Great Thoughts on Website Design

There are about 1,001 different opinions on how to design and build a website. 

In my opinion, which I assume the world is waiting for, there are three elements to worry about, and most people start off by focusing on the wrong two. 

The three elements: 

• Content
• Technology
• Appearance

Yes. I do mean to imply that the correct order puts appearance in last place. 

There is no point to a website that looks pretty and runs on the most amazing technology ever if it doesn't have anything to say. The prettiness wow will last for 0.5 seconds. The technology can either get in your way or help, but no one is coming to the website because it has a keyword cloud. 

Start with the content. What do you have to say? How can you communicate that message? 

That second question is actually a fairly new addition to the philosophy. It used to be that the Internet was a text place with pretty pictures. Now, we can clearly communicate with video, audio, graphics, presentations and text. Or all of the above at the same time. 

If you're going to spend time on building a website, invest the most in the content and ideas.