<i>&gt; My experience has been entirely the opposite. When exhibiting demo</i>
<i>&gt; sites, our clients have been attracted to the "extras"; they seem turned</i>
<i>&gt; off by sites that, while strong in content, are visually conservative.</i>
<i>&gt; Their response to such sites is, "why should I build a site like that</i>
<i>&gt; when I can do the same thing with a traditional brochure?" I've ever</i>
<i>&gt; heard people say that they don't care about content at all, that they</i>
<i>&gt; just want a site to "look nice."</i>
This is due to the difference between *seeing* a demo and *using*
a site yourself for a real task. Demos are a very poor way of assessing
a design. Thus, an informed client should *refuse demos* and sit down
on their own to test the sites given as references by a contractor.
In testing a site, I recommend performing two types of tasks:
a) exploratory tasks where you follow links that interest you and
check whether you understand how the site is structured and whether
you get the information you expected when you clicked on the link.
b) directed tasks where you try to find some specific information
on the site.
Of course, people who don't use the Internet themselves don't care
about content, so I am sure that you will find many clients who just
want to look nice because they have head that it is hot to be on the
web without understanding why. That does not mean that those clients'
*customers* will be satisfied with a site that looks cool but doesn't
do anything for them. Contractors selling web design have two options
in the face of this paradox: they can provide what their clients want (a
very understandable choice) or they can try to educate their clients as
to why a website has to be of some use to their customers in addition
to looking good. In the long term, repeat business may only come from
those clients who derive value from their websites.
Of course, as Brian states in his message, the real solution is
great design that satisfies both criteria.
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