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Web Design's Deadliest 4 Mistakes
By Moe Tamani (c) 2008
Some web designs are truly so repulsive that they actually drive people away
from the site and prevent them from returning. Both you and your web design
company must avoid these situations at all costs. Otherwise you run the risk
of allowing your reputation to be diminished or being labeled and avoided by
clients and customers.
Web Design's Scariest Backgrounds
The background of your website is one aspect that you have control over and
you can easily change or alter to suit your client's needs. You must be aware,
however, that some backgrounds are simply not attractive at all. Some of these
backgrounds that should be avoided at any cost are:
- A completely black background with light or white text superimposed upon
it. Even the best web designers in the world have difficulty achieving an
appealing look with this type of background. It gives viewers the impression
that you are imperious and condescending and does not do anything to encourage
readers to stay on your site. Also, some browsers, when used to print a page,
also print background color. This could cause complaints from customers who
are not happy about the amount of ink they used in order to print a single
page.
- A completely black background with dark words. This is an even worse
background choice than the previous one because the words simply cannot be
seen without great difficulty. In order to read the text, visitors to your
site will have to first highlight the text, a task that will quickly irritate
them.
- Complicated, tiled images. Fresh web designers often use this type of
background because it is convenient and looks good to them. They should also
bear in mind, however, that this type of background can dramatically increase
the amount of load time for a website.
Web Design's Scariest Text
The main reason people visit your site is that they are interested in the
content contained within your website. If they are unable to read your text,
then there is nothing for them to stay for. Your web design company definitely
does not want visitors to find nothing worth reading on your site, so avoid
the following pitfalls:
- Centering all your text. A page with all of its text completely centered
is unattractive and difficult to read.
- Overly emphasized text. Some designers
bold every other line of text and italicize the rest. This is self-defeating
because in attempting to make everything stand out, nothing stands out.
- Flashing
text. Although some people find text that constantly disappears and reappears
appealing, it is almost impossible to read, defeating the purpose of even
having text in the first place. Text is there to be read!
Web Design's Scariest Content
As a web designer, you should never ignore your content. At the end of the
day, the content of your web page is what either draws visitors to your site,
or drives them away. You should make sure you include interesting and attention-grabbing
content and avoid the following mistakes.
- Pages consisting solely of links. Pages where every word is a link on
its own do not serve any purpose other than to convince visitors never to
return to your site.
- "Funny" content. Including humorous content
is risky, at best. Some people may not understand your humor and will need
to have it explained to them or, more likely, they will simply leave your
site in search of something more interesting that they can actually understand.
Web Design's Scariest Multimedia
Many designers find themselves in love with multimedia and attempt to use
it in every project that they undertake. The web design company you work for
probably does appreciate your talent with multimedia and, when the situation
calls for it, you can showcase your talents to your web design company and
your clients. However, designing using multimedia tools is a very time consuming
process. You should not let your desire to show off your skills with multimedia
compromise the work that you eventually hand in to your clients. You should
do your utmost to avoid the following traps:
- Image overload. Images of all forms, including icons, should not be present
in large numbers. As a general rule-of-thumb, anything more than two images
is overkill.
- Overly large images. The readership of your site will not suffer
if your images are not of print quality. Large, high quality images take
a long time to load and most readers would not care if you had used a low
quality image.
- Embedded audio. Audio streams that play constantly while the
page is open are very annoying for visitors who simply want to examine the
content of your site. Worse, these audio streams are usually impossible to
turn off. If you absolutely must include some form of sound with your web
page, you must give your visitors the controls required to turn off the sound
if they wish.
A scary web design is most definitely not what your web design company hopes
that you will produce. The web pages you design should be appealing to readers
and help keep them on your site, and not drive them away.
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Moe Tamani is a search engine optimization specialist for SEO
1 Services specializing
in Seo web design.
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