| 7 Tips to Improve Your Website Design | | | | 5. Avoid music and sounds. Very few people |
| | | | like to have music forced on them while they |
| 1. Pages should load fast. Most people will | | | | navigate, especially if they are already |
| leave your site if it's not done loading in | | | | listening to music or surfing at their job! |
| ten or 15 seconds. And even if you have a | | | | If you really cannot do without music, turn |
| fast internet connection, not everyone does | | | | it off by default and ask visitors to start |
| and 56k modems still exist. | | | | it themselves. |
| | | | |
| 2. Text should be easy to read. The text size | | | | 6. Design for browser compatibility. Many |
| should be big enough, and the background | | | | people do not use Internet Explorer on |
| should not obscure your text. If you want to | | | | Windows. Make sure your site is at least |
| be safe, use black text on a white | | | | viewable in Mozilla Firefox and Opera (if |
| background. If you want more color, choose | | | | possible, you could even try testing on a |
| very carefully to make sure it's still easy | | | | Mac). Sites that target markets like |
| to read. | | | | technology should be more careful, since |
| | | | readers are more likely to use the newest |
| 3. Your website should be easy to navigate. | | | | browsers and gadgets like PDAs. |
| Each link should be clearly identified as | | | | |
| such and graphic navigation elements like | | | | 7. Design for all screen resolutions. You may |
| buttons and tabs should be easy to read and | | | | like to surf in 1240x1080 with your new |
| use. You do not want people leaving because | | | | screen, but some people still use 800x600, or |
| they could not figure out how your Flash menu | | | | even 640x768! A site that looks perfect in |
| works. | | | | high resolution may turn out to be impossible |
| | | | to view correctly in 800x600. |
| 4. Your layout and design should be | | | | |
| consistent. If you switch between styles too | | | | And, if you have a doubt, test, test and |
| much, you will confuse your visitors. If the | | | | test! You can also ask your family and |
| design is too different, people will believe | | | | friends for help. Being less familiar with |
| that they are now on a different website | | | | the website, they can help find a lot of |
| since the layout changed. | | | | things you overlooked. |
| | | | |