| |
|
|
| Webmaster Resources: Web Design Information | |
|
|
|
My Top Ten List Of Extremely Annoying Web Page Design Elements!
Easy navigation and usability are one of the most important aspects of creating a "user friendly" website. However, there are still a "plethora" of web-sites out there that are, to be politically correct, "functionally challenged." Does your website keep people captivated, or does it send them fleeing as soon as they get to the first page? Do you offend your visitors by employing these ten web design faux pau's? 1) Music, or any voice recording that automatically plays when you enter a site, without giving me the option of turning it off. Yes, there are still website owners who think that putting their Midi version of "Play That Funky Music Whiteboy," will some how impress their visitors. Always give people the option of listening to any recorded information you have on your website. Don't automatically assume that your visitors will be captivated by your voice, or your music. 2) Spinning or animated GIF's of any type. Floating cursors that follow me around while I am visiting your site. If you want to distract me from viewing your information, then incorporate this "flotation device" into your design repertoire! It is like having a security guard follow me around in a retail store to make sure that I'm not stealing! Oversize font that takes up the whole landing page, and web pages that do not fit in my viewing screen. If you are not sure how your website looks on other browsers, then use this free tool called Browsersizer.. ApplyThis.com/Browsersizer http://www.applythis.com/browsersizer/ It helps web developers check to see how their web pages look on different screen resolutions. Slow loading web pages. Compress, or eliminate large lumbering graphics. Your landing page should load in 10 seconds or less. Here is a website that will analyze your load times: Websiteoptimization.com http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/ Web-sites that are "Under Construction." Don't promote what you don't have. It is almost guaranteed that once I see that logo on your site, I will not visit again to see if your construction is finished. Web-sites that don't not allow me to use the "back button." Eliminating my ability to move out of, or through your website, has me looking for the X button. If you want people to visit much, and often, then make your site with the dynamic content that will persuade people to add your site to their favorites file. 3) Any website that looks like it resembles Times Square in New York City. Multitudes of "flashing" or "blinking" banner ads shoved in my face as soon as I reach your landing page will send me running. Flashing banner ads are the equivalent of a carnival barker trying to lure people into his sideshow! You don't need to shout to people to get you message heard on the Internet. Keep you banner ad's limited, and your content abundant! 4) Website owners that make it too hard to navigate their site. If I have to jump through "link hoops" to get to your information I am outta there. Make your product, price, or service, clear, precise, and easy to find. The "about us," or "frequently asked questions" section of some web-sites, leaves me with more questions than answers. Design your content so that even elementary school children can understand the purpose of your website. 5) Pop-Ups..Pop-Ups...Pop-Ups..I don't mind one, or even a few. But, if I have to close multiple pop-ups to get to your website, I will flee the scene. I have encountered some sites that had so many pop-ups they froze my computer screen, even with blocking software. The same applies for any of those "fly-in" or "hover ads" that bounce across my computer screen. If you have to use anything, incorporate a pop-up that loads when a visitor leaves, not before, or during my visit to your site. 6) A page full of dead links and constant "Page Not Found" error messages. Keep your links up to date and take down the links that are no longer active. 7) Cursing or using worn out phrases like "Kick Butt," or "Kick Ass." (Example: "Kick Ass Copy-Writing Service," "Kick Butt Web Marketing"). I can't exit fast enough when I see anyone using that phrase in website advertising copy. It maybe an excellent marketing headline, but for me, it is a total turn-off. Impress your visitors with intelligent, informative, advertising copy and content. 8) AND SOMEONE-ANYONE-PLEASE! Stop the "ultra" dark background accented with an equally dark font! I have discovered many a website in which the background, and the text fonts are indistinguishable from each other! It looks like your are staring into a black hole! Lighten things up a bit, and don't make me turn the brightness controls on my monitor to full! And no, I don't want to highlight the text so I can read the information on your website! 9) While I love Marcomedia's Flash, I think it should be used sparingly. Unless you have a film site, or a product that requires a detailed visual description, just forget about using flash for e-commerce. There is a majority of people out there who still use those pokey dial-up modems (me being one of them) and I "hate the wait!" Even when I use the skip feature it still takes to long for the page to load. While doing research for The Ultimate Guide To Products For Resale: http://www.productsforresale.com I noticed that some designer clothing wholesalers where using flash to sell their product. The same applied to retail sellers of designer shoes, designer handbags, and designer clothing. My question is why? If you are using your site to sell a product, just stick with high quality, fast loading photos, followed up with good creative descriptions of each item. If you have to make people wait to buy your product, people will buy your product somewhere else! If you absolutely, positively, must use Flash, then make your files as fast loading as possible, especially if you are selling a product. 10) Solid blocks of text with no breaks between paragraphs. The only industry that gets away with that format is newspaper, book, and magazine publishers. The Internet is a different world altogether. People not only want their information quick, but they also want to read it in smaller, "bit size" portions of content. I like to skim over articles for the main points. If I have to "slog" through content that looks like a rambling diatribe with no paragraph breaks, I'm gone! Make your content clear and concise. Break up your paragraphs, and use plenty of "white space" when possible. So there they are. My "Top Ten" pet peeves of dysfunctional design! Do any of them apply to you? Remember, you only get one chance to make a good impression. There literally billions of web sites out there, and you need to capture your visitors attention within seconds. Make your site neat and ready to greet! For more information about how to make your site user friendly, go to Jakob Nielsen's Usability Site: http://www.useit.com/ site for tips on better website design. Robert C. Potter is a wholesale and retail surplus products specialist. He is the author of "The Ultimate Guide To Products For Resale!" Over 300 Wholesale & Surplus Supply Sources For Ebay Auction Sellers, E-Commerce Websites, Flea Market Vendors, and Retail Store Owners! You can find his 160 page ebook at: http://www.productsforresale.com.
Add to these social bookmarking sites: 
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Speed Up Or Lose Out! How To Improve Your Websites Download Speed So your web site's online and you've got high rankings in the search engines attracting lots of visitors. But the statistics tell you most of them are leaving after viewing just one page, what's gone wrong?One possible cause could be a slow download speed of your web site's homepage or the web site as a whole. How to Build Your Own Website - More Steps To build a website, there are four methods to choose from:First method: Get a professional designer to build the site for you:It is expensive in creation process, site maintenance and development.Second method: Designing the site with free website hosting:In this case, just sign in the website that offers this service, and start building your own website. Put Up A Website And Start Promoting In About An Hour I can't figure out people who have products or information to sell who do not have a website. With some people, it's fear of technology; others just haven't realized that we've entered the electronic age. Elements of Graphic Design for Your Website We've all seen them. Poorly designed web sites that make you cringe as soon as they load. How a Custom Designed Website Can Help Your Business Over the years, the internet has grown into a marvelous avenue to promote your business.In my last article, "Why Your Business Needs to Have an Internet Presence" (http://www. Event Planning Must Include An Event Website As part of your event planning you should seriously consider registering a special event domain. That should in fact be the first step for your planning of any event. Is a Web Site Builder Right for You? A web site builder can be a real life saver to someone without advanced HTML knowledge or tools. Web site builders allow a relative newbie to the internet create a professional website in very little time. Do You Make These Common (But Deadly) Website Design Mistakes? Building a website can be overwhelming, here are some design tips to help keep you on the right path (or is that web?)--- Designing a Frames-based web siteFrames may make the job of maintaining a big web site easy, but search engines hate them. Most search engines cannot find their way through them and end up indexing only the home page. Give People What They Want And Watch Your Profits Soar! Do you know why the majority of people use the Internet?The majority of people use the Internet to do some type of research. In other words, to read. Do You Hate Your Website? Web Site Sales To Hit $316 Billion Over The Next 6 Years What dollar amount does your web site contribute to this $316 billion dollar trend?Have you spent thousands, tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands on your web site only to discover that it attracts more flies than customers?Do you hate your web site, your web developer or your entire IT department?Do not despair! You are not alone!A great web site is crucial in order to effectively communicate to a business's target audience. It is important for Chief Executives and small business owners to pay close attention to the effect that their web site has on their business. You Too Can Have Fun With Sepia Images! If you are one of those who wonder how people come up with the cool looking sepia tone prints that you admire so much. If you are doubling up with jealousy over a sepia tone, here, we will give you tips on how you could achieve this sepia tone, too. 5 Easy Ways to Improve Your Website When designing your website, remember to avoid useless and confusing features, however "cool" they may seem to be. Usually, keeping things simple and consistent are the best way to go. How to Create a Favicon for Your Web Site One of the simplest things you can do to give your site 'identity' and to make it stand out from other sites is to use a favicon (favourite icon). They are the little logos that go next to the website listing in your favourites folder, and pop up in other places, (depending on your browser and operating system). What is ASP.NET ASP.NET is a new programming framework from Microsoft for developing next generation web Applications. Selling Multiple Products? Avoid These Top Blunders When your web site sells more than a dozen items, you may face a fierce challenge of helping shoppers find what they are looking for. You'll need to classify products into categories, but these will serve as obstacles and even deal killers if those categories do not match those in the heads of shoppers. How to Avoid the Biggest Mistakes Member Sites Make in Their Marketing Copy If you have a web site to which people pay a periodic member fee, it's likely that you belong to other member web sites and have done so for at least a year or two. Thus it's easy for you to overlook the fact that to the average person, member web sites are either a relatively new phenomenon or a completely new phenomenon. Understand Your Color Any design on a web application involves the effective input of color scheme in order to impress web surfers, instill a certain image or identity associated with the kind of web site it represents, and add impact to the web pages. However, very few possess the talent and skill of developing a harmonious color scheme. Website Design Basic Concepts So, what's in a website design anyway? And, how do you get a design that is appealing to the broad and varied tastes of all those Internet surfers out there?This is critical. Your website design is the first impression you make on your customers and visitors. What Is Your Websites Most Wanted Response? You spend time and money promoting your website; but what do you want to achieve (apart from more page views)? Is it more sales of Blue Widgets? Is it more subscribers on your mailing list? To be exact, what is your site's Most Wanted Response?I ask this question because in the excitement of creating your very own website, it is easy to forget (or not even consider) the main purpose of your site! Alas, I talk from experience!In late 1999 I created Shop Tour UK (http://www.shoptour. No Matr How Goud The Infomation... Typos, misspellings, hideous grammar, exclamation overkill and run-on sentences all undermine a Web site's message. Your reader will have to work too hard, and you won't have that reader long.
|
| Home | Site Map |
|
| © 2006 | |
