Williams and Tollett's two chapters on good and bad Web design point out an important truth: Communication, not just beautification, is key to good Web design.
Headlines shouldn't be disguised as buttons and vice versa. Headlines should be kept close to their associated text so that people aren't confused about what is connected and what isn't.
Having said that, I disagree with their assertion that Web sites shouldn't include sections that say things like, "This page is best viewed with Internet Explorer 6." This is particularly offensive to me because we're in the news business. It's not our job to hide things from readers. If a Web page would best be viewed in a particular browser, or if a video can only be seen in a particular format (such as Windows Media Player, QuickTime player, etc.), it is not only a good idea but imperative to tell readers about this. Otherwise, you'll lose people very quickly, which means less traffic to your Web site and, in the long run, fewer advertising dollars.
Having said that, the best approach would be to design a Web site in a way that can be viewed across a wide variety of browsers without problems that could be easily fixed. It's a good idea to test a site on several browsers.
I learned that you should align all elements in relatively the same way — all left, all centered and so forth. It's a great idea, simple and effective, and I hadn't really considered how this element could play such an important role before reading these.
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