Revised with new information as of March 22, 2011
Web Site Design Suggestions for Nonprofits, NGOs and Small Government Agencies
I am not a web designer. You can tell when you look at my web site that I'm not. The web site you are viewing now is quite elementary in its design, both because I'm not a web designer (and cannot design anything more complex), and because I want to be able to change any page I want to any time I want to (rather than calling a web designer and having to wait for him and her to do it for me).
That said, I do have some very strong feelings about web design, and you should too, even if you are not a web designer yourself. You need to understand some standards of good design and be ready to demand them of whomever is going to design your web site, be it an in-house employee, a consultant or a volunteer.
Some more fundamentals regarding web site design for nonprofits, NGOs, civil society organizations, government agencies, schools and other mission-based organizations:
- The reaction from a first-time visitor shouldn't be "Wow, look at the design!" but rather, "Wow, I immediately found exactly the information I was looking for!" or "Wow, this organization does great work!" Don't bury web page content under oh-so-many graphics. The most important thing to remember when designing your Web site is what your audiences want out of the site. Listen to your customers! If a Web site wins design awards, but your customers don't use it, it's "virtually" worthless to users. Most users will visit your Web site to find information, not graphics; information should drive the design of your Web site.
- The answers to your organization's FAQs should be immediately, obviously easy to find.
- Learning what makes a good web site often involves learning what makes a rotten web site. See websitesthatsuck.com to learn more.
- Not everyone, believe it or not, uses the latest version of Microsoft's Internet Explorer to browse the Internet. Your agency's Web audience is going to be diverse not only in age but also in computer and Internet capabilities. Design your site with people without the best/latest equipment and software in mind - and with users of different web browsers in mind. Do not ever let a web designer tell you, "If it works on Explorer, it will work on any browser" or "Everyone uses Microsoft!"
- Break up text into small paragraphs whenever possible, and break up huge amounts of information into separate pages, as appropriate; for instance, break up your newsletter into one web page per story, rather than putting them all into one big file.
- Many people don't like to read text on their computer screen at all, and will print out certain pages of your Web site to read offline. Therefore, it is important that each page has basic information about your organization on it, just as you would want any printed material to have basic info about your organization on it (complete name of organization, main web address, etc.).
- A professional designer may develop your site, but someone in-house or a volunteer should be able to make regular changes to the site without needing assistance of the designer. The designer should create pages that allow these changes to happen easily.
- Avoid using large or gratuitous graphics that don't add to the content of the page, or take a long time to download.
- Keep graphics to a minimum, and use them wisely. Graphics should enhance the information on the site, not be just for "show."
- The World Wide Web shouldn't be the World Wide Wait. Your web pages should load quickly for everyone, not just those with broadband.
- Many people turn the graphics function off while browsing the Web. If you have an image map, offer a text version of the menu on the page so such users can get to the information they want on your Web site.
- Make sure the name of your organization appears in the TEXT of your web site, not just within a graphics file. This greatly increases the possibility of your site being found when someone types your organization's name into a search engine.
- Make sure the keywords and phrases you want people to use to find your web site via a search engine appear often in the TEXT of your web site, not just within a graphics file. Again, this greatly increases the possibility of your site being found when someone types your organization's name into a search engine.
- Much of the advice just offered makes your web site accessible for people using assistive technologies!
To learn WHY as well as how to make web sites accessible, and for extensive links on web accessibility standards, visit Knowbility.Org
Also see Web Design Guidelines for Low Bandwidth. This resource is from Aptivate, an NGO providing IT services for international development.
Also see:
For more tips on web site design for mission-based organizations, visit TechSoup.
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