sweetiedog
2006-03-16, 1:19pm
There are so many threads asking for help/critiques of web sites that I thougt I would put together some basic information/guidelines for building a web site.
I am a professional web site designer with over 7 years of experience so rest assured I am not pulling this information out of my butt, however, take from it what you want and ignore what you don't like. :wink:
Resolution - About 50% of web surfers use 800x600 resolution on their computer. Web standards recommend designing your web site to fit within the 800x600 screen size. Avoid scrollbars as much as possible. Vertical scrolling is okay. Horizontal scrolling is bad bad bad. Keep in mind that even though the trends are moving to higher resolutions on home computers, the PDA, notebook and hand held computers are growing in popularity - and they have even smaller resolutions.
Real Estate Usage - since you only have 800x600 pixels of visible space, make the most of it. Don't waste space. Put the most important content in plain view. Make it the most visible element on the page. Move lesser content in the areas that may require scrolling.
Navigation - the most critical element of a web site. Users need to know how to get through your web site with ease and efficiency. Always place your navigational elements (menu bar) in the exact same place on every page to make it easy to find.
If you have multiple nested pages (more than 2 clicks in from the home page), provide visitors with breadcrumb navigational links to show them where they have traveled. Example: home -> beads -> sets -> pink sets
Consistency - make all pages consistent in overall layout and design. You don't want to confuse visitors into thinking they've left your site and are suddenly someplace else. Certain items should remain in the same place on every page - like your logo/banner and menu bar.
Cleanliness - keep the design clean and simple. As much fun as it is to use animation and flashy effects, they get old fast. Keep them to a minimum. Don't try to cram too much information into a small spot. Go to a second page if necessary. Cluttered sites are difficult to look at.
Content - web surfers assess a page in under 10 seconds to determine whether they will stay and look around or move on. Grab their attention fast. The home page should scream what you are all about. A user shouldn't have to spend 5 minutes figuring out that you make beads - or whatever it is you are marketing.
Blog pages are great for regular visitors to keep tabs on what is happening - but they should never be the primary element on your home page (unless blogging is the only thing you are about). A brand new visitor isn't going to want to read through your entire blog on their first visit. They want to see what you are selling. They'll read how your day was AFTER they become a customer.
Avoid intro pages. They basically serve the purpose of a commercial. A commercial may be interesting the first time you see it, but after that it is just plain annoying. Visitors want to see REAL content, and they want to see it right away. Don't make them 'click to enter'.
Font/Color/Graphics - these are all personal preference. What may be pleasing to some, is ugly to others. You will never please everyone. Just use them smart. Black text on white background with no color or graphics is boring to pretty much everyone. Too many graphics can be overwhelming and very distracting. Balance is the key. You can achieve amazing design by simply using colored backgrounds in strategic places with no graphics whatsoever. The most important graphics should be your logo/banner and photos of the products you are selling. Everything else is merely supplemental.
Visibility - if you want people to find you again, there are several items that will make you more present on the search engines:
Titles - use good page titles. Never title your page 'home'. That means nothing to a search engine or a favorites link. What you place between the <title></title> tags on your site is what shows up in your favorites list when you bookmark a page. It is also the very first thing web crawlers scan when indexing pages for their search engines. Always place your company name in the title, as well as a light description of what the site/page is about. (ie: mysite - handmade lampwork beads, mysite.com - helpful hints, mysite.com - additional resources, etc)
Headings - the second item web crawlers look for is headings within the pages. Make use of tags like <H1></H1> and <H2></H2>. Search engines use these as "keywords". You can change the font/size/style of the tags to match the styling of your web site.
Alt tags - if you use a lot of graphics for your headings instead of text, make sure you repeat the words in the alt="" tags for your images. These will be picked up by search engines as well.
Text content - Use words within your web pages that you would expect visitors to search for. If the purpose of your site is to market/sell your handmade kiln annealed artisan lampwork beads - then make sure those words appear on the pages of your web site.
Shared links - link to your friends' pages and have them link back to you. Your web site should never become a mere "link farm" as these type of sites are flagged by search engines as bad and lose "points" with the search engine rating systems. However, you gain "points" by having other sites on the internet reference your site. It is always a good idea to have a links or additional resources page on your site where you link to other sites. Of course, they have to link back to you in order to make it mutually beneficial.
Hopefully you find this information beneficial when building your web site. Happy web designing :grin:
I am a professional web site designer with over 7 years of experience so rest assured I am not pulling this information out of my butt, however, take from it what you want and ignore what you don't like. :wink:
Resolution - About 50% of web surfers use 800x600 resolution on their computer. Web standards recommend designing your web site to fit within the 800x600 screen size. Avoid scrollbars as much as possible. Vertical scrolling is okay. Horizontal scrolling is bad bad bad. Keep in mind that even though the trends are moving to higher resolutions on home computers, the PDA, notebook and hand held computers are growing in popularity - and they have even smaller resolutions.
Real Estate Usage - since you only have 800x600 pixels of visible space, make the most of it. Don't waste space. Put the most important content in plain view. Make it the most visible element on the page. Move lesser content in the areas that may require scrolling.
Navigation - the most critical element of a web site. Users need to know how to get through your web site with ease and efficiency. Always place your navigational elements (menu bar) in the exact same place on every page to make it easy to find.
If you have multiple nested pages (more than 2 clicks in from the home page), provide visitors with breadcrumb navigational links to show them where they have traveled. Example: home -> beads -> sets -> pink sets
Consistency - make all pages consistent in overall layout and design. You don't want to confuse visitors into thinking they've left your site and are suddenly someplace else. Certain items should remain in the same place on every page - like your logo/banner and menu bar.
Cleanliness - keep the design clean and simple. As much fun as it is to use animation and flashy effects, they get old fast. Keep them to a minimum. Don't try to cram too much information into a small spot. Go to a second page if necessary. Cluttered sites are difficult to look at.
Content - web surfers assess a page in under 10 seconds to determine whether they will stay and look around or move on. Grab their attention fast. The home page should scream what you are all about. A user shouldn't have to spend 5 minutes figuring out that you make beads - or whatever it is you are marketing.
Blog pages are great for regular visitors to keep tabs on what is happening - but they should never be the primary element on your home page (unless blogging is the only thing you are about). A brand new visitor isn't going to want to read through your entire blog on their first visit. They want to see what you are selling. They'll read how your day was AFTER they become a customer.
Avoid intro pages. They basically serve the purpose of a commercial. A commercial may be interesting the first time you see it, but after that it is just plain annoying. Visitors want to see REAL content, and they want to see it right away. Don't make them 'click to enter'.
Font/Color/Graphics - these are all personal preference. What may be pleasing to some, is ugly to others. You will never please everyone. Just use them smart. Black text on white background with no color or graphics is boring to pretty much everyone. Too many graphics can be overwhelming and very distracting. Balance is the key. You can achieve amazing design by simply using colored backgrounds in strategic places with no graphics whatsoever. The most important graphics should be your logo/banner and photos of the products you are selling. Everything else is merely supplemental.
Visibility - if you want people to find you again, there are several items that will make you more present on the search engines:
Titles - use good page titles. Never title your page 'home'. That means nothing to a search engine or a favorites link. What you place between the <title></title> tags on your site is what shows up in your favorites list when you bookmark a page. It is also the very first thing web crawlers scan when indexing pages for their search engines. Always place your company name in the title, as well as a light description of what the site/page is about. (ie: mysite - handmade lampwork beads, mysite.com - helpful hints, mysite.com - additional resources, etc)
Headings - the second item web crawlers look for is headings within the pages. Make use of tags like <H1></H1> and <H2></H2>. Search engines use these as "keywords". You can change the font/size/style of the tags to match the styling of your web site.
Alt tags - if you use a lot of graphics for your headings instead of text, make sure you repeat the words in the alt="" tags for your images. These will be picked up by search engines as well.
Text content - Use words within your web pages that you would expect visitors to search for. If the purpose of your site is to market/sell your handmade kiln annealed artisan lampwork beads - then make sure those words appear on the pages of your web site.
Shared links - link to your friends' pages and have them link back to you. Your web site should never become a mere "link farm" as these type of sites are flagged by search engines as bad and lose "points" with the search engine rating systems. However, you gain "points" by having other sites on the internet reference your site. It is always a good idea to have a links or additional resources page on your site where you link to other sites. Of course, they have to link back to you in order to make it mutually beneficial.
Hopefully you find this information beneficial when building your web site. Happy web designing :grin: