Most Common Web Design Mistakes

Many small business owners design and build their own websites, or ask a friend/family member to do it, in order to save on costs. Unfortunately, uninformed and inexperienced designers will make mistakes that cause customer loss and a loss of credibility for your business.

The biggest mistake new designers make, is trying to impress their viewers with alot of flashy graphics, instead of selling to them.

Rule No. 1....

No one else cares about you or your website. Keep repeating that to yourself, tape it on your forehead, your computer, do whatever you have to do, but keep it foremost in your mind as you build your site. The truth hurts.

The three reasons a viewer visits a website:

1) They want/need information
2) They want/need to make a purchase
3) They want/need entertainment

What do you want your site to do for your business?

Not too many viewers will go to your website because they want to see how pretty your graphics are, how cute the bouncing little teddy bear is, nor do they care about the photos of your new car or your last family vacation. Save all the little tricks and flash for your own personal web page. Keep repeating...Nobody cares....

So what is the answer to a good website that keeps your customers coming and coming back for more? Simplify, simplify, simplify. Keep it clean, clear and consistent. Make it very clear what your product is or what your website is all about.

Read through the following examples of newbie designer mistakes, and avoid them. Your visitors will thank you. Good Luck!

Hard To Read Pages

Dark page backgrounds or patterned backgrounds make a page hard to read. A lighter background with darker text is always the best bet. While you may think that background image on your page is really cool, does it make it hard to read? If so, trash it. Try again.

Using the Wrong Fonts

If you have specified a font for your text and the viewer does not have it installed on their machine, they will not see it. Specify fonts that are available on both Windows and Macs.

They are: Arial, Comic Sans, Courier New, Times New Roman, Trebuchet, Verdana.

If you've found a font that you just can't live without, you can incorporate it into your graphics. That way it doesn't need to be installed on the viewers computer and they will still be able to see it.

Bloated Graphics and Graphic Intense Pages

Many people still use dial up Internet providers, older computer systems and older operating systems. Make sure you optimize your graphics on your page before using them, specify in your code the correct viewing size so your browser doesn't have to guess. Keep graphics to a minimum, maybe 2 or three on a page. This includes buttons, bars, arrows, etc.

Page Size

Try not to use large amounts of text all on one page. Most people will scan through a web page, so try to break up the text. It not only looks better, it makes it easier to know where you're at on the page. Try using interactive text and links to break things up if necessary.

Spelling, Spelling, Spelling

All computers have some sort of spell checker on them somewhere.....learn how to use it. Enough said.

Navigation, Don't Make It Difficult or Confusing

Make sure your navigation is clearly visible on all pages, and keep it consistent. Don't make the viewer hunt for the button or link to go to the next page they want to view. Be descriptive on the navigation of where you are taking them. Always make use of the different colors of the links, active links and visited links. This helps the visitor know where they are and where they have not been yet.

Test, Test, Test Again

I cannot stress this enough. You need to download the main browsers viewers are using. They are, Internet Explorer, Netscape, Opera, and Mozzilla. Everyone does not use Internet Explorer....

Unfortunately, these browsers are not all the same. Our design world would be a much nicer place if they were, but live with it. What works and looks awesome in I.E. may totally crash in Netscape. Test, test, test. There cannot be enough said about checking for browser compatibility.

Screen Size and Resolution

Test your pages under different screen sizes and resolutions. This can easily be done by going to http://www.anybrowser.com and click on Screen Size. Type in the url to your site under the different screen sizes. The window that pops up will show you what other people see if they have a screen that size. A good rule of thumb, build your sites with a maximum width of 600. Not 800, not 1024. Center your pages and use percentages instead of fixed widths. This will enable the browsers to resize the pages accordingly.

Remember: Nobody Cares About You or Your Website

Your site is being built for what reason? To sell a product, to give information, or to supply entertainment. Not to show off your latest tricks or design capabilities.

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