While designing web pages, a number of mistakes often take place. Most of them are very common. But while working on designing, we can easily avoid them if we are a bit more careful. Apart from the odd mistakes, rest is so common that they can be easily rectified. So it is better to be aware of them while working on assignments.
• While designing web sites, PDF files are better be avoided. Online readers are not very comfortable reading PDF files on their browsers. These files can be very suitable for printing but they cause inconvenience while reading online.
• Another common mistake of web design is forgetting to enable the option to change colors of the already visited pages on a site. While navigating the site, the user would not land up to the same page over and over again and thus it would save his browsing time.
• The user’s preference to resize text should be kept in mind. Often the fixed size is specified which most of the time is a tiny sized text. This causes inconvenience to follow the textual content on the web pages.
• For textual content on web pages, a wall of text is to be avoided. This results in poor scannability by the reader. For web content writing certain tricks like using short paragraphs, simple style of writing, sub heads, highlighted keywords and bulleted lists are to be followed.
• The page title should be search engine friendly. An optimized page title helps search engines as well as users to trace the relevant pages. So those page titles should not be placed on sites that have low search engine visibility.
• Attention is to be given on maintaining consistency through out the web site. The users get familiarized with a certain web site. So by maintaining consistency on the site, user’s expectations should not be broken.
• Use of redundant pop up windows should be avoided. Most of the users do not like jumping into a new page with every link they click on the web page. It is preferable that the hyperlinks used on a web page should replace the existing web page on the browser.
• Often the visitors to one site tend to move on to another due to lack of sufficient information. A web site should cater relevant information a reader seeks on your site. Thus information on a site is to be provided keeping in mind the aim or purpose of the site.
• Again too much of information put up on a single web page can create inconvenience for the readers. They can get easily bored or tired reading too much information clubbed together.
• Other than use of banners or any indispensable images for branding the products on the site or the web site itself, the use of decorative images should be reduced as much as possible. The heavy usage of images and graphics tend to slow down the loading of web pages.
• While providing thumbnail view for larger images, the size of the thumbnail view has to be so kept that they do not cause inconvenience for a viewer to see them.
• Frequent change of URLs of web pages is to be avoided. By changing the URLs, the links already made with the particular pages will be lost.
• The content posted on web pages should be dated for convenience of users. By regularly updating content on web site brings in more visitors. Using chronology for the web contents enable readers to identify a new post from the older ones.
Most of the time, the mistakes or errors while web designing take place as the designer overlooks them at times. But it is better to avoid them and design an error free web site as far as practicable. So no mistakes of web designs are to be overlooked as minor ones. An error free site can increase the chances of success for your site.
