EagleEnvision.NeT Blog

I recently came across this nice article that really explained the terrible things that occur in the world of web design. The "Top 8 design flaws" explain any website’s worst nightmare: the designer. The mistakes listed in the article are all too common on the web. As a web designer and developer myself, I feel that it is a responsibility that I let the average Internet user know what web design techniques designers should use. I will make my own comments regarding the Top 8 design flaws listed in the article.

 

Audio on a website can get quite annoying if a user doesn’t want to hear audio. I think I know what designers were thinking… “anyone that goes to this site is going to want to listen to the audio.” Nope… I don’t want to listen to it… someone else might feel the same way.

This is a common practice among musical-oriented websites. My tip… make it an option and don’t have it play from the get-go. Let the user decide.

My tip is to use text-based advertisements, such as Google AdSense. It should be a subtle thing on a site. Advertisement that has sound and Flash effects are quite annoying.

This is one of the top flaws… it makes no sense to have a website if it doesn’t add value. If your site is unnavigable, a user will just leave. It’s that simple. Remember to check your internal and external links will a website analyzer, such as Google Webmaster Tools.

Yuck… don’t use pop-ups. They are pointless. Most users have pop-up blockers, so pop-ups are ineffective advertising.

Check your links. People will leave if they are “404-d”.

Picking a color palate is one of the most difficult things to do in web design. This is not an excuse, however, if your text color and background color are similar or they even match, CHANGE IT!

This is one of my biggest pet peeves when I go to a site: Flash. Flash isn’t bad, it’s just something that really shouldn’t be used. Back in the days before CSS, Flash was the only tool one could use to achieve a really sleek and modern design. Now, Flash is a poor choice in web design. The problem is that search engines are unable to parse text in Flash objects.

In the Web 2.0 age, search engines are everything… Google is king! That said, don’t go reaching for your web browser to find the nearest Search Engine Optimization company. These companies often are startups that don’t really know much about web design (more on that in a later post!). On the other hand, someone should be able to find your site using a search engine. In that case, ditch Flash. It is too complicated for web designers to use and leads to a terrible fate for a website.

A popular new trend is using JavaScript. In Web 2.0 language, it is commonly referred to as AJAX, which stands for Asynchronous JavaScript code. On another note, Microsoft Silverlight was recently announced. It is similar to Flash, but it uses JavaScript rather than code that a search engine can’t understand. I will talk about Microsoft Silverlight and Flash in another post.

Remember, content is king! Keep your content rich.
  

So, what have we learned? Basically, USE CSS. If your web designer of choice doesn’t use the CSS approach, you should ditch them faster that this webpage can load. If you need a web design company that is affordable and uses the latest in web design, we always recommend EagleEnvision.NeT . I will be adding more tips to web design in later posts.