Web Design Information

Dont Make Your Website User-UNfriendly!


Web Design is a very subjective process. Your idea of what looks good may differ from the next person's. While wild backgrounds and flashing text were once considered 'cool', unwritten standards have evolved into every web designers inventory.

In the following examples I intend to convey a few of those user-unfriendly examples to you. My purpose is only to get you thinking about the layout and performance of your website. If you have one of these examples on your site, and you like it, by all means - leave it there! These are just examples.

1. Page CountersFive years ago, every site had a page counter. They proudly displayed how popular a site had become. The problem is, as many site owners started to find out, is that these counters can be easily manipulated. They can start at any number (not just 1), and they can produce vastly over-inflated numbers. On the other hand, if your site is not a high-traffic area, do you really want customers to know that?

2. Javascript Text ScrollingI remember when this first came out. In fact, I had it on my home page. Do you remember visiting a website and all the scrolling text across the bottom? These were usually put in your status bar along the bottom edge of your browser window. They have become a big no-no in web design. Users like to see their status bar, or, if they don't, they turn it off. Either way, this is a useless tool.

3. Excessive Animated .GIF'sIn the mid 90's when the Internet boom hit, everyone was getting a home page. Sites and ISP's would give you FREE space to put up your information. Soon, webmaster wannabe's everywhere were over populating the web with crazy animations and bright (obnoxious!) colors. Today very few sites use these files. They are now considered a waste of bandwidth. Since most companies pay for their hosting by how much bandwidth is used, animated GIF's went by the wayside.

4. Under Construction SignsThere used to be (and probably still are) pages and pages of different 'under construction' graphics for webmasters to use. Why is this a problem? Well, isn't the Internet just a big construction site anyway? Are you and your friends, clients, and other businesses constantly updating and upgrading their information online? It also conveys a sense of incompleteness. No business wants their customers to think they are running on a low budget or producing an incomplete website. The construction graphic is extinct!

5. Page FadesWe've all seen those fancy pages that fade in and out, from circles to spirals and even window-shades. They fall in the category with the scrolling text - obsolete! Most Internet users are looking for INFORMATION, not fancy graphics and page transitions.

Will Hanke is owner of Lighthouse Technologies, http://www.techlh.com a web design, programming and hosting company. He is also author of several software applications in use by companies across the US.


MORE RESOURCES:

HostGee Web Design Saudi Arabia Announces Corporate Website Design Services at ...
PR.com (press release)
Makkah, Saudi Arabia, May 23, 2012 --(PR.com)-- At HostGee, Web Design Saudi Arabia, they understand how critical it is for a person to have a professionally designed corporate website, as this is why they take care of the minutest details.



RocketWebDesign.com Announces Free Web Design with a Six Month SEO Package ...
SBWire (press release)
Rocket Web Design has extended its services of Free Web Design at a price fit for every pocket. They commit to deliver service through innovation and full customer satisfaction. Woods Cross, UT -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/22/2012 -- Rocket Web Design has ...



Hendrix College Launches Site with Responsive Web Design
Campus Technology
This concept is called responsive Web design. The Conway, AR-based school turned to the Ektron 8.5 Web Content Management System to handle the content for the Web site since it follows a mobile-first philosophy. How responsive design works is, ...

and more »


Hendrix College Website Leverages Ektron for 'Responsive Web Design' Results
MarketWatch (press release)
Leveraging the cutting-edge concept of Responsive Web Design (RWD), the Hendrix College site executes different content queries based on the maximum width of a visitor's display. This responsive media-based query system, which is enabled by the Ektron ...

and more »


Choiceonesolutions.com Wins Best Web Design Firm in Arizona Award
Broadcast Newsroom
PHOENIX, AZ -- (Marketwire) -- 05/21/12 -- The leading business association in Northern California has come out with their rankings of top web design firms and they have nominated and elected Choiceonesolutions.com as the winner for the second straight ...

and more »


Digital Arts Online

Panic Coda 2 web design tool launched, Diet Coda for iPad for quick site ...
Digital Arts Online
Coda is Panic's wide-ranging Web development editor. The original version offered a tabbed interface that let you write and edit HTML and other code, create and modify CSS, do command-line work, generate live previews, look up code references, ...

and more »


Deal: Enhance Your Web Design Skills With The Dreamweaver Essentials Course
Macgasm
If you use Dreamweaver for your web design work, or would like to start using Dreamweaver, you may want to check out our latest deal. We're offering the Dreamweaver Essentials Course for only $154 $49. With this course, you'll get 7.5 hours of ...



Indizine offers a comprehensive Doncaster web design service
Online News Today
From established businesses through to recent start-ups marketing and web design are key aspects wholly integral to the smooth running of operations – they represent the bulk of strategies which draw the consumer eye and inherently create the online ...



Hendrix Website Models Responsive Web Design
Hendrix College Events and News
CONWAY, Ark. (May 21, 2012) - The new Hendrix College website, launched in spring 2012, was recently touted by Ektron, a content management service, as a model of responsive web design. The site executes different content queries based on the maximum ...

and more »


Yell Client or New Business? Low Cost Web Sites from Kent Web Design
PR Web (press release)
The Dover based Web Design firm has introduced a low cost web design service aimed at existing Yell clients wanting to move. Also it is ideally suited toward any low cost start up business and is priced reasonably at £299 per website.

and more »

Google News

home | site map
© 2006