But, they differ significantly from books, magazines, catalogs, and brochures in their use. Web sites are nonlinear. With the home page serving as a nominal beginning, hypertext links make it possible for users to begin and end their visit on any page, and to follow a path of their choosing through the site. Lacking any visual sense of the order of the individual Web pages and of their relationship to one another, the user must depend upon each page for navigational help. Web technologies provide the capability for Web pages to perform a variety of useful tasks and enable users to interactively create and alter the content of pages.
Web pages displayed on computer monitors are more likely to be scanned than read by the viewer.
Recognizing these fundamental differences, we believe the incorporation of certain design principles relating to simplicity , consistency , navigation , content , speed , identity , and readability are imperative to ensure the effectiveness of Web sites. 1 of 8 Download a copy of Effective Web Design.