Are you about to start designing your first website? Or, perhaps you are about to launch your career as a web designer? If so, you might benefit from reading this page.<\/p>\n
The mechanics of designing a website are not overly challenging. And there are plenty of tools that you can use to simplify the development process. However, you can sometimes get too close to a design project. And even the most experienced designer can miss some of the mistakes that are prevalent on the web.<\/p>\n
So, it is advisable to take a step back from the website you have designed and take an objective, critical view. Here’s a checklist of the most common web design mistakes to look out for when reviewing a newly developed site.<\/p>\n
It’s fun to be creative. But, if you stray too far from what users expect to find on a website, people will only get confused. So, it is generally best to stick to the conventions, no matter how boring doing so might seem.<\/p>\n
Many web design conventions are familiar to internet users. One example of these standards is the menu being placed at the top of the page. Others include the logo on the top left of the site, and contact information is usually found on the top right.<\/p>\n
Of course, no law says you must follow these conventions. But one of the primary objectives of good web design is to make the site easy to use. And the best way to make a site straightforward to use is with a user interface with which people are familiar.<\/p>\n
Images, infographics, and videos are standard features of websites. Indeed, nothing but blocks of text would be considered a poor web design by today’s standards. However, visuals need to be placed in an aesthetically pleasing manner. And visuals need to be correctly portioned to create a balanced page.<\/p>\n
Visuals must enhance the look of the page and add something of value to the content. But a common mistake is using poor-quality images or visuals that have only a tenuous connection to the topic of the page. It is also best to ensure that all visuals are the same size or in proportion with one another. Haphazard sizing of visuals makes a site look untidy and unprofessional.<\/p>\n
Selecting color schemes for a website can be time-consuming. Indeed, you could spend hours tweaking palettes to get the right effect. However, a common web design mistake is choosing colors that clash or are not distinct enough from one another. So, the time you spend perfecting a color scheme will be time well spent.<\/p>\n
Colors that clash will make an impact but can also be off-putting for users. For example, the combination of neon cyan and neon pink will look striking. But that combination is also likely to give people a headache!<\/p>\n
It would be best if you also watched out for what is known as vibrating color combinations. A bold pink combined with a bold green, for example. When vibrating colors are combined, pink text on green background, for example, the pink text can appear to be flickering.<\/p>\n
The opposite of clashing course is, of course, colors with insufficient contrast. And low contrast can make the text unreadable. So, don’t make the mistake of placing light blue text over a darker blue background. Instead, choose contrasting colors that will make the words on the page stand out.<\/p>\n
Have you ever visited a website where everything seems like a lot of hard work? Well, that’s another common web design mistake that even some of the best-known sites are guilty of making.<\/p>\n
For the optimum user experience (UX), everything on a website should be as straightforward as possible. Calls to action (CTAs) should be easy to find and unambiguous, for example. Subscribing to a mailing list should not involve answering a ten-page questionnaire! And the checkout process should have only a few steps. Make it as pain-free as possible to go from A to B, and more people will complete the journey.<\/p>\n
Websites that have too many third-party advertisements are annoying. And too many ads will distract the user from the content. But it is also a mistake to have genuine content that could be confused for an advertisement.<\/p>\n
Website users have become used to seeing ads everywhere on the web. Indeed, most users have become ad-blind. So, if you have any content that looks like an advertisement, visitors are likely to ignore it.<\/p>\n
It is best, then, to avoid using banner-like elements, even if those banners promote the products you sell. Sidebar elements that look like Google ads are also likely to be ignored. And, of course, too many pop-ups should also be avoided.<\/p>\n
Many websites open new tabs or windows when someone clicks a link. And you might think that this will encourage users to stay on your site. However, all those new tabs or windows clutter up the visitor’s browser. And, if new tabs or windows are opened, the user cannot use the back button to return to the previous page. So, not only does this practice irritate users, but it is also self-defeating.<\/p>\n
There is only so much information a user can take in at any one time. So, it is best to avoid cluttering up a page with too much information. The same can be said about offering too many options. Too many variations of the same product, for example, will merely confuse people.<\/p>\n
So many of the common web design mistakes could be avoided by remembering the KISS (keep it simple stupid) principle. Or, to put it another way, less is generally best designing a website.<\/p>\n
A user’s experience on a website is best thought of as a journey. And no one likes to take a wrong turn on a journey and wind up in a dead-end. So, content should be linked together in a logical flow. And every button and link should take the user to where they expected.<\/p>\n
So, avoid making the mistake of adding internal links that add no value to the current piece of content. Ensure that calls to action and hyperlinks are not misleading. And think about the journey when you link pages together. Ask yourself, is that other page you have linked to the next logical step in the user’s journey?<\/p>\n
Possibly one of the most unforgivable web design mistakes is that of poor navigation and search. Or, even worse, no search at all.<\/p>\n
A site with more than a handful of pages will need a well-structured menu, internal links, and an advanced search function. Without these means of locating information, some users may not find what they need. And that will lead to people quitting the site before making a purchase or following any other call to action.<\/p>\n
Finally, users will spot even the smallest of mistakes. And you might think that a minor mistake is unimportant. But any error on a website reflects poorly on the company or individual that owns the site. So, attention to detail is crucial in web design.<\/p>\n
Spelling and grammar errors are the likeliest culprits in this category. But there are design mistakes that can also break the flow of a website. Using the wrong shade of color on one page is one example. And slightly misaligned textboxes or visuals is another. Even these tiny errors could distract users from the purpose of the site and reduce conversions.<\/p>\n
When designing a website, it’s easy to overlook some of these fundamental web design mistakes. So, taking a step back to review and thoroughly test a site is an essential step in web development. But hopefully, the above will help you avoid making any of these all-too-common website mistakes!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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