We attended the The Future of Web Design in London on 30th April.

Our expectation was to gain some valuable insight into the possible directions that web design may be headed, but sadly the conference really disappointed on this and wasn’t worth the money we spent on this. We won’t be going next year.

With a few exceptions I thought the quality of speakers wasn’t great and was often more a retrospective look at people’s work rather than a considered, thought provoking view of what the future might look like (what we had hoped for).

The main thing that stood out for me was Robin Christopherson from Ability.net whose presentation on “Designing for All in a Web 2.0 World” highlighted what a terrible experience visually impaired people are getting online.

For people who want to produce outstanding websites but don’t know how.

We’ve been designing websites for small & medium businesses and large corporations for over 10 years now, in previous employment and for our own agency. Things have changed significantly from the first brochure sites we were commissioned to design pre the dotcom boom but one thing that remains constant is that many people we engage with find the whole process of designing and building a website difficult to understand.

Here are a few thoughts about some of the knowledge we’ve gathered on our journey that hopefully will help make web design and build a bit easier.

I came across an article in Design Week on 11th Dec 2008 regarding the new BSI draft standard on web design and accessibility. What was interesting was a reference to a microsite design for Save the Children which couldn’t be made completely accessible because “the client wanted a design that conveyed its message powerfully, rather than a completely accessible one”. And the Strategy Director at the agency responsible was also quoted saying how restrictive accessibility guidelines are from a design point of view.

Having had a look at the microsite what seems clear is that the one of the biggest problems with designing accessible websites are the agencies & designers working on these projects.

There are a huge number of online resources about the most effective way to design a website.

Research by Jacob Neilsen and Steve Krug into usability has undoubtedly influenced many of today’s web designers. A recent post by Smashing Magazine entitled “10 Principles Of Effective Web Design” suggests that the “usability and the utility, not the visual design, determine the success or failure of a website”.

Usability principles are important but our experience would suggest that a website’s credibility is arguably more influential. The Web Credibility Project at Stanford University has published some useful information about how to boost a website’s credibility, all of which we would agree with.

Our experience though suggests that there is one thing above all others that is all important in ensuring a websites success…