There are countless websites out on the Internet now, and it is not easy to make your website stand out from among the crowd. However, the least you can do is to make sure that your website does not contain design mistakes that are commonly made by beginners. Here is a list of what those mistakes are.
Many amateur web designers make the mistake of creating URLs that are long and complex. For the benefit of web users, URLs should really be short and simple. You can use keywords in your URLs, but only in a two to three word phrase. Words in a URL should also be separated by a hyphen or underscore so the search engines can index those words effectively.
Avoid using animated text and images on your website. These are very distracting to the web user and can possibly irritate them to the point that will drive them away. These types of design elements do not add any value to the content. If you want to add visual interest to your web page, look for relevant images that describe your idea. To highlight a block of text, set it apart in its own text box. These methods do not require animation and are effective in drawing attention to the main focus of the page.
No one likes to sit around and wait for a page to load. A load time of more than 15 seconds is excessive and will most likely discourage your web visitors from staying. The most common things that cause a page to load slowly are large graphics and videos. Optimize these objects and keep their file sizes small. If that is not possible, do not use them on your page.
Web users like websites where they can find things easily. A sitemap is a good one-page tool that can help your web visitor find the page that he is looking for. Another tool is a good navigation menu at the top of the page or in the left column. When a user can go from one page to another without much difficulty, it improves his user experience.
There are certain colors that are defaults when it come to links. Avoid changing these because many web users are used to seeing and associating these standard colors with links. If you change them, it might cause confusion. Therefore, try to keep the default link colors.
Be sure that all of the pages that you have created are linked to a parent page. Orphaned pages may never be found if they are not linked to anything. Go through your navigation and see how your pages are linked. You should not have a page that is more than three levels deep in your website.
Principles of a good web design never change, even as technology changes. It is worth the extra time in learning these principles because the look and feel of your website are influenced by these principles. If you keep these in mind, you will be able to build a well-designed website that your visitors will love.