Web Crimes: how to avoid common website design mistakes

Thinking about designing your own website? Think again about adding any of these "features"?

1. Animated gifs. You know the ones: the dancing baby, the rotating email sign. No matter what you chose, nothing screams out "amateur" quite like an animated gif. Next!

2. Mouse trails. Those little pictures, or strings of letters that "follow" your mouse everywhere it goes. In my case, they follow my mouse all the way to the "back" button, so I can surf on to somewhere less annoying.

3. Music. If I wanted to listen to music, I'd play some myself. Meanwhile, I'm reaching for that back button again?

4. Indecipherable colour schemes. Navy blue text on a black background. White on yellow. Ye Gods! It hurts my eyes just to look at it, never mind read it. Just say no.

5. Poor spelling and grammar. Specifically: text speak. It's bad enough on your mobile phone, never mind your website. If you're going to go to the trouble of setting up a website, at least make sure people can read it without cringing. Or it'll be that "back" button for you?

So, that's how to get it wrong, but how do you get it right?

There's no great mystery to great website design. Simplicity is the key; while there are a few people out there who go crazy for the piped music and the animations, there are probably a thousand more who're just driven crazy by them. A clean, simple website isn't going to offend anyone ? or prevent people from actually viewing the content of your site.

Remember that unless you're a website designer yourself, it's the content that really matters. Visitors don't come to your website to admire the pretty colours: they come to buy something, or to find information. If the thing they're looking for is obscured by your website design, they won't stick around to find it.

At the end of the day, design is a matter of taste, and you'll never be able to please everyone who visits your site. Functionality is a different matter altogether, however. Make sure your website is clearly designed, content rich, and easy to navigate, and you'll be on the right lines. Just stay away from those animated gifs?

Amber McNaught is co-owner of Hot Igloo Productions Ltd. - the small business specialists. Hot Igloo offer a range of services to businesses, including website design, public relations, internet marketing, copywriting and more. Visit their website at: http://www.hotigloo.co.uk

---

Give Your Website A Chance

I often wonder how serious people are when it comes... Read More

Web Design: How To Get Your Visitors To Stay

Remember the famous line from the movie Field of Dreams,... Read More

Simple Lines and Shapes for Your Logo Design

Geometric designs come in all shapes and sizes? and lines.... Read More

Hiring a Graphic Designer

You've come up with a great product. You've got the... Read More

Website Checklist

10 Basic Things Your Website Should Have ...__ all short... Read More

Click Here

See, works every time. Seriously now, for some reason people... Read More

Website Sales: Discover 10 Mesmerizing Insider?s Tricks To Ignite Your Sales

Marketing is not an easy skill to acquire.It requires patience... Read More

Effective Website Design For Massive Traffic

STEP 1:Do your homeworkPlan and think about your content. Think... Read More

Flash Doesnt Always Add Shine to Web Efforts

The trend today to overuse animation in a website's opening... Read More

Simplify Your Web Site for Clarity and Ease of Use

There are plenty of web sites out there in which... Read More

Choosing Your Web Design

We would all like to have the best looking website,... Read More

Ten Basic Steps For Building A Web Site That Works

1. Assemble a web site development plan that is integrated... Read More

Recipe For A Good Looking Web Site

We've all surfed the web and seen some awful web... Read More

Does Your Website Induce Seizures?

QUESTION: We promote our web site in all our... Read More

Website Design Mishaps - How to Avoid Costly Errors That Can Crush Your Chances of Success

Designing your website can be a difficult task especially if... Read More

The Top 8 Website Sins Part One

They say the eyes are the window to the soul.... Read More

Is Your Website?s Copy Up to the Mark?

The Internet is a relatively new medium. What works for... Read More

Web Production And Design Tips

You have identified that to have an internet prescence would... Read More

7 Web Site Design Mistakes That Will Lose You Clients

In today's world, a web site is virtually mandatory for... Read More

Database Driven Website

The solution lies in creating a 'Database driven website', through... Read More

Do You Make These Common (But Deadly) Website Design Mistakes?

Building a website can be overwhelming, here are some design... Read More

Nine Effective Tips For Improving Your Website?s Usability

Web usability is perhaps the most important factor in any... Read More

How To Shop for a Web Design Firm?

While few companies can boast as we do that our... Read More

Testimonials Can Increase Your Web Traffic

We've all seen and read product testimonials. They're a very... Read More

Color Psychology in Marketing

On the internet we don't deal with face to face... Read More

Flash - To Use Or Not To Use?

Out there in the WWW there are thousands sites using... Read More

Power of Squeeze Pages for Realtors

Squeeze pages are a very hot topic in the internet... Read More

Handwriting Font Tips - The Personal Touch That Makes a Difference

Most websites use similar fonts and as a result have... Read More

Your Website Hurts My Eyes: 7 Reasons to Tone Down Your Advertising

So you're on the computer, as usual. Your eyes are... Read More

Make it Clear What Your Website is About

Just about every list of the "Top 10 Web Design... Read More

The Contrast And Similarities Between A Web Designer And Web Programmer

The concept of web designing based on the nature and... Read More

Should You Bother Learning HTML to Build Webpages?

The most popular method to build webpages today is to... Read More

Long Copy Sales Letters on the Web: Hype or Not?

I have written before about long sales copy on the... Read More