Top 10 web design mistakes.
Apr
8
Written by:
2009/04/08 08:27 AM
Every geek thinks he is a web designer. You can go to your local cafe and find 10 web designers if you can find one. People now days think that if they have FrontPage or Dreamweaver or Expression, that they can design websites. Not so. Here is a list of some of the top design mistakes that will hurt your website in the long run.
- Background music
One of my pet peeves is music that screams out of your speakers before the page even loads. I think 99.9% of users think background music is annoying.
- Bad graphics and boring photos.
Bad graphics make your site look amateurish.
- Scrolling Text, Marquees, and Repeating Animations
How horrible is it when there is too much movement on the page. You can’t focus on any one particular thing. Moving images have an overpowering effect on the human peripheral vision. AAAGHHH Blinking text
- Splash pages
Splash pages or “Intro” pages are displayed before you can view a website’s homepage. They are totally annoying. Often times they are skipped or the website is totally ignored and closed.
- In-your-face advertising.
Pop-up ads are annoying, persistent full-screen ads are just plain evil. Visitors detest these, and most will leave the site rather than waiting for the ad to go away. Also too many ads on a site scare people away.
- Frames.
Not only is it bad for search engines. But they are so 1980’s
- Confused Navigation.
Finding your way around a site must be easy and user friendly. It must be consistent and accessible. If your users cannot get where they want to go in two clicks, many will leave.
- Inconsistent Design
Too many different fonts, too ,any colours. Each page having a different design. Remember not every one has that great “Old Edwardian Margo” font that you love so much. Browsers can’t interpret that.
- Outdated information.
People will not return consistently if all they find is the same content over and over again. Search engines will not rank an outdate old web site. Keep it fresh. Content is King
- Slow loading websites.
This is a particular difficult one, especially in countries like South Africa where bandwidth is at a premium, and very slow. But users will not wait forever for your site to load. This brings in conflict sites that are very graphic intensive and have loads of fancy flash.
What are your top ten design mistakes? What are the design things that you are most cautious about?
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4 comment(s) so far...
Re: Top 10 web design mistakes.
Great list, Robert! The non-stop animations drive me crazy and probably is my biggest pet peeve next to the auto-start music. I keep my computer on mute because of that music. I would have to say I agree that many people call themselves designers because they have the tools to create sites. Here are a few more that I think make for bad web design:
1) Scrolling sideways. Huge no, no!
2) Links that go nowhere
3) Long pages of content
4) Using "cutsy" names for navigation instead of acceptable standards (i.e. front door instead of home page)
Thanks for encouraging thought in this arena!
Bonnie (I'm in the 31-day challenge too)
By Bonnie Landau on
2009/04/08 10:51 PM
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Re: Top 10 web design mistakes.
Bonnie,
I too mute my pc sound because of that horrible background music.Scrolling sideways, what's that all about, are you trying to tell me I need a extra wide monitor.BTW, Ain't that 31 Day challenge great?
By Robert Bravery on
2009/04/09 08:44 AM
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Re: Top 10 web design mistakes.
There are many latest web designing trends in today's world. Amateur and professional Web designers a like are getting a new tool to help them easily create sites that are fully interactive. Recently, I had get many interesting web tools for my site from Website Design Company. This company can provide you with a stunning website for only $29.99 a month.
By nathan on
2009/04/16 09:03 PM
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Re: Top 10 web design mistakes.
Nathan,
Yes using the right tools certainly go a long way to avoid making certain mistakes. But then again, when the sites does not work out correctly do not blame the tools. Whichever toolset you use, ultimately you are the one designing your site. You could use Notepad or Dreamweaver, it matter not. What matters is how YOU design YOUR site.
By Robert Bravery on
2009/04/16 09:06 PM
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