The common mistakes in web design

Written by Jenny James Saturday, 16 July 2011 10:40

Since the launch of the internet web designers have made a number of mistakes and while a large number of professional companies have begun to rectify and remove these mistakes from clients websites, many professional web designers and companies designing their own website continue to make these fatal mistakes, which may have a damaging affect on their business and online reputation. Rectifying these simple mistakes could dramatically improve your website.

Since the launch of the internet web designers have made a number of mistakes and while a large number of professional companies have begun to rectify and remove these mistakes from clients websites, many professional web designers and companies designing their own website continue to make these fatal mistakes, which may have a damaging affect on their business and online reputation. Rectifying these simple mistakes could dramatically improve your website.

The most common mistake some professional and amateur designs continually make is to place large pieces of content on their website. Many visitors find large pieces of writing throughout a website extremely daunting and disinteresting, this often leads visitors to skim read large pieces of text in order to find the relevant information more quickly.

There is a huge difference between writing content for a website and writing content for print publication, understanding this difference and following some simple practices will ensure you write website content perfectly. The first is to always write short paragraphs that feature appropriate titled sub headers; this will break up the content in to manageable sections. Use bullet pointed lists wherever possible and employ the correct writing style and language to make the content understandable to your visitors. All of these techniques make your websites content more accessible to visitors.

Another common mistake still found today on numerous websites designed by both professionals and amateur designers is links which do not change colour after being visited. While this may only appear to be a minor mistake it can be extremely frustrating for visitors. Links that alter colour once visited can create a website that is easy to navigate and helpful. They are also extremely helpful for users, highlighting aspects of a website they may not have visited or missed. Links that do not highlight when visited can be navigationally disorientating, making your website particularly aggravating for visitors.

One of the main mistakes numerous amateur designers employ which can be fatal for their website is inconsistent design. Consistency is an extremely powerful principle, both in a visitor's expectations as well as design. A consistent design and colour scheme of a website is vital in order to create a professional feel. Mismatched colours, missing logos, different font text can be disorientating, this is especially true if you own a service or e-commerce website, it can give the impression that your business is unreliable.

This disorientated impression is also given when users find the website deviates from their expectations. Users visit a number of websites, if your website is dramatically different in its layout it may be off putting for a number of visitors. An 'expected' website that is similar to most other websites will make it accessible, meeting user's expectations, will make visitors feel secure.

Most users strongly dislike PDF files, while they may be appropriate in some cases, for example a more in depth technical analysis of a product, introducing a PDF file should be an option the user chooses to download not forcibly displayed. While today's PDF file now upload dramatically faster than original PDF's compulsorily introducing them on visitors interprets a visitor's flow making the website appear disjointed.

Many professional web designers are beginning to understand the importance of creating a website that possesses a consistent design, is easy to navigate and possesses content that is digestible for readers. Including these common mistakes on a website can have a detrimental affect on a websites success.