bio or About info is listed on the financial page doesn’t mean everyone else will consider that the “correct” place to put that information.

In addition, keep in mind that symbols and pictures are not universal in understanding. Anyone who has seen Japanese symbols for things knows that in many cases pictures have hugely different meanings to different people. A picture of a house could mean homepage, or for a financial company it could be their their rental/house sales page. I personally think that words are better than symbols, but a word AND symbol combo can help people remember things easier in some cases. (also, remember to use alt tags for all navigation images…on handheld devices and some work computers images off is the regular setup)

A top or left side nav bar is the norm these days. Yes, it’s boring, but it’s what people expect. Putting your nav bar on the bottom of the page might make you different, but remember, some people might have a different screen dimension setup from you (like 800X600 instead of 1024X768) and it might not even be visible once the page loads….therefore 7 seconds later the person is gone. Also, you might want to take a look at a book about color interactions. Some color combinations react poorly together and can make it hard for people to read or use the site, especially if they have altered their browsers basic settings. White text on a black background might be nice to you, but it could be unreadable to someone else. Most people have white or light colored background on their computers.

The most important things to imagine in setting up the content of your page is to assume that your visitors are from mars and have no idea what to do. Imagine they are so new to things that they need their hands held. The important element of your page is the information it carries. While with style sheets and tables it’s somewhat possible to dictate how your page will look…it’s not a total lock. Different browsers and personal settings (including leaving images off and different screen resolutions) will always make your pages somewhat out of your control in how they look….but you have control over the content. By keeping the focus on the information, and not the trendy look, you can make sure that visitors to your site get the information they need…which is the main function of your site.

One last area needs to be discussed: The pull of your needs versus the viewer’s needs. Many sites make one huge navigation design faux pas….they disregard the time it takes a visitor to do certain functions. Imagine you are a store….What do you want most from a visitor? Well, I’d say it would be a purchase and getting their money. Why then do many sites force a potential customer to fill out a form or create a login id first? In these cases, the site has decided it’s needs (which they mistakenly decided was getting your email or info above getting a sale) are more important than your desire to quickly and easily buy something. It’s silly really, as a result of going through the checkout you always add this information anyway. Why not get the sale, then afterward have an option to create an id or account…or fill out a survey. You get both and the person feels like they’ve accomplished THEIR goal.

It’s the same with many non-store sites also. Watch our flash intro, or fill out this form to be able to download our demo. Yeah, I know that information is worth money to these companies….but it isn’t worth anything to ME. It’s actually a negative. Keep this in mind.

If you can get someone else to test your site before it goes live, someone who has no idea of it’s content, this can give you a good idea of what the average person will encounter. You might be surprised.

If you don’t go into a project knowing the “dangers” then you will have to react very quickly when things happen, or lose all of your hard work. One example of this is the rocket to stardom problem. Say you have a funny Flash Movie, and somehow this gets picked up upon by a major portal site like SlashDot, Digg, Reddit, etc. It is very possible to go way over your bandwidth in less than a day. What do you do? Do you have a plan for this? Do you just take the site down and lose any chance of gaining from this exposure? Do you have a plan worked out to buy extra bandwidth if this occurs? (and more especially, do you have the $$$ to cover this) Losing your site at a time when it could benefit the most is terrible. People who could become fans will see a blank or 404 error page, and assume your site is unprofessional. Knowing your hosting companies costs and knowing how to contact them quickly is necessary. In addition, a backup site design, that requires very low bandwidth, is also a good idea to have in these cases.

Something else to consider is consistency of updating. Keep in mind that viewers go to your site for information or entertainment. If they go a few times, and nothing has changed, then they might decide to not come back. Letting the viewer know when new content will arrive, and sticking to the schedule is important. (Or at least stating why you didn’t keep to the schedule) It is said that if a viewer doesn’t get the info they want in 7 seconds or less, they will move on. Keep that in mind, make the information front and center. You want to provide reasons for people to return to your site on a frequent basis.

In addition, don’t leave old stuff up on your site. If you have something stating how people need to check their system to make sure it’s Y2K compliant, remove it please. Always check your site to make sure it’s up to date in regard to any dates or notifications. People will think you are crappy if you leave old stuff up. Professional is the name of the game. At least once a month re-read your site to see if it’s still valid.

It is frustrating to have a “brilliant” site, but no visitors. Did you make sure to submit your site to Google, Yahoo, etc? You can go to those services and submit your site with a description. It usually takes a while for them to catalog your site, so a small advance submission should be on target for them to reach you when you are up. setting up advertising at other similar sites in advance, so that it corresponds with your launch date will be helpful. Just DON’T SPAM. It will kill your buzz. No one likes spammers. It’s okay to place statements on forums where they encourage placement of links…but only if it’s appropriate for your websites content. Imagine a pestering salesman, that will be you if you’re not careful.

Lastly, Make sure you have time in your schedule for backing your site up. At first this will be easy for a small site. As time goes on though, it can get to be a huge task. No one wants to find out that their host had a crash that wiped out their hard drives….and you never backed your site up. Poof, all gone. You can be up and running again in a short time with timely backups. At least once a week is necessary for a forum or very updated site. better to do it twice a week. People can get cranky if their forum posts get wiped, especially if it’s a very important issue they are trying to resolve. Plus our friendly hackers exist. So leave time in your mental schedule to backup your site. The one time you say “ah, I’ll wait till later” it’ll kick your ass.

Doing a successful website is a time consuming and repetitive task. You need to be able to do things in a timely fashion and a regular basis. Nothing turns people off more than an irregular mess. Going in with a strong mindset will help you make things work right the first time through.