Wednesday, 30 January 2008
To yellow highlight or not to yellow highlight
First up, I have to confess yellow is not my favourite colour. It doesn't suit me because it makes me look sallow. So now I've come clean and I'll admit that what follows may simply be a reflection of my own prejudices.
You might think it a little girly, but picking a colour scheme for your site is a bit like getting dressed. One of the things you do is make sure your clothes co-ordinate. Most of us wouldn't team a pale pink top with an acid yellow bottom or lime green with baby blue because, most of the time, the colours just don't go together. Clothes are a little different because the fabric is often patterned and sometimes odd combinations look good. I'm not convinced the same is true for web sites.
I've been to quite a few sites lately where yellow highlights have been used to draw attention to information on the page. It's a good idea to highlight the most important information on the page, but I'm not convinced yellow highlights are the way to do that.
My biggest problem is they often clash with the site's colour scheme, particularly when the highlight is fluoro yellow. A lot of the time, this makes the site look ugly. I think it's better to stick with bold or use a colour that harmonises with the rest of the site.
It's worthwhile spending some time experimenting with various combinations to find one that suits you and your business. Color Match is a good place to start. You simply select a colour and are given six shades that match.
Yellow highlights may work for your colour scheme, just as yellow looks good on some people. But if they don't, you may want to think about alternatives.
You might think it a little girly, but picking a colour scheme for your site is a bit like getting dressed. One of the things you do is make sure your clothes co-ordinate. Most of us wouldn't team a pale pink top with an acid yellow bottom or lime green with baby blue because, most of the time, the colours just don't go together. Clothes are a little different because the fabric is often patterned and sometimes odd combinations look good. I'm not convinced the same is true for web sites.
I've been to quite a few sites lately where yellow highlights have been used to draw attention to information on the page. It's a good idea to highlight the most important information on the page, but I'm not convinced yellow highlights are the way to do that.
My biggest problem is they often clash with the site's colour scheme, particularly when the highlight is fluoro yellow. A lot of the time, this makes the site look ugly. I think it's better to stick with bold or use a colour that harmonises with the rest of the site.
It's worthwhile spending some time experimenting with various combinations to find one that suits you and your business. Color Match is a good place to start. You simply select a colour and are given six shades that match.
Yellow highlights may work for your colour scheme, just as yellow looks good on some people. But if they don't, you may want to think about alternatives.
Thursday, 24 January 2008
Why a pile of ironing is like unformatted text
I've been looking at the pile of ironing I have to do and successfully putting it off for about a week now. If you are anything like me, there are always more important, interesting or entertaining things to do.
I've also been thinking a lot about formatting and I decided my pile of ironing is like a big chunk of plain text. Just as my growing pile of ironing is less appealing the larger it becomes; the less formatting you use, the more of a chore it becomes to read your content.
When we are online, we want to find information quickly. We also know if we don't see what we want, we can always go somewhere else.
If your text consists of slabs of plain text, there's nothing to attract a visitor's eye. They will probably think it's too much hard work to trawl through looking for the piece of information they want and go somewhere more appealing.
Make it easy for your visitors by highlighting the information they are most likely to want. By using headings, bold, bullets & indents, you make it clear what information is on your site and where it is locate it, making it more likely your visitor will stay on your site.
Unfortunately, there is only one solution to my ironing problem & I'm off to plug it in now.
I've also been thinking a lot about formatting and I decided my pile of ironing is like a big chunk of plain text. Just as my growing pile of ironing is less appealing the larger it becomes; the less formatting you use, the more of a chore it becomes to read your content.
When we are online, we want to find information quickly. We also know if we don't see what we want, we can always go somewhere else.
If your text consists of slabs of plain text, there's nothing to attract a visitor's eye. They will probably think it's too much hard work to trawl through looking for the piece of information they want and go somewhere more appealing.
Make it easy for your visitors by highlighting the information they are most likely to want. By using headings, bold, bullets & indents, you make it clear what information is on your site and where it is locate it, making it more likely your visitor will stay on your site.
Unfortunately, there is only one solution to my ironing problem & I'm off to plug it in now.
Labels: business writing, content, formatting, web tips
Saturday, 5 January 2008
Taking a Break
On Monday, most people are heading back to work after the Christmas break. In the holiday spirit, I thought I’d put down a couple of lines about taking a break. Everything benefits from a rest – even your writing!
If you are anything like me, there are times when inspiration is sadly lacking. You think, you doodle, you scribble out your doodle, and then you get another sheet of paper and start thinking again. You waste hours and all you have to show for your efforts is a pile of crumpled paper.
The best thing to do when nothing inspires is nothing. Although you can keep trying to write something you probably won’t be happy with it and you’ll probably rewrite it anyway.
Take a break, avoid thinking about what you are writing, and start fresh. Some people swear by naps, walks or meditating, but I tend to do something mundane and repetitive, like vacuuming. It doesn’t matter what you do, the important thing is to stop and recharge.
Rest well and the words will follow.
If you are anything like me, there are times when inspiration is sadly lacking. You think, you doodle, you scribble out your doodle, and then you get another sheet of paper and start thinking again. You waste hours and all you have to show for your efforts is a pile of crumpled paper.
The best thing to do when nothing inspires is nothing. Although you can keep trying to write something you probably won’t be happy with it and you’ll probably rewrite it anyway.
Take a break, avoid thinking about what you are writing, and start fresh. Some people swear by naps, walks or meditating, but I tend to do something mundane and repetitive, like vacuuming. It doesn’t matter what you do, the important thing is to stop and recharge.
Rest well and the words will follow.
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