Viewpoints Feng shui for cyber living | Feng shui for cyber living |
|
|
|
| Viewpoints | |
|
We've all seen those books offering wisdom to people in a hurry. We've had feng shui for cats, feng shui for gardens, we've even had wrong shui. Dimsum has, we believe, an exclusive on our hands. For the first time, and correct us if we're wrong here, we present to you: feng shui for your website. We have consulted a number of feng shui experts and by a process of spiritual alchemy blended their advice with the web genius of our very own Cherise Fong. What follows is a guide to perfect balance and harmony in cyber space: The Eight Principles of Web Shui. 1. Ensure your entrance is welcoming Your front door should be an inviting homepage which suggests the wealth of knowledge you hold inside and encourages visitors to enter your domestic sphere of influence. A clear and simple presentation offers an attractive window to the content behind the links. 2. Check for missing Life stations Each of the Life stations of your web site represent your concerns. A complete site map includes a dedicated section for each of these, balancing interests and intentions with references and resources. Make sure all your bases are covered. 3. Clear the clutter Furniture should be minimal, as resolution real estate isn't cheap to begin, and distracting buttons and/or adverts cause your visitors to lose focus on the message you are trying to convey. Prefer bauhaus to art deco, avoiding redundant icons and flashy animations. 4. Check for flow of energy
5. Create dynamic colour combinations Contrast font and background colours enough to make text comfortably legible, but not so much that it creates an alienating environment in sterile black and white. Different hues have different influences, and when combined positively, can be quite potent. But don't forget, use the browser-safe web palette of 216 hex-balanced colours to prevent unexpected shifts in tint across platforms. 6. Contour harsh angles Don't let your pages be dominated by a single rectangular navigation bar on the left-hand side, mimicking the academic margin of printed binder paper. Perusing eyes should be able to move quickly and easily about the page. Give them smooth edges and negative spaces; don't let their attention span get trapped in a corner. 7. Check all machinery for working order Be sure to fix all broken or obscure links and images. If your connexions are obsolete, so are you. Also ensure a constantly flowing download before your transfer can be interrupted. 8. Clear drains and leaky taps Refresh content regularly, so that old news is never stagnant. Don't allow dropped messages and added briefs to accumulate into clutter and block the entry of new posts and stimulating input.
good web shui: www.dimsum.co.uk |
|
1 July 2001
The internal links in your site should allow your guest to navigate
freely through the pages, without encountering a dead end. It is also
important to let the site breathe through coherent exit links to
other sites, and to ascertain that it is appropriately linked to in
return. In this way you may better channel incoming requests.
