Know who your audience are, right down to gender

A piece of interesting research by the University of Glamorgan shows that men and women's taste in web site designs differ.

The main differences are (apparently):

1. Women prefer sites designed by women and men prefer sites designed by men.
   
2. Men favour the use of straight lines (as opposed to rounded forms), few colours in the typeface and background, and formal typography.
   
3. They also favour the use of formal or expert language with few abbreviations and are more likely to promote themselves and their abilities heavily.
   

All interesting stuff, although I notice that the press release itself shows hints of gender bias: there's lots about what men like and all that's really suggested is that women don't like those things as much. A bit more focus on the women, please!

The research is based on a small and limited sample size, but it is at least suggestive, and is another thing for any web designer to consider when building sites targeted at particular gender groups.