Good Practices When Designing A Website - What to do and what not to do!

JacobF

Jul 29 2006, 03:35 PM

We've all com across terrible websites before and hit the back button as quickly as possible. But what makes these sites any terrible?

Keep the following in mind when designing.

JavaScript and Flash can be great tools, but only if used properly. Don't put trails after the curser, fireworks or other animations flying around the page or the dreaded Flash intro.
If you must use an intro, Flash or otherwise, then put a 'skip intro' button. You may wish to show of your Flash skills, but we don;t want to watch! :-)
Keep your page dynamic. Having warned you against all these animations etc, I still think that a static page is boring. Even if it's just a rectangle in the menu highlighting as you move over it or a marquee (use <marquee>your text</marquee>), try to have something dynamic.
There's no need to use passwords etc unless private data is exchanged. Don't annoy visitors with them!
You need a clear title. Come up with something short and snappy. It should be self-explanatory.
Avoid background sounds at all costs! It's considered by many to be the mark of a newbie!
Use a colour not an image for your background. Images can block out some of the text and putting another image on the page (on top of the bg) will look terrible.
For some reason, blue seems to be the trend in professional websites at the moment. Blue fading into white, that is. If it's what people like, you may as well use it!
Pages that are too busy can be intimidating; pages that are too empty are boring.
Most people nowadays have at least 104x768 resolution. Try to fit your page to that resolution. Also, reme,ber that some browsers such as the extremely popular AOL 9.0 have a small viewing area for webpages. It's about 8/10 of he width of the screen but height varies according to resolution.
Preview in your browser, NOT your HTML builder. The HTML builder's toolbars'll distort the size that you'd be viewing it in where you seeing it through a browser. Remember that companies are always trying to 'streamline' browsers; this'll give you more space. Users don't like to scroll down!

Often, many websites will not supply contact details. Try to form a community of sorts; forums, e-mail and Wikis are great ways to do this. People don't like talking to a machine; they want to be in contact with YOU. This is a really import part of running a website.

Domain name is important; if you must use a free host then don't expect to be taken as seriously as a proper paid-for domain. If you use a free host then I suggest that you use one taht puts NO ads on your site such as www.atspace.com and www.awardspace.com. Free host will give you something called a subdomainl this'll be yoursite.freehostservicename.com or similar. Paid hosts will give you mcuh more options including a you@yourwebsite.com e-mail - that looks much more pro - a www.you.com domain, the ability to have subdomain and more. For exaplme, say I ran a newspaper called 'The News' (imaginitive I know!) I could opt for free hosting and get http://the-news.someone and people'd email me at the-news@aol.com or similar OR I could opt for paid hosting and have to cough up every month but get www.the-news.com, be contacted at http://forums.the-news.com or editor@the.news.com, have a Teamspeak server and more control over my site.

If you want forums then you can use someone free such as www.invisionfree.com or you could write your own. Writing your won is far better, but it's almost impossible! To be honest, even big companies sometimes use free forums so just stick with them! It'll be mcuh easier, even though you'll ned up with something like http://s7.invisionfree.com/Your_forum.

And there you have it!

pyost

Jul 29 2006, 03:51 PM

A good tutorial you have there, but there are some points where I wouldn't agree with you.

QUOTE

Use a colour not an image for your background.

According to your next point, it's best to use a blue-to-white background. But how can this be accomplished if no images are used? I say, do use simple graphics, but be careful.

QUOTE

Most people nowadays have at least 104x768 resolution. Try to fit your page to that resolution. Also, reme,ber that some browsers such as the extremely popular AOL 9.0 have a small viewing area for webpages. It's about 8/10 of he width of the screen but height varies according to resolution.

True. 800x600 used to be common, so 800 pixels had to be the max width. However, since a lot people still use low resolutions, it might be best to use a fluid design with width: 100%

QUOTE

Preview in your browser, NOT your HTML builder. The HTML builder's toolbars'll distort the size that you'd be viewing it in where you seeing it through a browser. Remember that companies are always trying to 'streamline' browsers; this'll give you more space. Users don't like to scroll down!

Just to add, try as many browsers as you can! Internet Explorer, Oper, Firefox, Netscape, everything that you can think of. Even a slightest part of the code can make the page look different in various browsers.

QUOTE

to be honest, even big companies sometimes use free forums so just stick with them! It'll be mcuh easier, even though you'll ned up with something like http://s7.invisionfree.com/Your_forum.

Here, I do not agree with you. If you are not a professional, then it is OK to use a free forum site, but otherwise it's rather unexceptable. Big companies and serious people ought to use forums on their own host. It will be more customizable and makes the creator somewhat more intelligent. Another thing is not using free forums such as phpBB and SMF. While they are free, they give out the wrong impression. It is better to invest $100 if you can!

yordan

Jul 29 2006, 04:42 PM

QUOTE

If you want forums then you can use someone free such as www.invisionfree.com

Be careful with free forums. The phpbb forums at astahost are rally nice, this kind of forums you can use.
Some other "free" forums cannot be used for professional use, because they have too many ads, and ads other than yours will probably make your customers go out from your site.
i would rather suggest, startup with astahost and an independant forum like phpbb, and keep countinuously make backups of your forum. And if your site starts being very successful, you will simply upgrade your account to a paid hosting, and simply move your forum to you new site.

mpinsky

Jul 30 2006, 06:13 PM

I'm surprised nobody mentioned this, but don't have a text that hurts to look at or blends in with the background. This is especially true when you have a background image of different colors. Also, when using a background image, I find it easier to have a no repeat, fixed background with scrolling text so that when you scroll down you won't see a repeat of the picture or the end of the picture and a giant white space.

Also, try and make your pages eye-catching. If your page doesn't look pleasing to the eye, it tends to lead many people to the "back" button on their browser.

pyost

Jul 30 2006, 06:42 PM

Of course, that is the most important rule! I hate to see pages with repeating backgrounds, especially if it is a smaller image which shows up so many times. And when you add text to the colourful background.. *vomit*. Just keep the background simple and if possible in one colour, and choose a colour for the text so that it can be easily seen. And avoid too bright colours such as yellow, light green etc.

mpinsky

Jul 30 2006, 08:59 PM

I agree with yellow. Every time I see a page with yellow text, my eyes are like, "it burns us, it burnssss ussss!". For me, a general rule of thumb is that if you must use some kind of yellow, stick with a goldenrod color of some sort. It's easier on the eyes than just plain, blinding yellow is, and for a black/white/grey picture background on my website I'm building, it came off as a rather nice effect. Matched my buttons and everything. ;p

Another good rule of thumb is not to use funky-looking fonts. For the love of God, just don't do it! It makes your site come off as looking unprofessional and thus is not taken seriously. The only time I find this acceptable is if you are building an elegant-looking layout of sorts and you need a font title. Just don't use wedding fonts, they're hardly legible, so I usually stick to something like "Scriptina" or the like.

lonebyrd

Jul 31 2006, 12:48 AM

Well if we are adding suggestions, I have also heard not to use wild looking text/fonts. Stick with something pleasing to the eye, not abstract like comic sans, which isn't very professional looking. Even though I am making a game site, where I want it to be fun, I've found that the odd looking fonts are just not good to look at over and over. Personally, I like Veranda, but thats just me.

Vyoma

Aug 1 2006, 03:09 PM

I cannot just say that do not use yellow. But I can say that do not use yellow together with white or something like that.

It is always the combination of colours that you use, that make or break a site. And these days, if you are a newbie designer, I would say that stick with pastel colours. To get a good set of colours that go well with each other, you could try the Colour Scheme Generator provided at www.WellStyled.com.

austiniskoge

Aug 1 2006, 08:20 PM

I agree with not having background sounds.

Also, don't have quirky little sounds when you scroll over certain things and stuff... it's very annoying.

If you want music, put a player on your page, or have a downloadable song. Integrated sound is awful.

Chesso

Aug 2 2006, 05:09 PM

I haven't read all the replys and original post content but I would have to disagree somewhat on static web pages. Many look just great, perhaps with some slightly fancier little effects on the menu's and such it could look nicer.

Some if not many static sites still look very nice

I'm personally not a fan of flash, It is nice when you have the option of either though, it's very considerate and I would say a good practice for sure.

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skedad

Dec 6 2007, 04:43 PM

I think that the designer should have his/her idea ahead of time, that way they know how to follow with a site idea. That will help to not get off track and make mistakes while working on the site. I have seen really nice layout structure, then like the last page, or one page just goes the opposite way and was all flashy... It's like going through a family's house and seeing nice things, then going upstairs to the kid's room and opening the door.... FLASHY OVERKILL!

I feel like a little deja vu here, but I think that if designers want to do things a little off the wall, then it should be stated in like a separate gallery or something a little less site related. I am starting some ideas for my daughters and my son's pages, and they will be a little flashy... because that is what kids are... happy, silly and flashy! But if I overkill it then it will just be cutesie images and flashy animation everywhere.

I think that sites should be a continuous flow too. Start at the top of the page and go through info, then at the bottom let the user branch from there. Will they go back to the top to reread some info, will they go to the following page to continue what they are reading, or are the finished and would like to go back to the homepage of the site. I am working on that development right now, but I may be getting to 'perfectionist.' I notice myself that I don't have many openings that I would like on my pages, and I have created many and many in my lifetime already!

Ok, so my son is telling me it's time to stop my post. I hope that you all have fun and just do what feels right to you in page development. I think the best way to make the sites are to learn from your mistakes and make a lot of them!

- skedad -

yordan

Dec 5 2007, 03:25 PM

QUOTE(TavoxPeru @ Dec 5 2007, 04:12 AM)

In my personal opinion Flash sites look great and visually they have a very positive impact on users but:

Cause a lot of trouble when you want to validate it.
Is a bit dificult to apply on them some SEO techniques if you want to positionate on search engines, for example google recommends not to use it for your navigation links.
In terms of Accesibility they are bad.

Best regards,

I totally agree.
I think also that my website (as any website I shall find nice) should be reachable by any mean.
And, when I am on a Windows keyboard, I very often have no (or very poor) antivirus system, so I don't want to install things if I am not the owner of the system. So, when the host asks "do you want to instal blah blah blah" or "your version of Flash is out of date, dou you want to upgrade it ?" I sey "no!" and of course I cannot watch the website. And I say "this website is bad, I will not go there any more". So, too bad, it could be an interesting website, so if the way it's designed makes me refuse to reach it, I say it's poorly designed.
Of course, this is my own opinion.
Regards
Yordan

TavoxPeru

Dec 5 2007, 03:12 AM

QUOTE(onyxdesignco @ Dec 4 2007, 08:15 PM)

How about Flash site then?
Any Comments on these?

In my personal opinion Flash sites look great and visually they have a very positive impact on users but:

Cause a lot of trouble when you want to validate it.
Is a bit dificult to apply on them some SEO techniques if you want to positionate on search engines, for example google recommends not to use it for your navigation links.
In terms of Accesibility they are bad.

Best regards,

onyxdesignco

Dec 5 2007, 01:15 AM

How about Flash site then?
Any Comments on these?

shayne

Nov 20 2007, 01:38 AM

Excellent Guide.

Its true... when i was younger and all my buddy's started making free website i got into it. From here on iv learned a good website is

- Basic But professional
- must keep visitors annoyance free
- Don't make it flashy we don't want to have to go to the hospital. (if you get what im saying)
- And don't have chat slang everywhere its just annoying

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