Top 5 Mistakes in Web Design
This article will discuss 5 of the most annoying web design mistakes people make when building their website.
1. Page titles with low search engine visibility
Search is very important, it is the way in which users discover websites 99% of the time. The page Meta data is one of the main tools to attract new visitors from the search engine to your site. It also helps existing users to locate the specific page that they need.
Page titles are also used as the default when you bookmark a site in your favorites. A good example of the HOMEpage for what you might put as your title is the company name, followed by a brief description of the site. For internal pages, the title of the content and then information which tells users what they would find on the page.
2. PDF files for online reading
One of the most annoying things for a user while looking through a website is when they come across a PDF file while browsing. PDF is great for distributing manuals etc and printing but keep it for this purpose and convert any information that is important for the user of that site into a web page (if possible) Sometimes however, this is not possible as they are there to download large documents although most of the time it is down to people being lazy and not converting into a web page.
3. Boring text
Having large amounts of text on a page is deadly for an interactive experience. It can become painful and boring to read. When writing for online you must draw users into the text and support scan ability there are a few drinks listed below that can help with this;
• Short paragraphs
• Bulleted lists
• Subheadings
• Highlighted keywords
• De-fluffed language
• Create a simple writing style.
4. Advertisements (or things that look like advertisements)
Some features on websites can look like advertisements; users have learned that anything which looks like an advertisement to ignore. Therefore, it is important to avoid any designs that look like this, examples include banners and animation (eg flashing text).
5. Not giving users the information they want
Users typically visit a website when they are looking for the answer to a question or want to buy a product. The ultimate failure to me is when the website fails to provide the information that users want. This is sometimes because of the content on the page but can also be due to the fact the user does not like the design of the page they land on. There can sometimes be too much information on the page that the relevant information gets lost under design and bland slogans.
