What makes a good site?

i think 3 columns can work pretty well - better than one column sites!

About the validator...is it natural that big sites, like Yahoo! and Google have 30+ errors and are NOT valid?

Ebay has 158!!

Eh, but they run on Java. You're going to expect some problems from eBay

A "good" website will...

1.) ...accomplish the goals for which it was created in the first place.
2.) ...contain original content that isn't found any where else on the net. No one likes site scrapers, so do some market research and write your own content. Otherwise, hire a copywriter. You'll be glad you did.
3.) ...be well organized and easy to follow in terms of navigation.
4.) ...be compelling enough to get repeat visitors.
5.) ...be actively promoted,
6.) ...not be an "island" by gradually attaining inbound links.
7.) ...be routinely updated with useful or brand-building content.
8.) ...have an overall design that is consistent from page to page. For instance, it is very frustrating to come to a new page and find that the main navigation has moved!

It's a good idea to be standards compliant if possible. However, under certain circumstances, it can be very hard to eliminate all errors. Give it your best shot though!

Keep learning and designing and your sites will undoubtedly improve!
__________

Website Design by Visual Harmony, Ocala, Florida

Some websites aren't constantly promoted... If they're not, then they should be good enough to self-promote.

Btw, the line above signatures is a bit longer than that, VH.

Wow good catch steax!

Lol thanks.

One other point I want to state:

Telling your users that something will happen does not mean you get full rights to do it. Nor should you tell your users to do something in order to use your site, instead of accommodating them.

I am very sick of a website that says "your login will expire every 10 minutes for security. Please login afterwards each time". Another says "some popup windows may appear while you are using this page." Some say, in big red letters, "please activate JS to use our website" when I complain about their reliance, instead of actually changing some content to work without JS. Or they tell us to download a piece of software first.

I mean, you serve your users, not the other way around. How would you like it if a road led to a cliff, and on the very edge a sign says "you will crash to the bottom of this crevice and die in a few seconds".

Lol

I think it depends on the website and the overall feel you want the site to have.
I've done both light on dark and dark on light, it really depends on what you're trying to accomplish.
Another thing you could do is to give the user the option of what backgound color and text color they want. That could work too.
I'm gonna try that out actually.

In my opinion, here are some rules that should make a "good" site:

1. the ultimate goal of a site is to serve it's primary purpose - that is - what is it trying to sell etc.
2. a good site should have a consistant color scheme/template etc
3. a good site should have a simple and easy to remember URL - sites like www.ibetyoucantrememberthisextremelylongdomainname.com willl NEVER do well because people simply can't remember or be bothered remembering the address. stuf like www.movies.com or www.ferraricars.org or whatever are easy to remember
4. a good site's address should tell what the site is about. for example www.webdesignforums.net clearly states that this site is a forum about web design.
5. accessability is a really good feature of a good site - if people can't navigate the stie, or people with disabilities find it hard to be on your site, then you're going to lose visitors and your site will be a 'ghost site'.
6. where possible, a good site will be XHTML complient.
7. a good site should NEVER rely on stuff like Javascript, AJAX and flash etc to fully display the site or rely on these things to run the site becasue if someone has Javascript disabled or doesn't support flash, then YOU'RE STUFFED. BUT......a little javascript and flash here and there never hurt anyone becasue we want your site to be in the 21st century and be exciting. There is nothing worse than a boring site. MAKE IT EXCITING!
8. use CSS wherever possible

That's my list but i bet that as soon as I pos this, I will think of 5 more points.


Just one more thing - after reading this thread, I've notice a few people say "never use white text on black background becasue it is hard for some vision impairments". I just can't resist saying that I am visionaly impared, like EXTREMELY vision impared and I think that what you're saying is absolute crap. I love going to a website that has got a dark colour scheme and has got light text - it is really easy to read becasue the brightness of light backgrounds especially yellow, white etc almost blinds me and really there is nothing worse. So all the poeple who have posted similarly about this issue - thanks a lot becasue I think so many people don't know what they're saying.

I think part of the problem might be that the types of sites that use light on dark text are also the kinds of sites that use size 2 font and are hard to read in general (video game, anime, etc. sites), so that style gets associated with hard to read websites.

I also think that light on dark is perceived to be cooler and flashier, so it also attracts a lot of new web designers who are still in their flashy phase, and since they're new and also focusing on aesthetics, it doesn't end up being as readable.

So I think that it's doable, but people just have to take special care that their text is readable.

i agree that the types of sites that use the light on dark schemes often have very small text, but the sites that do this attract the kind of visitors that like that sort of thing, or who don't mind it.

For me, light on dark is one of the best colour schemes you can get but if the text is small, then that makes in unreadable, no matter what the colour scheme is.

I have seen some pretty bad and some pretty good websites out there. The ones that really get me (in a good way) are the ones that are easy to read, don't have too much content on them (unless it is meaningful content), easy and very intuitive navigation, you don't have to click much to get where you want to go, the site does not have too many colors (max 5). That is a good starting point in my opinion.

got it in one buddy.

As I posted before in this thread, accessebility and the visual style is the most impotant factor for me.

In the forum rules it says that you should post in the right forum. For instance, if I had a SEO question, I should post it in the SEO forum, not the PHP section.
You posted a website rating/review kind of post in the web design forum. The web design forum is for visual design stuff. I can see why you posted in this forum, and if we didn't have the website ratings and reviews forum you would have been posting in the right place.
But just be careful about posting in the wrong forum, becasue it can get you banned.

I had a look at all your posts and saw that you now have psted in the website ratings and reviews forum.


You you kind of did something wrong but I believe not intentionally. No hard feelings, I just wanted to warn you about posting in the wrong forum, becasue any moderators or adim guys come snooping around they might not like it and they may say BANNED. So just be a little more careful. I'll go to the webstie ratings and reviews forum now and review your site if you want!

The design should fit the objective of the website and convert.
Have a strong call to action.
Be easy to use use and navigate.
Use valid xhtml and css
Load fast
Optimized for search engines from the ground up.

Ummm....look at this entire thread and you'll find heaps of help there.

To me, it's most important that the pictures and text work together to sell the main concept. Also, the slogan should tell people what the site company does why people should use their services/buy from them.

Definately, that is a great thing to consider. To add to your point, the sites URL should also tell people what their company does and what it is selling.

Good site includes various points like search engine feasibility, navigational structure, attractive and clear menu, good internal links. and much more.