So ugly it hurts

He's so ugly his parents had to tie a porkchop around his neck to get the dogs to play with him. - old school yard joke.

In helping a friend do a Delphi study for her PhD program, I've been looking a LOT of school library media center websites. God bless any librarian who makes the effort to provide good online resources for his/her kids. A lot of thought and sweat are on display.

But there are way too many school library websites that can only be described as butt ugly. I don't care how good the links on them are, if the colors and layout make one's teeth hurt, it just doesn't matter. Get your art teacher or a person with some design sense in to critique your pages. Or follow Robin Williams's advice in her The Non-Designer's Web Book. Or hire a student who's doing well in art class. If you can't get to beautiful, at least shoot for non-offensive.

Remember Daniel Pink's admonition that it's "Not just function, but also DESIGN. Are you scaring kids away from your virtual library?

Now, about those curtains...

Comments

[Jeff Utecht]

I bought that book a couple years ago and used in one of my classes. A very simple guide to web design. Come to think about it, I loaned that book to a teacher and haven't seen it since. I better go check out his web site. :)

[Doug Johnson]

Hi Jeff,

Ever since her book The Mac is not a Typewriter came out, I've been a big fan of Robin Williams. Here Non-Designer's Design Book is a classic.

All the best,

Doug