Top 10 Web Design Mistakes

As a webmaster, you want to keep your visitors content so they'll come back again. Below you will find ten common mistakes made by webmasters that may deter people from returning.

1) Poor Color Choice

There's one important thing to keep in mind when designing your web site, and that is always keep it simple. More is not necessarily better. Your web site should contain no more than three colors. Also remember that your body text should be a contrasting color from your background. There's nothing worse than trying to read yellow text on a pink background. It may look cool to you, but cause your visitors to go cross-eyed.

2) Confusing Navigation

If your visitors cannot find their way around your web site, they'll leave...plain and simple. Your navigation should be logical and consistent on every page. Studies have also shown that web surfers prefer the standard left or right side navigation over other layouts.

3) Inconsistent Font Face and Size

Just like your navigation, you'll want your font style and size to be consistent. If your home page text is in Arial font, size 10, make sure the rest of your pages adhere to the same font style and size. Of course, there are exception to every rule, and you may need to use a smaller font for disclaimers, terms and condition, etc. However, in most cases, you should use the same style on every page.

4) Long Paragraphs

This is a common mistake made by many webmasters.

To make your web pages easy to read, remember to break up your paragraphs often and use subtitles. Most people will skim when trying to find what they're looking for so when your paragraphs are small and separated by logical headings, it will make it much easier on your visitor's eyes.

5) Misplaced or Lack of Contact Info

Don't make people search for contact information...especially if you're selling goods and services. Always have your contact information visible on every page of your web site. Hidden contact information looks fishy and makes people leery of doing business with you.

6) Long Page Loads

If your web site does not fully load within 10 seconds, your HTML files are too large. Check your graphics. Are you using too many? Do they need to be resized? Make sure your multi-color graphics (photos) are saved in JPEG format and use GIF files for solid colors and poster art. Also remember to use table height and width tags in your HTML code because your text will load before the images. Animated graphics also slow the page loading time tremendously.

7) No Meta Tag Info

Meta tags are HTML code invisible to the human eye but read by many of the search engines. While these don't have as much of an impact as they used to, many search engines still rely on this information when displaying your site in the search results.

8) Use of Frames

Frames can become somewhat of a burden. Many search engines do not list pages with frames, they don't allow visitors to bookmark certain pages, and they can cause printing problems.

9) Scrolling Text

The marquee tag is a cool feature, but many overuse it. Although the idea of scrolling text may seem appealing, remember that not everyone will find this idea entertaining. If you do decide to use it, make sure you clearly evaluate whether or not it is adding value or enhancing your page. There are some instances where this feature works, but there are many where it doesn't. Use it very sparingly.

If you have a sentence or two that you feel is very important to your readers, don't make them wait eon for the message to scroll across your screen -- just use plain text and save the scrolling text for the less significant messages or perhaps sub-titles.

10) Wrong Resolution

The average web surfer surfs with their PC screen set to an 800 x 600 resolution. If you create your web pages to fit a 1024 x 768 resolution or higher, keep in mind many people will have to scroll left and right to see your entire page. I don't know about you, but I find that quite annoying.

If you want your web page to be displayed correctly in all resolution, create your web pages with tables and use percentages to define your table widths instead of actual pixel values. For example, if the table width is set to 100% instead of "800" then it will take up 100% of the screen no matter what the PC resolution is set to.

About The Author

Lisa Irby is the author of 2 Create a Web Site -- a site that encourages you to plan accordingly and GET THE FACTS before diving into the web site creation process.

http://www.2CreateAWebSite.com

MORE RESOURCES

People Locator find anyone in the USA

RELATED WEB SITE DESIGN ARTICLES: Leave Those Links Blue! Don't mess with those links! When you're designing your site, you should leave your text links in their natural state--blue and underlined. We all want to be creative and not do the bland, expected, normal thing. Using Server Side Includes to Simplify Your Web Design An "include" file is a piece of code that can be put into a seperate file -- for example -- your navigation bar -- and then "included" in a number of other pages. This has the very useful advantage of allowing you to retain conistency over a very large number of pages, and then make changes to all of those pages by just changing the include file. How To Shop for a Web Design Firm? While few companies can boast as we do that our first ten clients are still with us today, many companies often change Web design firms to get a new perspective on how their Web presence could look and perform. The following paragraphs serve as a Buyer's Guide to use when shopping for a new Web design company. Explode Your Homepage And Replace It With Something Dynamite! You know that I'm always extolling the virtues of an all-round website marketing approach that doesn't just focus on search engines? Well, you'll be suprised to hear there's a big problem with this.The big problem with this is that it assumes your website is ready to start receiving lots of visitors in the first place! Before you start marketing your site you need to know. Why Stock Photography is a Great Resource for Web Business A picture is worth a thousand words.And it still is today. The Next Marketing Tool: Design Design sells. It's something that all of us know, but few of us conciously acknowledge. How To Design A Web Site I'm not a professional web site designer and openly admit there is a lot that I don't know. But if you're a beginner I probably know more than you do, so listen up. Website Design Basic Concepts So, what's in a website design anyway? And, how do you get a design that is appealing to the broad and varied tastes of all those Internet surfers out there?This is critical. Your website design is the first impression you make on your customers and visitors. Adding the Right Keywords to Your Website Content You've made your website, added a great title and keywords in the meta tags. That's it, right? Not quite. Looking For A Designer To Re-Design Your Website? If you were like me and you have just started an online business, you have a website that you have made or someone has made it for you, and this design does not match up to your expectation and the competition. Fear not, there is an inexpensive solution to your problem. My Top Ten List Of Extremely Annoying Web Page Design Elements! Easy navigation and usability are one of the most important aspects of creating a "user friendly" website. However, there are still a "plethora" of web-sites out there that are, to be politically correct, "functionally challenged. How To Get A Pay Raise From Your Web Site How many of the visitors to your web site take the action you want them to take? Whether you want them to buy something from you, sign up for your newsletter, enter your sweepstakes, or give you contact information to follow up on, you want them to do something. The percentage of visitors who actually do that something is called your "conversion rate. Having A User Friendly Website Let's look at what your user wants to see at your website.1. 6 Reason Why A Website Is Crucial To Your Business Since I'm a web designer, I have a tendency to think everyone understands that having a website is important. Every once in a while, I have to remind myself that some people just haven't heard yet!Why is having a website such a big deal? Here are 6 reason:A website increases your credibility. Flash - To Use Or Not To Use? Out there in the WWW there are thousands sites using flash for their needs. But the majority sites are not in this list. Your Website Could be Letting You Down A professionally presented business website is a powerful and essential marketing tool: it's the first thing prospective customers will look at before they decide to contact you.If the copy on your website is not written to an acceptable standard, it may be losing you customers. Maximizing Web Site View ability - Resolution This is my second article on maximizing web site view ability. Analyzing screen resolution data. A Beginners Guide to Web Page Design Designing your own successful web page can seem difficult and nearly impossible if you do not do a little research first. The reason you need to know the basics of web page design is because the design of your website will actually influence whether or not people continue to visit your site and ultimately, whether they will buy from you or not. The Testimonial Trick One of the most popular methods of traffic generation is the link exchange. Not only can they generate fairly targeted traffic from other related web sites, the number of quality links to your site is also a major factor determining your web site's ranking in major search engines like Google. You Too Can Have Fun With Sepia Images! If you are one of those who wonder how people come up with the cool looking sepia tone prints that you admire so much. If you are doubling up with jealousy over a sepia tone, here, we will give you tips on how you could achieve this sepia tone, too.