I won’t hold you in suspense. No, websites do not have to look marvelous to be marvelous. Long gone are the days when it was common to land on a site that obviously put 90% of their effort into the design. And, at some point, they’d add some good content little by little. For the visual thinkers out there, sometimes it’s easier to see the design to conceptualize their content and how it might flow from page to page.

Or, are those days really long gone?

I have encountered many small to mid-size businesses that report they need a new “website design.” While they may not intend only for a new design, that term seems to be pretty on-target with what they really do intend. A new design at least gives their company a facelift, they think, and when they have that done it will be easy to post text to the pages as time allows. The problem is that the time never does allow, the content never seems to get its due attention, and what lingers out there for the world to see is a site that is merely a sign on the front of their door. When their potential customers walk inside, there’s not much there at all.

So, what I am saying is that an effective website needs a balance of both good design and good content. And if either of the two has to be sacrificed for any reason, I say that design should take a bit of a hit in that battle for your attention. Ultimately, what your site visitors have come to your site for is to learn about something, consider your products and services, and come away with a perspective on your site’s topic that has been enhanced in some way. A good-looking structure and design around that content is key, of course. Design should serve to draw in the visitor, to give off a sense of what the brand is all about.

However, especially in this era of the more discerning, web-savvy consumer, content is king. A company or individual responsible for “designing” a website should take content into greater consideration earlier on in the design than in the last stretch of the marathon.

With mallet, hammer, socket wrench and work gloves, I will tear that monstrous deck apart and hope I don’t break a leg. Anything (almost) is worth fulfilling the dream of having some semblance of a deck in our backyard, where a sad slab of cracked concrete currently sits outside our backdoor. I really should take a photo of that poor piece of crap that looks as if ten earthquakes hit our house. I think I lost a shoe in that crack last year! China, can you mail it back to me?

So, I am not, by any means, what you would call a handy fellow. My one and only proficiency when it comes to home improvement is installing ceiling fans. I gained that mastery by installing ceiling fans in nearly every room in our house. So, if on the news this weekend you hear a funny story about a man, a mallet, and a deck that fell upon him, you’ll know that unidentified pancake of a man is yours truly.

Well, on to the topic of this post…. looking for analogy in the mess that I am about to undertake. It really does kinda match up well with disassembling a website. There are lots and lots of websites out there that have way too much clutter. There’s junk in corners and crevices of pages that distract the visitors from the important content. More often than not, the content managers of those sites stuff that junk into empty areas because there’s no other space to put it. Kind of like that room in your house that has become the storage closet for the muck and mire of your life (we all have some of that!).

Simplifying a site from time to time is a necessity. You might say you have a reason for every ounce of content on your website. You might feel as though taking away some of that content today would result in a lost customer tomorrow. Don’t be over-dramatic. Put yourself in their shoes: Would you rather wade through tons of content that is useless to you to find the content that you are seeking, or would you prefer to land on a website and see clear paths to your desired content?

Oh yeah, back to that deck. Sometimes, a nice, simple deck offers a better experience than a monstrous, elaborate deck. Sometimes, a deck is too overpowering for its own good. Disassembling that deck to make one that fits the needs of its users is the best approach. Same goes for websites.

I’ll let you know how the deck disassembly goes… and maybe post photos, too! Wish me luck.