The 5 Mortal Sins Of Web Design – Are You Guilty?
Undoubtedly, you’re familiar with the phrase, “The customer is always right!”
But if you’ve ever worked in custom website design, then you know the truth — clients often request tacky, hard to use, or even downright impossible features on their sites. The best web developers know how to manage their clients’ expectations and say no to over-the-top requests. But if you’re trying to break into custom website design, or if you have a particularly difficult client, then you might be tempted to build them a website you know is doomed to failure.
So if you’re a custom website designer, small business owner, or building your first website, be sure to avoid these deadly sins of custom website design:
Too Many Ads
We know how tempting it can be to find value-added features to cram onto your site, but you very, very quickly hit a point of diminishing returns. How many times have you clicked away from a site because of too many advertisements stuffed onto the page? All those ads can slow down your site, too. And since 47% of people expect websites to load in just two seconds (or less), you don’t want anything slowing down your site.
And if you’re a small business or eCommerce site, experts recommend having zero ads on your site.
Forgetting User Experience
UX design is a custom website design principle that focuses on user experience. But that doesn’t just mean the user’s experience on your website, it also means analyzing how your users find your site in the first place.
For instance, about 34% of cellphone owners primarily access the Web through their phones. That’s why mobile ad spending is expected to triple in size by 2016. Without a mobile-friendly site, you’re missing out on almost a third of your potential traffic. To get the most from your users’ experience, you’ll want to incorporate search engine optimization, social media marketing, and more into your custom web design.
Set And Forget
Congratulations, you’ve built the perfect website. Now you can go back to focusing on your core business, right? Unfortunately, websites are like buildings, they need to be properly maintained and renovated periodically. In fact, some experts recommend checking your site monthly for dead links.
Comic Sans
Just don’t.
Hard To Read Text
If you learned how to type in the pre-Internet days of the PC, then you probably think of 12 pt font as your go-to font size. But on the Web, 12 point font is far too small for most people to read comfortably. In general, header text should be about 35 pt, while body text should be about 15 pt.
In addition, too many websites use a color scheme with awkward, hard-to-read color contrasts. You want to make sure your page background and text color don’t clash. Plus, make sure you leave plenty of white space, or empty space, around your site. Most custom website designers agree it improves readability.
If there are any other web design sins you’re sick and tired of seeing, let us know!