Mistakes when Designing a Web Site
Hopefully how to avoid making them in the first place
We've all made them, and some of us don't even know it. But here we will guide you through the "Don't Do's" of Web Page Design.
There are a billion web sites on the internet that seem to be only there to show of the webmasters skill at producing web pages. They are full of the latest tricks and "features" that make the webmaster feel he/she is "Cutting Edge".
The rest of us just take one look at them and move on!
If you just want a web site to satisfy yourself, then move on now. This page is all about creating web pages that other people will want to visit.
Take a look at the left hand menu, it contains many of the best articles on avoiding mistakes when web page building.
Mistakes You MUST Avoid
1. Flash
Don't use it! Especially on your home page, most users won't hang around to see it, they'll simply hit the back button. If you must use flash, to give the user extra information they couldn't get from a static page then put it inside your site and give the user a choice to view it or not.2. Legibility
Dark fonts on a dark background are hard to read. You may be 22 with perfect vision, but many of your users won't be.3. Fixed Font Size
Don't rigidly fix the font size. Many people have impaired vision and need to make the text larger in order to read it.4. Links
Make it obvious what is a link and what is not a link. Text links should be in a different colour and underlined. It should also be obvious to the user where they go if they click the link, don't use "Click here" as a text link. Tell the user where tey will go in the actual link i.e. Read the FAQ not to read the FAQ click here.5. Page Titles
When you bookmark a page, many browsers store the bookmark alpabetically by the Page Title. If your web site is about Greenhouses, and the page title begins with the word "Welcome" a bookmark wil be stored in the "W" section. This will make it harder for the user to find later. It would be better to start the title with the word "Greenhouse", as it will make it easier for the user to find your site again in their bookmarks.6. Be Consistent
Don't mix designs in the same site. Make sure all your pages look and feel the same, so the user knows they are on your site, which ever page they happen to be on.By all means design your web site to look different to other web sites, but make sure it works in much the same way as other sites. If your site works in a different way to most others a user may have difficulty working it and leave to find an easier site.
7. Browser Incompatibility
Make sure your page loads correctly in a variety of browsers. THis is not as relevant today as it used to be, but there are still differences in browsers. A page may look fine in the browser you normally use, but terrible in another.8. Scrolling or otherwise moving text and animations.
Do not use scrolling or moving text, or constantly playing animations. These may look good to you, but simply distract the user from the rest of the content.9. Orphan Pages
Many people do not arrive at a web site via it's home page, they arrive at another page via a search engine. Make sure every page on your site has at least a "Home" link, do not rely on the user using the "back" button on their browser.10. Long Pages
Try to keep your pages as short as possible. Most people will only scroll down 2 or 3 screens before giving up. If you really need a long page then break it up into sections and put links to each section at the top so the user can jump to the section they are interested in. Also put links back to the top of the page at each section
