Avoid the Visual Pitfalls of Web Design

By Erin Monaghan

Website design is an art and the best art communicates. We have all seen poorly constructed websites that place a wall of gray text on a black background with a constant three second loop of music and goofy mouse over noises, and asked ourselves what the web designer was thinking. Web sites designed haphazardly fail to communicate and undesired reactions occur.

These are a few common visual mistakes regarding content, text, layout and images made by web designers and how to avoid them.

Content:

Visitors to a website want to instantly know what it is about. Placing ambiguous titles at the top of the site and forcing people to search for meaning is the easiest way to alienate an audience and they will most likely leave.

Rarely will someone go to the movies or watch a television show without knowing what it is about. Same goes for websites, people like to know what they are looking at and whether they would like to stay there.

Text:

Text is one of the biggest complaints a web designer gets. Visitors should not have to strain to read content. Text should be easy to read, short and to the point.

No one wants to read a novel on the Internet. Believe it or not, white space is refreshing, it breaks up the page and allows the reader to easily find what they are looking for.

Use:

• Bullet Points – these break up content and allow for easier reading.
• Reasonably large print – There is no standard type size rule, but generally if someone has to squint to read or they get headaches after about five or 10 minuets than chances are the type is too small.
• Short paragraphs – permit the user to easily scan content.
• Contrasting text color and background – Yellow on black is a good choice; whereas yellow on white is more difficult to see.

Layout:

Navigation is key to layout. A visitor needs to see all of their available options with out playing guessing games. No one can search a site if they don't know where to go. If the Internet is the information super highway then websites are information side streets. Without some sort of directions or street signs surfers will get lost.

Logically arranged sites are presented in a manner that anticipates expectations and entice visitors to explore.

• Flow

  Make sure there is flow, or an obvious path of travel in a site. Lead the visitor from point A to point B with easily recognizable, descriptive links. Name links with familiar titles like "about us" or "products." Most people will not "click here" without having some idea of where the link goes.

• Links

  Have links change color after they have been visited. People like to know where they have been and get frustrated if they keep landing on the same page.

• Dead Ends

  Don't create orphan or dead end pages. When someone thinks they have come to the end of the website they will leave. Always provide links to previous pages and back to the home page.

Imagery

Most visitors enjoy creative visual stimulation. Unfortunately, complex graphics slow loading time and try visitor's patience.

• Flash

  Flash can be an excellent tool, when used correctly. Flash should be used sparingly. Some visitors will leave if they see a "loading" message and regular visitors may tire of the images quickly.

• Banners

  Avoid flashy banners that mimic ads, savvy Internet users will ignore these types of banners.

• Graphics

  Highly dynamic graphics, although attractive slow load time. When using graphics save them in gif format, not jpg. Gifs are higher quality and will not pixilate like a jpg. would.

Use graphics sparingly. Pictures should support content, not distract.

These are just a few common visual web design mistakes. Website design is an art form, and like all art forms is fluid. But remember a wall of grey text on a black background will never be acceptable and don't underestimate the power of a back button.

References

Nielsen, Jakob (2005). Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2005. July 7, 2006, Web site: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/designmistakes.html

Web design mistakes-how to avoid the 12 common ones (2001). iSiteBuild. July 7, 2006, Web site: http://www.isitebuild.com/designmistakes.htm

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