\nHow people use webpages :paragraph credit-using-webpages From Web Design From Scratch: How People Use Webpages

How designers look at web pages

• We appreciate balance, depth, richness, and surprises
• We enjoy looking at designs
• We stare long and hard at the complete screen

How real people use web pages

• They move quickly because they don't like looking at the screen
• They're impatient - they tend to click the first promising link, and often don't wait for pages to finish loading
• They don't like to read, scanning text quickly for clues
• They're looking for things to help them do what they want to do

Hyperlink Styling

From Web Design From Scratch: Clear Hyperlinks

On balance, it seems that the predominant convention in the industry is to keep #00f or #00c (slightly darker) blue for links, and to make links red and (optionally) underlined on hover. I think that this provides the best balance of functionality when applied consistently to inline hyperlinks and grouped hyperlinks.

Scanability

From Alertbox: How Users Read on the Web

How to make your page more scannable:

• highlighted keywords (hypertext links serve as one form of highlighting; typeface variations and color are others)
• meaningful sub-headings (not "clever" ones)
• bulleted lists
• one idea per paragraph (users will skip over any additional ideas if they are not caught by the first few words in the paragraph)
• the inverted pyramid style, starting with the conclusion
• half the word count (or less) than conventional writing

Save the Pixel

Make the design "feel" easy. Great artists achieved much with a few brush strokes. When designing for the web use wide storked for backgrounds and save the detail for the important parts.

Goals

• Setting goals makes it easier to achieve them.
• Goals should be specific and achievable.
• Ask why (or how) repeatedly to find core motivation

Word Choice

• Use words to highlight positive differentiators, rather than to say your product or service isn't something negative.
• A good rule of thumb is: don't use a term unless its opposite would also be a positive differentiator.

Finding Color Choices

• Use an online tool.
• Pixelate an existing image