Design Tips
Creating Your Site
"TOP TEN" Tips and Tricks to make your website effective and efficient:
1) Consistency is the hallmark of any good website
When designing your site, make each page on your website consistent. This means that your navigation buttons should look the same on every page. They should be placed in the same location on each page so visitors will know how to get around. Have you ever gotten 'stuck' on a website because you didn't know how to get back to where you started? Most likely you simply left the site because it was too confusing to navigate.
2) Make your site easy to follow
Navigation buttons are links to the main sections of a website. They can be as simple as underlined text or 'rollover' buttons that change when the cursor moves over it. On JoelSolomon.com I used rollover buttons that change color (left). The titles remain the same so visitors still know the main categories.
3) Navigation
Many websites have pages that contain LOTS of information. Rather than expecting visitors to scroll back to the top of each page, provide the same links at the bottom for easy viewing. This is a common theme on professionally designed sites. Designers make it easy on visitors by making it easy for users to navigate around the site.
4) Design your site to follow the eye's natural movements
Studies have shown that our eyes tend to move left-to-right and top-to-bottom when viewing a document. The pattern is similar to the way we draw a capital letter W. With this in mind, most designers place their navigation buttons either on the left side of the page or along the top.
5) Less is more
Have you ever visited a website that is so full of content, images, sound, and sections that you lose interest before reading it all? This is what I call "clutter". A common mistake that beginning designers do is sacrifice content for 'cuteness.' An example is inserting sounds that automatically load and play on a web page. I don't know about you, but as soon as a sound begins to play that I didn't ask for, I immediately click away to another location. The same can be said for animated graphics...too much movement on a page makes it distracting from getting to the actual content. Keep some empty space on your pages to make your content stand out more.
6) Find what you like about other sites and incorporate these ideas into your own
The internet is all about sharing information. The same can be said for web design. What is it about your favorite websites that keep you coming back? Is it the content or the design? Look at other sites and think about what makes it interesting. Then use this as a benchmark for your site. This doesn't mean copying everything from someone else's hard work! But you can pick one or two techniques from several different websites and use them on your site.
7) Learn GOOD website design by looking at BAD website design
Just as other sites can provide inspiration for your own website, they can also serve as a reminder of things to avoid. Vincent Flanders has a site aptly named WEBSITES THAT SUCK that searches and lists crappy sites every week. Finding websites that suck will help you avoid the same mistakes.
8) Check your website on several browsers to be sure it's consistent
One of the challenges of creating effective websites is being sure the finished site looks the same on different browsers. A site that looks great on Internet Explorer might look completely different on AOL or Netscape Navigator. The challenge facing any website designer is developing a site that looks the same on any browser. This is not always easy, since each browser has its own little 'quirks' to overcome. During the design phase, continue to check your site in IE, Netscape, and AOL. Any inconsistencies should be noted and fixed.
9) Beware of using too many 'plug-ins' in order for your site to be viewed properly
There are a lot of sites that look terrific, but require certain plug-ins (i.e. Flash, Shockwave, RealPlayer, etc.) to load properly. Experienced web surfers usually have these plug-ins already loaded onto their computers, but what about everyone else? Asking visitors to download a special plug-in just to view your site will most likely make people go somewhere else. This is especially true for company computers that do not allow users to download any extras.
10) Faster loading means faster viewing
If you've designed a page that has lots of graphics or photos, chances are it will take a while to load. The longer a visitor has to wait for your page to appear on their screen, the more likely they are to click away. The majority of people still have 56K dial-up connections, and that means that many sites will take longer to load. Keep this in mind when designing your site by using smaller image files, compressing larger files, and keeping your HTML code as simple as possible.
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