Webpage Tradeoffs

There is no greater decision in designing a web page than how complex it should be. Generally, the more complex a page is, the more features it has, and the more interesting it can be for you to write and for others to visit. You also cut people out. With every non-standard feature or design choice you make, you eliminate potential visitors. If you don't include substitute text for every picture, mobile internet users (cell phones, palm computers, etc.) and the blind may not be able to understand your webpage. If you use features not supported by older browsers, many potential visitors won't be able to bring up your website at all. If you build large, interesting pages, visitors may not have the patience to wait for them to download. With every choice you make, you eliminate a few more people; until choice by choice you have limited yourself to a fairly small potential audience. Make sure you're eliminating people for wise reasons, and try to make your site work for as many as possible.

Sadly, there is no right answer. Every webpage is different, and may fall at one extreme or the other, but more often falls somewhere in between. Once you decide what your priorities are for a particular page, the rest should become fairly obvious. Here are a few questions to help you set your priorities and make your decisions. Below that are advantages and disadvantages to each approach.

• Do you want your page readable by text browsers? Will it be accessible to mobile users or the visually impaired? If so...
  • All graphics need alt text.
  • The <noframes> tag is that much more critical if you use frames.
  • If you use a complex page design, you may need an alternate version for text browsers.
• Do you want your page readable by older browsers and computers?
  • All of the points for text browsers are applicable here as well.
  • Consult a reference for the design elements you want to use. See what browsers they are compatible with. This allows you to make the most informed decision. You might decide you're willing to lose a few people in order to create a navigation system that uses frames. (But don't throw visitors away, use the <noframes> tag to keep as many as possible). However, you might decide that style sheets (CSS) would eliminate too many visitors, and you don't want to include CSS after all.
• What is your audience? What visitors are you writing the page for?
  • Age is important. Pages for adults can be more complex, pages for kids might be a little easier but may have more bells and whistles to explore, and pages for seniors should be VERY simple.
  • Education is a factor. If you're designing a site for everyone, making it so complicated that only a PhD could use it is totally inappropriate. If you're designing a website for PhD students on the other hand, it may be inappropriate not to.
  • What is someone's motivation for visiting your site? If they need it for work or school, you will probably build a more professional site with emphasis on efficiency and ease of use for your visitors. If they come here for fun, they're going to want to play and be interactive. A contact email that you check daily and lots of bells and whistles may be the most important things on your site.