October 2, 1997 What IS Web Design, Anyway?

When Gif Girl says, "Hey, I'm gonna design a Web site," what exactly does she mean? As the cheesy Gloria Estefan song says, the words get in the way.

The term "design" means so many different things to so many different people that it often causes miscommunication among the different folks involved in creating a Web site: producers, graphic designers, editors, programmers, and of course, clients and visitors to your site. And, this is true even if you are just fielding comments about your personal homepage. Someone shoots you an e-mail and says, "Hey, I love the design of your Web site." What exactly do they mean?

So Gif Girl's gonna take you on an exploration to find an answer to that burning question...what is Web design, anyway?

1. Information architecture
2. Layout & Navigation
3. Graphic Design & Visual Identity

Gif Girl, when she isn't out saving the world from dithered graphics and illegible Web pages, helps keep Tripod's pages running fast and furious.

Send your comments, ideas, suggestions, and of course, your solutions for saving the world from bad Web page design, to Gif Girl. She'd love to hear from you.