Web Design Mistakes

Uh oh, common Web Design mistakes alert! A lot of times, it’s easy for someone who is unfamiliar with design; more specifically Web Design, to break one of the many unspoken and unwritten rules of aesthetics. Lots of first-time and DIY designers tend to think it’s like any art form and you can simply “do whatever”. But Web Design sets itself apart from art by also requiring user interaction and providing a medium for information.

To equip all of you designers-in-the-rough or even refresh you Pros, here’s a list of common design mistakes:

• Confusing pop up messages
• Poor load time
• Over use of Java
• Poor overall appearance
• Poor use of HTML tables
• Spelling/Grammar mistakes
• Poor organization
• Inconsistent page design
• No contact information
• No ‘about us’ page
• No privacy policy
• Different backgrounds on each page
• Poor content
• Poor navigation
• Over powering music set to auto play
• Broken HTML code links and graphics
• Poor browser compatibility
• Large slow loading graphics
• Too many graphics
• Large Welcome banners
• Flashing banners
• Pages scrolling to oblivion
• Multiple colored text
• Multiple use of animated graphics
• Text difficult to read
• Animated bullets
• No Meta tags
• Too many graphic and/or line dividers
• Multiple use of different fonts
• Under construction signs
• Busy, distracting backgrounds
• Scrolling text in the status bar
• Multiple banners and buttons
• Large scrolling text across the page
• Poor use of HTML code frames
• Large fonts
• Poor use of mouse over effect

Let me touch on a few of them in more detail.

Many people don’t consider load time a big deal. It is. When you design your site, save images as “.png” files primarily. But when they’re tiny images, make sure you use gif when you can. If you see a lot of color loss, then go with “.jpeg” at about 80% quality. Try to never go below that quality because jpegs dither which looks grody.

Don’t use too much Java! Why? Javascript and Java are completely client-side, meaning their computers are having to load all of that code you’re writing. Way to bog down a slow computer even more. Try to put as much of it in PHP or other server-side code as you can.

If you MUST lay out your website using tables (instead of properly in DIVs), then please for the love of the Web gods, don’t set the border. Make the border transparent and don’t overuse the tables. Now go learn how to lay out the site in DIVs.

Make sure you have a privacy policy. If you have a web tracker, you’d be surprised how many hits that page will get. People don’t like giving out their personal info (or even browsing your site) without knowing what you do with it. At worst, you could get reported to the BBB.

Do not ever use different background on each page. You are not Bing and this is not 1995.

Navigation these days is horizontal. Do it. If you’re not a creative designer who’s confident in their skills to make something different, just do horizontal navigation. Vertical navs cause scrolling. And scrolling = the devil.

Don’t use music, ever. If you MUST use music, don’t set it to autoplay. If you MUST use autoplay, make the music super calm and unobtrusive. The thing is, not everyone checks their volume all the time and lots of people listen to their own music when browsing the web. Music should add to your site (and people should expect it!) rather than simply “be” there.

Don’t use banners. Or flashing banners. Or have more than one flashing/animated thing on a page. That’s horrible.

USE META TAGS!!! This is how search engines find and rank you. You do want to be found, yes?

Under construction signs are good, if you live in 1996. Otherwise they’re ugly and unprofessional. If you don’t have a page, don’t even add the link. Don’t redirect to “Under Construction”, don’t let it 404, and don’t just let it have nothing.

Never use frames.