Design Success and Failure in Relation to Syntactical Guidelines

In my opinion, the website for XX Boys, a pin-up style site for transgender models, is a good example of web page design. The perception of this web page design is that it toes the line between masculine and feminine, which works perfectly towards the goal of the site. The background is feminine and the main color is pink, but the font is rough and most of the page is dominated by a masculine-looking guy. The image is dynamically balanced, which the title in the lower right, the logo in the upper left, and the boy's face dead center. The menus are off-center but they overlap in the middle to create balance and relative symmetry. Behind the boy is a diagonal, creating mild stress in the image, but works to highlight the words on the page. The viewer projects a horizontal base and is drawn to the words in the site navigation menu. The stark vertical lines in the background help balance the stress of the pink horizontal lines in the picture. The image is clearly sharpened on the image of the boy, giving the viewer a clear idea what the site is about: modeling. The title sort of works in positive/negative space. The font is pink with a white shadow that draws the viewer's attention to the words.


The image above is of a terrible website from some kind of religious group (found at http://www.dokimos.org/ajff/). Visiting the actual site, the viewer is stunned by a background that is not only jarring neon rainbow, but animated. The rainbow background scrolls to the right. A notification comes down from the top of the screen that says "click here" to save your eternal soul. The initial perception of the website is that it was designed by crazy people with no real goal besides somehow shocking the viewer so much that they follow whatever religion it is they are trying to advertise. The moving background is completely distracting and off-balance, making it almost impossible to retain any actual information from the page. Stress in the design is simple there, it does not really emphasize any one element of the web page. The page is certainly not level, and there is no attraction or grouping. Elements on the page seem to all be completely independent of one another. The background only becomes the negative object when the viewer's eyes are drawn to the black font in the center, the positive object. The title ("accept Jesus, forever forgiven") is almost the last thing one looks at because the bright orange 3D font makes it irritating to look at. The menu is almost impossible the read, and even harder to navigate. The negative and positive contrast is not visible enough. If the purpose of this site is to spread the word of their religion, they make it very hard and uncomfortable to try and learn more about it.