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TOP 10 Website Design Mistakes
- Splash pages (welcome pages).
Splash pages were used a lot with full flash sites but are unnecessary otherwise. Its just one more added click between a user and the information they want to obtain. They might look fancy with the cool graphics but aren’t very functional and after the first time, its very inconvenient to click “Enter” every time to get in. What if you were forced to watch a commercial every time you entered a department store and then had to hit a button to open the door? That would SUCK! Well, same goes with your website. Let’s get to the point.
- Pointless home pages.
Your home page is a golden opportunity to present the user with the most important information your site has to offer. This is where you will identify your “call to action” and set up a click path for the user to follow. Real Estate on this page is very precious, use it wisely. With more and more users using 1024x768 screen resolutions, you have slightly more room to work with. A good balance of content and imagery can really bring your home page to life. Flash doesn’t hurt either, as long as you know how to use and it doesn’t look cheesy!
- Poor navigation
The home page sets the tone for the rest of your website and the main navigation on your home pages should be consistent through out your website. Many websites change their navigation around when users drill down into their interior pages. Now the user has to look for your navigation again. Try to use text links as much as possible when creating your navigation. Even if it has to be on top of an image. With CSS you can accomplish this very easily. It is important in optimizing your website for search engines. If you do have a Flash based menu, make sure you use your footer to display those links. Don’t surprise your users with new links added to your menu every time they visit a different page. Don’t make your users guess what the link is about, make it clear. A lost user is an annoyed user, and annoyed users don’t come back.
- Large file sizes.
Make sure that all the images and graphics that you use on your web page are optimized to their extent. Use gifs when ever possible. Before exporting or saving for web from Photoshop or Fireworks, play with the quality of each image and make sure that it is as small as possible. Even if each image is only 5-15k, they add up if you have a lot of images. The quicker a website can load its entire graphics, the better the user experience. Patience is something that we all lack when online.
Even when using flash, make sure your animation has a loading bar or a percentage that notifies the user that the content is on the way. Users don’t like to see blank screens for too long. Keep your flash as minimal as possible.
- Relevant and updated Content.
Keeping your website updated with the latest content will keep users coming back, because now they have a reason to. Keep your content relevant to what your website is about. Make sure the content is written professionally and checked for spelling and grammatical mistakes. The biggest problem these days is web designers not knowing how to spell or having too many typos. Not only does this show un-professionalism but also brings the value of your website down. If you have a lot of content, split it up into 2 pages. Too much content on one page gets the user lost and is quite overwhelming sometimes. Use clear and legible fonts with adequate spacing so that it’s easily readable. Don’t keep your hyperlinks the same as the rest of the content. Make it simple and easy to read. Use proper colors so they are soft on the eyes. Everything that goes into your website must have a purpose
- Cluttered Web Pages
Too many web sites these days clutter their content pages with a lot of content, unnecessary images, irrelevant ads and links. Every webpage should have a focal point onto which you want the user’s undivided attention on. Distracting them with other ads and misc. things is just another way to tell the user to leave and never come back. Make sure your pages are clean and crisp looking. Use 2-3 coordinated colors for the whole scheme and stick to it. No, purple, black and navy blue don’t go together. If you feel you don’t have the proper color scheme, then consult a web design firm. They do this night in and night out. Who better to advise you on it? Make good use of white space or empty space. The user needs breathing room and an open area either below above or beside the content can remain empty sometimes. You don’t have to fill it with something. Keep it simple.
- Untitled Documents
One thing that is extremely important for search engines is page titles. Default pages that haven’t been labeled are viewed as Untitled Documents. You don’t want that on any of your pages. Make sure to label each and every page. Make the title for each page unique. If an about us page, then say so. Don’t have Welcome to my website for every single page. Differentiate each page uniquely, by tagging it. Also make sure within the code of your pages that you have Meta tags for every page with a short description for each page. This is what search engines pick up in addition to the content that your page contains. Ultimately you want you website to rank high in search engines for your target market and keywords. These are simple things you can do or get done by your web designer to ensure that you are placed higher in search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN. - Camouflaged Links
Having clear identifiable links are key for your users to click through. If all your content is black don’t make your links dark gray. People will not know if they are links or just text. Some users scan the pages with their mouse to read content some just read without using the mouse. If you are hoping they will point their mouse over the link so it can change color and show them that it’s a link, then you are hoping for too much. Users want it easy. We have to spoon feed them and make it simple and clear.
If you do have a lot of content and the user is forced to scroll so far that your navigation is no longer visible, then please put a return to top link or go back to main page link. People hate scrolling back up and then clicking on the link. Make it convenient for them. - Silly animated gifs.
This is probably the worst thing you can do to your website. Adding an animated image (gif) that jumps around every half a second is annoying. Animated gifs are a thing of the past and they should remain there. A picture is worth a 1000 words. A blinking picture is worth a 1000 bad words. A simple graphic or clean gradient does the trick as well. They are simply bad design practices. More than an attention grabber it’s a distraction. - Browser Incompatibility and Testing.
Test, retest and then test your website again. I can’t stress this enough. Don’t be bias with browsers. Firefox has become very popular but still more than 50% use Internet Explorer and other web platforms such as Opera and Safari. Make sure your website looks presentable on all browsers. Test your website on different screen resolutions and monitors as well. If your website requires the latest version of Flash, say so in the footer.
These 10 things are important with any type of website. Don’t just put up a website and expect users to come. Market it, update it regularly with fresh original content, fix any bugs or broken links and keep up with technology. If you do need a helping hand, contact Iman Studios for a complimentary consultation of your website.
Sarfaraz Ahmed