The Do’s And Don’ts Of Website Design

The web design industry has come of age, but website owners are till date perplexed by choosing what to do and what not to do when designing their website. Internet users have peculiar habit while browsing through websites. There are some things that they like and other things that they don’t. And their preferences are what define the performance of your website.

Here is a list of Do’s and Don’ts that will help you design a website that will be much more effective:

DO’S

• Make the content of your website homepage clear and crisp. Tell the visitors what they can find on your website. Reserve your company details and like for the ‘About Us’ section

• Use correct grammar in the website content and check through for any spelling or formatting errors.

• Break up the text content of the website into paragraphs and use headings and subheadings to classify information. This will increase readability and scalability of the web page.

• Use familiar fonts like Arial or Verdana. They are not only easy to read but also look good on the web page.

• Provide text links apart from navigation buttons and image maps. Visitors who have turned off the images on their browsers to speed loading time will find it difficult to navigate your website in the absence of text links.

• Use ALT tags for all the images on your website to make them descriptive for the search engines. Also people with visual impairments, who use screen readers to browser through your website, will be able to recognize them.

• Provide feedback forms on your website so that the visitors can get back to you with their comments and suggestions.

• Make email links and contact forms visible on all the pages of the website

• Test the website on all major browsers like IE, Firefox, and Netscape etc. to check if it is compliant with them

• Keep the layout of all the pages of the website consistent so that they have a flow.
• Choose the colors for your website carefully. The colors are very instrumental in influencing the mood and behavior of visitors. Moreover, colors also reflect your image and company brand.

• Open an external window whenever you link to an external website. This will allow visitors to return to your website easily after they have finished the other site.

• Keep the navigation links consistent on all the pages of the website

• Check the content for any broken links and rectify them

DON’TS

• Use wire frames in your website. Search engines don’t index sites with frames and also visitors would not be able to bookmark the inner pages of the website. This is because the URL remains the same no matter what page of the website you are on.

• Devote much content to describe what your company is all about. Rather focus on describing the products and services that you offer and how visitors can benefit by using them. Make use of the word ‘YOU’ more than ‘WE’ or ‘US’

• Write the content in capital letters as they make the visitors uncomfortable and give out a very loud and messy feel of the website. Also, don’t use ‘bold’ or ‘italics’ formatting excessively.

• Design your company website yourself unless you are sure about your technical expertise and can make it look professional enough

• Make your website too full. Leave an adequate amount of Whitespace

• Use ClipArt as they look like a thing of the past. Have custom made graphics and logos if you want the website to exude a professional look and feel

By: Maneet Puri

Website Design Articles - http://articles.jdapublishing.com/

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Author's Profile: Maneet Puri

A web designer and developer by profession, Maneet Puri heads LeXolution IT Services. Its is a reputed web development company based in India that offers professional web design services to its clients at cost effective rates. For more information about the company, please visit www.lexolutionit.com

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