The Truth About Web Design
The number one rule of any website design is to make sure that it performs optimally under all conditions. It is a huge mistake to assume the belief that visitors need to be entertained with fancy flash works which usually requires long loading time, when the truth is exactly the opposite.
These are the rules of a good website design
1) Splash pages should be left out when optimal performance is a priority
Splash pages makes up the first impression people have of a website. Made up of pretty designs, they are usually lavish images and graphics with accompanying words such as “welcome to our site” or “click here to enter”. They are merely fancy additions without any real functions at all. The most important thing is not to allow any room for users to think about leaving your site, and this is almost impossible if you are using fancy splash pages with slow loading times.
2) Banners must be kept minimal
Websites in the past had a lot of banners which were useful at the time but nowadays they’re just a nuisance. Using to many adds makes your site less credible and your visitors will either ignore them or just leave your site. Instead, use affiliate links in the text of your site so people won’t view it as just advertisements on your page.
3) Make your site’s navigation easy
Navigating around your site should be simple enough for anyone to use. You want to keep you navigation simple by not using flash menus or multi-tiered menus that can easily confuse people. If it’s too hard for someone to navigate, they’ll just find another site to go to. Including a site map on your site will make it easier for a person to find what they want.
4) Make it easy for your visitor to know where they are
When you have successfully captured their attention and enjoying the whole experience of using your website, you will want to make them know where they are at the moment without feeling lost. This will provide the visitor with their exact location at any point while they look around your site. You can get this done easily by making sure that every page has its own title and each link that has been visited must be visible in different colors form the ones that are fresh. Any type of confusion drives your visitors away.
5) Avoid too much audio
If you want to avoid irritating your visitors, don’t include music or audio that will send them to another site. Music can enhance your visitor’s experience but too much of it won’t. Keep your audio to a minimum and include controls your visitors can use to change the volume or to turn it off. If you use audio effectively, you visitors will keep returning to your site.
Filed under: Web