Whenever I’m out and about and I run into someone the conversation always somehow turns into what I do for a living. Inevitably I’m either asked computer questions, website questions or email questions, but usually I’m asked about how to design a “correct” website layout. This started a thought process of the do’s and don’ts of website design. Here’s my list so far, let me know what you think or feel free to add to it!

1. Do not design a site without the functionality of the site in mind:

This to me is one of the biggest mistakes a designer can make. If a site is clearly designed without the true purpose in mind, every user suffers. Suddenly it is extremely difficult to navigate the site and areas are not clearly marked. Users tend to get frustrated and leave the site as quickly as they came.

2. Design a site for speed:

The last statistic that I read stated that the average user leaves a site if the site does not load within 3-5 seconds. It’s absolutely amazing how far we’ve come in the past few years. As a child I remember using dial-up internet where the average page took at least 10 seconds to load and we were happy with that. Now everything is instantaneous and our users demand that of all of our websites.

3. Have multiple ways to access a page:

It does seem exceptionally repetitive, but having more than one way to access areas of your site actually makes the site much easier to navigate for users. I have heard the rule of 3. Where there should be 3 different ways to access all pages. I’m not 100% sure if that is correct or not, but I have designed sites with 3 ways and most with 2. It just seems to me that 3 is a little over repetitive.

4. Design a page with advertisements not a page for advertisements:

There is a big difference there. All of us enjoy making a few extra dollars on the side, however, having a page specifically for ads does not make a good site design. I know of several companies that have made entire pages filled with advertisements in hopes of raising more money quickly  for themselves. Unfortunately, in this case, more is not better. It is fine to have a few ads on a site, but don’t make the ads so obnoxious that they overwhelm the user.

5. Design for all screen sizes and Browsers:

This is a HUGE problem that I have run into countless times.  The designer forgets that not everyone has a 1680 x 1050 screen and suddenly that amazing design turns into a squished page at 1024 x 768.  Also, every browser displays things a bit differently, but you can cut down those issues by using CSS and checking cross browser compatibility.  The more practice the better!

6. Keep the content on each page to a minimum:

People tend to get bored with constantly scrolling all the way through 30 pages of content on one website page. Simply add in a navigation with the pages listed so that way the user can get directly to the information that they need without having to search through several pages to find it.

7. Use simple colors and make sure text is easy to read:

Most users like an easy to read, more simple site. It makes it much easier to navigate and get the information that they need from the site. Bright colors can be used to attract attention to certain areas of the site, but an entire site designed in blaring colors tends to be overwhelming.

8. Make sure to test all links:

Dead links mean that the site is not user friendly and users will not want to keep coming back to the site. Periodically go through the site to make sure everything is working correctly and fix any dead or broken links.