Have you ever tried to answer why Google was/is/will be the most widely used search engine ? How many times have you been surfing the net, landed on a website which initially looked relevant to you, but have turned away from it as soon as you opened it ? Quite often, we come across websites which may have the content to be content with, but lose their "dignity" just because of their first appearance.
We all must have heard about "Time" magazine. I am in no position to question its stature and will not certainly do so, but why is it that "The Economist" will give you a more soothing effect when you compare the two magazine websites. Make no mistake that content wise, they are identical.
If you are a snack eater of the web and prefer small articles and stories rather than big fat meal of novels, you must be familiar with the serenity of The New Yorker, A List Apart and Aldaily.What serenity? You'll know what I mean when you see Jeffery Zeldman's page. Ouch! Did it hurt?
If you are the one who is abreast with happenings around the world and is updated all the time, why do you prefer BBC over CNN on web, when you like the "eat-the-chewing-gum & say-the-news" American accent than "blow-the-wind & spit-the-news" British accent on the television.
It's not that in the above comparisons, I have favored the websites which I personally like, but I have tried to highlight one of the basic rules which the other ones have forgotten while designing their art on web. Color plays a vital role in attracting a reader towards your product, in this case, the website. Your eyes guide your brain and your hand on mouse, immediately as you open a website. If the content has too much of red in it or the links within the web page give you an impression that you'll definitely be lost in this web mosaic, you say a big NOOOOOOOOO and either close that website or move on to the next result which God Google had presented before you. On the other hand, if the page mostly uses a color coding that isn't 'thorn for your eye', you stick to that choice of yours and return to it in the future.
Oh!!! Google!!!.....reminds me of the first question which I had asked about Google's popularity. The answer? Well, Google search page doesn't have more that twenty sub-links,uses a color combination which predominantly contains white that doesn't scare you off and most importantly is very fast. In other words, has all the ingredients in the recipe book.
Lesson ? "Simple is beautiful" .As simple as that my friend........
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