Good web site design combines artistic skills and technological ability. Too many people confuse the ability of being able to construct a web site using a wysiwyg program with the ability to build a "good" web site. There is a big difference.

There are several major problems with wysiwyg programs. One is that people with no design skills can easily construct a web page. These people design pages using all the features offered. Such pages contain flashing text, scrolling banners, and annoying animations which distract the viewer from the content text. They tell the viewer what the date is and how many people have visited their site. Except for rare exceptions, all these things distract the viewer from what is, hopefully, the important content of the page. They, also, lead us to the next problem with wysiwyg programs.

Most people who use wysiwyg design programs (including many professionals) pay no attention to the size of the pages they are constructing. All that matters is that the page looks good on their monitor. The page renders quickly on their screen, because all of the files lie on their hard drive as they design the page. Once all of the images and sloppily-coded html pages are uploaded to the server, however, they may take a minute or even longer to download to someone else's computer. This is especially true if the viewer has a dial-up connection, and many still do.

A web designer should always consider the time it will take to download his pages. Those hoping to attract an international audience should realize that most of the world still uses dial-up connections. Even in the United States, most of the population still uses dial-up. But what about the designers who care only about the technology-savvy audience? Many of tech-savvy people access the Internet over wireless connections including PDA's and cellular telephones. These are not "high-speed" connections.

PDA's and cell phones do not use the same browsers as most of the people designing web pages. This adds another problem for many web sites. The designers made the pages look good in their own browser. They did not take into consideration that many of those who may try visiting their site will see something totally different. What about those who might have JavaScript or images turned off? They may not even be able to use the menu on some web sites. This includes many commercial sites.

Then, there is the question of visitors with disabilities. There are, of course, the blind who use screen readers. But it is estimated that ten percent of sited people have some form of color blindness. Web pages with little contrast can appear a big blob to such viewers.

Good web design is not easy. There is no way to make a web page look the same to every viewer. Even color rendering varies from monitor to monitor. But there are ways to improve web design. And, as web browsers become more and more compliant with web standards, we should find it easier to design web pages which will download quickly and appear similar to most viewers. Using css, we should, also, see a huge increase in the ease of changing the look of web sites. With css, making changes to one file can effect the looks of hundreds of pages on a single site.

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