The Lighthook Web Site is designed as a personal, information-rich site, as opposed to a commercial, high-impact or advertising site. You will find that informationally significant graphics are optional to the viewer, and that such graphics are identified by subject and graphic file size.
Web site success is not measured only by hits per unit time, but also by the speed and clarity with which a viewer can assess site contents. Hit counts do not reflect that fact that as many as ninety percent of site visitations are cursory and do not lead to further site exploration. One does not know for sure what one will find at a site until its content has been perceived. In other words, "Back" is the browser option selected more frequently than any other link within a site.
< Good web site design means assisting the viewer to be able to ascertain the value and character of the site as quickly as possible. The ideal web site will load and present enough information in thirty seconds (preferably less) for a viewer to be able to assess site content desirability and to navigate within the site.
Despite the phrase: "A picture is worth a thousand words", graphic images are poor information carriers unless they clearly define a specific idea, or are directly illustrative or revealing of textual information which provides context. Far too much of the Web's graphic information, including GUI's, is "information poor", and impedes, rather than speeds, the search for information. And, unfortunately, the trend in Web design is toward more needless or information-poor graphics, animations, and graphic navigation "aids", all of which require much more load time than text only sites. The current height of this folly are sites that require three to eight minutes (or more) to load, and then do not present the viewer with enough information to make an informed next step. Unhappily, these sites are not uncommon. High impact/advertising sites, like their print, radio, and TV counterparts, value impact more than information, and therefore penalize the viewer who seeks specific information.
Framed sites also present drawbacks similar to excess use of graphics, and, unfortunately, they are also increasing in popularity. To date I have not found a single framed site that loaded more quickly, or that, once loaded, possessed more clarity than its unframed predecessor. Indeed, framed sites take considerably longer to load, and, with very rare exception, are much less able to illustrate the site architecture. Carefully designed framed sites offer a single slight advantage: the main page does not have to reload to re-access the table of contents. However the advantage of frames comes with several disadvantages: screen space is more limited due to white space considerations; conflicts are more likely with viewer browser resolution settings; and the viewer is required to perform more mouse clicks and provide more concentration on navigation when that concentration should be applied to the information being sought.
Sites with high graphic concentrations and framed architecture penalize the average visitor who does not have the latest and fastest computer equipment, frustrate online newcomers, and discourage the biggest potential online market: those people who are seriously considering whether or not to go online. Designers should also remember that "visitors" very often equals "customers".
I feel that the Web has a great potential to collaborate with the myriad human research styles, but that its potential can easily be wasted by wasting the time of searchers. I have tried to avoid this approach in the Lighthook site.
Thanks for visiting. I hope you enjoy what you find here.
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