It’s fun to make digital doodads and dillywonkers. The day I finally mastered the rollover image, I spent an additional half-hour just playing with it. I wanted to fill my whole site with rollover images. I wanted rollovers on menu buttons and thumbnails. I wanted to show the web that I could do fancy things with HTML and JavaScript! I was so proud.

"I believe that the majority of today's visitors would rather be wowed with what a site does than with the way it looks."

Later I learned how to play with CSS and make those icky underlined links go away. I fell in love with tables and constantly use them to align my page. I obtained proper graphic creation/editing software and even learned Flash. I’m proficient with my particular blog program and have enough knowledge of all the above to create a somewhat professional site. Still and all, I am an amateur designer.

I don’t have the “eye” or whatever special vision they teach you in real design school. I used to think I had artistic talent but I discovered that I lack the ability to conceptualize placement. I am incapable of discerning why a painting or photo or graphic or webpage captures and intrigues the average viewer. I wouldn’t know eye-catching layout if I were forced to look at it for hours with my eyelids pried open while Beethoven played.

All I can do is rely on the advice of others when it comes to site design. Often I have to rely on suggestions from my boss. He asked me to write a two-part article, informing webmasters that Neat & Tidy is the way to go.

I may be an ignoramus but I have noticed a downward trend in needless eye candy on a lot of sites, both adult and non-adult. Web design does seem to be heading in a Zen direction. Sure, more surfers have broadband connections and can load graphics-heavy websites faster. Nevertheless I think most surfers are totally bored with shiny logos, flying menus and showy Flash. I think that surfers want sites that are easy to navigate and easy on the eyes. I believe that the majority of today’s visitors would rather be wowed with what a site does than with the way it looks.

When I researched for this article, I found there were a bunch of wonderful places to go that will help the spatially-challenged (like me) achieve an understanding of what is and what is not good design. From color-selection, professional trends and good, old-fashioned snarky critique, I discovered sites that I will share in part two of this series. For now, I return to the subject, Neat & Tidy design.

Take a long look at your adult site. Try to forget that you already know where every menu, ad and text box is located. Try to imagine your page through the eyes of someone that is visiting it for the very first time. Analyze your site for navigation.

Will that unique visitor have to work to find his/her way around your web? Are you aware of how frustrating it is to get lost on a webpage? How can you expect your new surfer to trust your salesmanship when your leave them unguided from the start? Your cute, little, slider, drop-down menu thingy looks cool but will it work on all browsers? Does it add any function to or give aide to your visitors? Is your funky-fancy menu located on all your pages or are you abandoning your surfers deeper within? Or worse, have you made an image-map and now expect surfers to hover their cursors over your masterwork in slavish devotion to your devilish sense of direction? Get real. Surfers want a navigation menu that navigates. Period. Who will give a damn that your Flash buttons animate if your menu takes them nowhere?

Close your eyes and re-imagine your ad placement, content placement and text placement. Explore your site as if it were new to you. Where is the white space? Where are the breaks? How clean is your site above the fold? How clean is it as you scroll down? Too many ads? Too many decorative graphics? Is your font too small or is your site copy too much? Are you sure your page needs that many colors?

As you will read in part two, despite my naivete of layout and design, I am not alone when I stress the importance of creating a Neat & Tidy webpage. My boss suggested it. Other, professional designers recommend it. There is help for you to achieve it. Be a wise adult webmaster; make your pages Neat & Tidy!