What are the Do's and Don'ts of Web Design?

Answer 1

I have been running my own graphic web site for the last 6 and a half years and there are quite a few things I have tried that have worked and failed. I hope this list helps you.

Here is some general advice that incorporates your "dos" and "don'ts"

-Have a catchy website name, obviously if it's for a business it'd be the business name, but if its for a personal portfolio or your own little blog having a catchy name can attract people to your site. Good examples for graphics design sites are "The Forgotten Lair, DeCode, Paint Splatter," some bad ones I came across were, "Dna GraphiX, Blueness" You want the title to reflect what your site is about, but also add sense of mystery so that a person gets intrigued to click your site link.

- Have a good layout! This one is import as a site layout is your first impression of your site. Make sure your text is not too light, you want the viewer to read your stuff. Also, avoid using a layout that has extremely bright colours everywhere, like neon green or hot pink, as this will hurt the viewer's eyes and most likely make them leave your site. Other things to consider with your layout is "how fast does it load." Make sure your header images are saved in a high resolution .jpg file so that they can load onto the viewer's computer faster. If the layout takes too long to load the viewer may lose their patience and leave your site. Also ask yourself "how accessible is my content." For example if you and running a graphic design site, "can the viewer find all your graphics easily. Are your graphics organized in some manner?" It is important how organized your navigational area is because if the viewer can't find your content they are again most likely to leave.

-Put quality over quantity in your work. Whether you run a blog, or a portfolio site, or even a graphic design site. Viewers respect work that is of high quality and shows effort. this shows the viewer you know what you are doing and will make the viewer come back to your site. Don't worry about quantity of stuff you have on your site, it will accumulate in time.

-Finally, update regularly. If you update your site on a regular basis ( the minimum should be around 3 times a year) your viewers will come back, but if you don't update frequently people may consider your site "dead" and not want to visit it.

Don't get discouraged if your site doesn't do as well as you hoped, keep trying and changes things until it works.