| I wanted to look at a variety of mistakes that a lot | | | | good for completing the sale. |
| of people make with designing websites, whether | | | | 4. Design For Widescreen |
| DIY builds or when instructing a designer. So here are | | | | If you have a 1600 pixel wide screen don't fill it - not |
| my list of worst offending mistakes that often | | | | unless you are using floating widths! If a webpage |
| happen! | | | | needs to scroll horizontally on a standard screen you |
| 1. Don't Check Browser Compatibility | | | | are going to lose visitors. If they also have to scroll in |
| There is a local web designer who obviously work in | | | | the traditional vertical direction, they will get lost. |
| Internet Explorer. How can I tell? Well all his websites | | | | Design the page to fit the majority of screens - |
| look fine in Internet Explorer, but some fail in Firefox. | | | | either make it narrow enough to do this or resize it |
| You must remember every time you build a website | | | | for the screen width. But refer to point 1 - check the |
| to check it in different browsers, different versions | | | | page on different screen sizes! |
| of those browsers (Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8 are | | | | 5. Plenty Of Movement |
| all still supported), different operating systems and | | | | We are not at Hogwarts, so we don't need |
| different sized screens. It is a pain, but they don't all | | | | everything we read to have moving pictures. Have a |
| render CSS the same way. | | | | look at some of the most popular sites and |
| 2. Hide Important Details | | | | movement is restricted to just the adverts. Why? |
| If you want someone to buy from you, make sure | | | | Because it is a distraction! For adverts it gets |
| that all of the required features are there. I've had | | | | attention, but use too much movement on a screen |
| several designs arrive from graphic designers who | | | | and the distraction will lose business. |
| have forgotten to link to the shopping basket and | | | | 6. Don't Read Your Work |
| recently I was trying to book a hotel, but the one | | | | You've typed it up and published it, so why read it? |
| we wanted didn't say what times check-in and | | | | The amount of sites that I see with spelling and |
| check-out were. So make sure all of the details to | | | | grammatical errors is amazing. It doesn't look good to |
| complete a transaction are present! | | | | your visitors if words are misspelt. It gives an air of a |
| 3. Play Some Music | | | | rushed job and they will loose faith in your business. |
| Let's face it, if someone wants to listen to music | | | | 7. Have Different Styles On Every Page |
| while they browse the internet, they will have it on in | | | | A little branding to differentiate different categories |
| the background. But if they are browsing in the | | | | and areas of the site is fine, but you shouldn't have |
| office or when everyone else is asleep, if your | | | | each page markedly different. Keep the navigation in |
| website has music playing in the background it is the | | | | the same areas of the page and keep the colour |
| quickest way possible to lose a visitor. It is great fun | | | | schemes consistent. If you do want to change |
| when someone opens a website with music in an | | | | something, add a logo or badge. |
| office - everyone knows they aren't working. Not | | | | |