Hi,<\/p>\n
I think this is a great article on web design. I am a true believer in “web design 101” In other word keep the site simple so your visitors can find what they want quickly, spend their money and be gone. If you want to show the world how clever you are give your visitors the option to click to see your flashes, videos, etc. If you don’t and they have to suffer through things when they are in a hurry they will leave but without buying!<\/p>\n
My 2 cents.<\/p>\n
Bill<\/p>\n
To Print: Click here or Select File\/ Print from your Browser Menu.<\/p>\n
Article printed from SiteProNews: http:\/\/www.sitepronews.com
\nHTML version available at: http:\/\/www.sitepronews.com\/archives.html<\/p>\n
7 Basics of Good Web Design
\nBy George Peirson (c) 2009<\/p>\n
Whether you are just starting a web design project, looking at
\nrevamping an existing site, or just wanting to double check the<\/p>\n
usability of your current web site you should consider these 7
\nBasics of Good Web Design.<\/p>\n
These basics are aimed at new visitors\/customers; your repeat
\ncustomers will be judging your web site on different values.<\/p>\n
Just like wearing the appropriate clothes for a job interview,
\nthese basics will help you pick out the “look” of your web site
\nso that you make a good first impression.<\/p>\n
1. Fast Loading Web Site \ufffd Any way you look at it, a fast<\/p>\n
loading page should be your number 1 concern. The web is all
\nabout speed, fast searches, fast purchases, fast information.
\nYou can’t have any of that with a slow loading page. Ask
\nyourself this question – have you ever been on Google doing a<\/p>\n
search for something important and a link you clicked on didn’t
\nopen up immediately? What did you do? Patiently wait for the
\npage to open or move onto the next link on the list? My favorite
\nsites open almost immediately.<\/p>\n
So, a few suggestions: Make sure that your images are properly
\noptimized. Don’t use very many large images, save those for a
\ndifferent page. Keep any auto-running multimedia to a minimum,
\noffer links to run media instead. Check your code for anything<\/p>\n
else that could affect your page loading times. Since text loads
\nalmost instantly go ahead and use all the text you want, just
\nkeep everything else under control.<\/p>\n
2. No Meaningless Splash Page \ufffd Do you appreciate a fancy<\/p>\n
animation page that doesn’t tell you anything and you have to
\nwait for before the web site will open? Neither do I. The last
\nthing I want once I find an interesting site is to wait through
\nsome animation before getting to the first page. This doesn’t<\/p>\n
mean that I don’t want multimedia on a site, I do. I just don’t
\nwant an animation before the first page that forces me to wait
\nfor it to finish before getting onto the site. It’s like having
\nto wait for a salesperson to finish their memorized speech<\/p>\n
before you can ask them a question. No thanks! I like animation,
\njust in the right place and at the right time. Plus, if I am a
\nreturning customer, I will have already seen that animation and
\ndon’t need to see it again.<\/p>\n
My recommendation is to use a smaller animation contained in
\nyour main landing page which also includes your main message and
\nlinks to the rest of your site. It will make for a faster
\nloading page (smaller file) and your visitors can go ahead with<\/p>\n
accessing your site without having to wait for the animation to
\nfinish.<\/p>\n
One final note, never, ever put your logo as the only content
\non your landing page with a link that says “Enter Site”. This<\/p>\n
just screams Unprofessional and will drive away potential
\nvisitors in droves. The last thing I want to do is to click on
\nanother link just to get into the site. This is a total waste of
\nmy time. I usually will skip a site if I see this.<\/p>\n
3. No Annoying Web Gimmicks \ufffd Now that you have your visitor on
\nyour site quickly the one thing you don’t want to do is to drive
\nthem away just as quickly. So, don’t put anything annoying on
\nthat first page. No loud background music that makes them<\/p>\n
quickly hit the volume control or the back button on their
\nbrowser. No flashing animations while they are trying to read
\nyour content. No popup, flyout, expanding ads that cover your
\nhome page. Basically, leave the gimmicks alone until you are sure<\/p>\n
that your visitor will stay on your site. Most casual visitors
\nwill leave your site in just a few seconds, no sense on driving
\nthem away more quickly.<\/p>\n
Multimedia is great on a web site, just don’t bombard your<\/p>\n
visitor with it first thing. If you want audio, then put in a
\nnice picture with a link, like a picture of yourself with text
\nsaying something like “Let me tell you how to make $50,000 this
\nmonth!” If they are interested, they will click on the link and<\/p>\n
listen to your message; if they are not interested in audio, then
\nyou should be using a different pitch anyway.<\/p>\n
Also, monitor what advertisers are putting on your site if you
\nsell ad space. I am sure you have seen those ads with the<\/p>\n
animated dancing figure, cute the first time you see it. But
\nafter seeing it 10,000 times with every imaginable character I
\nhave added the company to a list I keep of companies I will
\nnever do business with. So their animation has gone from “look<\/p>\n
at me” to “you annoy me” in my mind. Ads like these will impact
\nyour visitor’s experience. So even if your site is perfectly
\ndesigned, one misplaced ad can ruin all of your hard work.<\/p>\n
4. Have a Clear Message \ufffd Too many web sites are a mish-mash of<\/p>\n
content. This is especially true of blog pages. Certain types of
\nsites lend themselves to stream of consciousness content, but
\nmost don’t. Make it easy for your viewer to understand what your
\nweb site is about, don’t make them guess. Have a clear topic<\/p>\n
headline, followed by clear and concise text. This is also where
\na picture is worth a thousand words, but only if the picture
\ndirectly pertains to your message.<\/p>\n
You want your visitor to quickly understand what your message<\/p>\n
is. If they like your message, they will take the time to read
\nthe rest of your page and look around your web site. If they
\ndon’t like your page, then it won’t do you any good having them
\nstay on your site anyway. So, don’t make your visitors guess,<\/p>\n
let them know what you are about quickly and cleanly and you
\nwill have happy visitors. And when thinking about a sales page,
\na happy customer is a buying customer.<\/p>\n
5. Coordinated Design \ufffd This one should be self evident, but it<\/p>\n
is surprising how many sites change their design for every page.
\nYou want your visitor to be comfortable in your site and one way
\nto achieve that is by having a coordinated web design. Having a
\nconsistent logo, using a consistent color scheme, keeping your<\/p>\n
navigation in the same place. All of these help to create a
\ncoordinated design. This does not mean that you can’t change
\ncolors or the “Look” on different segments of your site, but if
\nyou do, the changes should not be so drastic that it feels like<\/p>\n
you have moved on to a different site.<\/p>\n
If you select one place for your logo, one place for your
\nnavigation, one look for your buttons or other common graphic
\nelements and stick with those then you will be well on your way<\/p>\n
to a coordinated design. If you change colors for a different
\nsection, but keep the same logo location, the same navigation
\nlocation, the same button shape, then your visitors will not
\nbecome lost as they move from page to page.<\/p>\n
6. Easy Navigation \ufffd Once you have grabbed your visitors
\nattention you want them to be able to easily move around the
\ndifferent areas of your web site. This is done with easy to use
\nnavigation. There are three standard, accepted locations for<\/p>\n
navigation elements on a web page: along the top, on the left
\nside, and at the bottom. I will usually put my main navigation
\neither along the top or along the left side. I will then put
\ntext based navigation at the bottom of the page, this text based<\/p>\n
navigation is more for the search engines than anything else,
\nbut it also makes it easy for your visitors to move to the next
\npage when they have reached the bottom of the current page.<\/p>\n
Most people start reading a page from the top left and then<\/p>\n
read towards the bottom right. So navigation at the left or top
\nwill be seen as soon as someone enters your page. Also
\nnavigation at the left or top will not move or change position
\nif the browser window is adjusted in size. The worst thing you<\/p>\n
can do is to put your main navigation on the right side of the
\npage and have your page set for a large screen size. Let’s say
\nthat your page is set for 1024 across with the navigation on the
\nright, and someone views your page at 800 across, they will not<\/p>\n
see your navigation at all. The left side of your page will show
\nperfectly, but the right side will be hidden outside of their
\nviewing area. Of course by using floating or popup menus you can
\novercome some of these design limitations and keep your<\/p>\n
navigation visible at all times.<\/p>\n
Unless you know that your audience will enjoy it, don’t use
\nMystery Navigation. This is where your navigation is hidden
\nwithin images, or spaced around the web page in some mysterious<\/p>\n
random order. This can be fun on gaming sites, or social
\nnetworking sites, but in most cases the navigation should be
\neasy to see and easy to use. If you do want to use Mystery
\nNavigation, I would recommend keeping the text based navigation<\/p>\n
at the bottom of the page, just in case.<\/p>\n
7. Have a “Complete” web site \ufffd And finally, no one wants to go
\nto a web site only to find that the site is “Under Construction”
\nand the content they are looking for is not there. These are<\/p>\n
words that you should never use. If a section of your web site
\nis not ready for prime time yet, then simply don’t show it yet.
\nIt is better to have your site look complete and professional,
\nthen to have it look like a work in progress that should not be<\/p>\n
up on the web yet.<\/p>\n
You can easily tell your visitors that you will be having more
\ncontent in the future without having your site look like it is
\nunfinished. Just use phrases like “Content Updated Weekly” or<\/p>\n
“New Products Added Monthly”. Both of these will tell your
\nvisitors that it would be worth their time to come back and
\nvisit later, but neither one will make your site look
\nunfinished. So no matter how small your web site is, give the<\/p>\n
impression that you have taken the time to complete the site
\nbefore putting it up on the internet, this makes for a more
\nprofessional presentation and a better visitor experience.<\/p>\n
In Closing \ufffd By following these simple 7 Basics of Good Web<\/p>\n
Design you will be well on your way to having an easy to use and
\nsuccessful web presence. Just keep in mind what you look for
\nwhen you first land on a web page after doing a web search in
\nGoogle or Yahoo, or other search engine. If you want fast<\/p>\n
loading pages, make sure your pages load fast. If you want to be
\nable to find what you are looking for quickly and easily, then
\nmake sure you have easy navigation. Just keep your first time
\nvisitor in mind, put yourself in their web shoes and make your<\/p>\n
web site an enjoyable place to visit and success should follow.
\n================================================================
\nGeorge Peirson is a successful Entrepreneur and Internet Trainer.
\nHe is the author of over 40 multimedia based tutorial training<\/p>\n
titles covering such topics as Photoshop, Flash and Dreamweaver.
\nTo see his training sets visit http:\/\/www.howtogurus.com
\nArticle copyright 2009 George Peirson
\n========================================<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hi, I think this is a great article on web design. I am a true believer in “web design 101” In other word keep the site simple so your visitors can find what they want quickly, spend their money and be gone. If you want to show the world how clever you are give your … Continue reading great article on web design<\/span>