KISS (Keep it simple stupid!)

Jakob Nielsen has some invaluable advice for any web site designer: KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID! Well, Nielsen violates his own rules and writes in somewhat more complicated language, but in this information packed column he describes the benefits of designing a website for low-literacy readers. Summed up quick, design your website at a sixth grade reading level.

Not only does this help with low-literacy users (some 30% of internet users) but it also improves the usability of the site for high-literacy users. This seems somewhat intuitive, but for many of the people I know (almost exclusively high-literacy) writing and designing a website at a sixth grade level would present a challenge. Not only is the way of thinking completely different, but I feel many would shy away from it due to pure pride. They, however, would be losing opportunities to get their message across to 30% of the population, a major blunder for anyone designing a political website.

Some suggestions from Nielsen:
Use text aimed at a 6th grade reading level .
Prioritize information.
Avoid text that moves or changes.
Streamline the page design.
Simplify navigation.
Optimize search.

Employing these simple suggestions can increase a web site's success rate by almost 40% for low-literacy users, and a surprising 25% for high-literacy users.

Its not dumbing-down, its smartening up!