USE IMAGES WISELY
Unless your site is purely technical, with no commercial or personal interest (the W3C Web site, for example), you want to use images to make it visually interesting. Images can help convey moods and ideas not easily described in words. They can also help users understand how to use the site.
Convey Ideas with Images
Say you own a miniature golf course, and you'd like to create a promotional Web site that encourages families to come out and play a round at your course. A good image to use might be one of a family playing miniature golf, laughing, and having a good time. This image conveys the feeling of fun and family bonding, without you actually putting the words "Fun and Family Bonding!" on the site.
Selecting an image to convey a feeling can be as straightforward as putting a big, juicy-looking orange on an orange juice Web site. Despite the fact that any visitor would already know that the site was about orange juice, the image of the big, juicy orange is a more positive and emotional way of getting the user engaged in the site. Putting the words "Yummy Orange Juice" in huge text across the homepage just wouldn't have the same effect.
On the other hand, some sites call for more subtle use of images to convey a feeling. For instance, many Web sites for funeral homes feature photographs or sketches of the funeral home or its employees. Both convey a feeling of reassurance to the potential customer. The funeral homes look invariably spotless, and the employees invariably respectful and professional.
Helping Users Get Around with Images
Images are often used on Web sites to help users figure out what to do. For instance, a picture of a pencil could indicate that a user can write to the Webmaster by clicking there. Or an image of a cloud with the sun peeking out might indicate that weather information is available by clicking. One of the most ubiquitous images is a question mark, where a user can click for help.
Such images, called icons, are often used together with text to guide users. For example, if you visit any of the numerous travel sites, such as Expedia, shown in Figure 2-6, you might see an image of an airplane and the word flights to let the user know this is a link to the Flights section of the site. Both visual and literal people are served by using both.
Figure 2-6: Icons help visitors visually identify links and information.
Children's sites often use simply images as a navigation tool, partly because small children may not be good readers, and also because children enjoy more colorful media. Take a look at the instructions for a game on SesameStreet.com in Figure 2-7. The instructions for the visitor consist primarily of images.
Figure 2-7: SesameStreet.com uses images to help kids use the site.
Images convey a lot of information about a site and should be chosen carefully. There are a seemingly infinite number of images to choose from, so the next step is to cull through them to find images that best suit your needs.
