Firstly, when it comes to the homepage, avoid rambling. Don’t go on and on about what you can and cannot do, what are the services you can and cannot provide, etc. Make your text crisp and concise. If possible, divide it into sub-headings. Remember to be clear. The website visitor shouldn’t be driven off in confusion. Also, if you have a Flash movie on your homepage, always keep the option of Skipping Intro – otherwise you are forcing the visitor to wait until the whole thing finishes loading, and what if he’s pressed for time, or doesn’t want to watch the movie ?

When it comes to the navigation, resist the urge to experiment. We’ve seen websites that have no consistency in navigation bars and buttons. One button is on the top of the page, on another page, it’s at the bottom. Not only is this confusing, it looks bad, too! So avoid playing around, keep it consistent. Remember to maintain a rhythm. Also, avoid large garish fonts, this hurts the eyes. At the same time, avoid too-tiny fonts, as these drive people away in frustration, when they can’t read. Remember that reading your text shouldn’t have to be a supreme effort on the part of the visitor. Also, avoid giving information, on and on without pause. Put in sub-headings and paragraphs wherever necessary. Lay emphasis on keeping the text short and clear, and avoid spelling mistakes. This leaves a really bad impression.

And finally, the graphics. This is probably the most important part of any website. Remember that saying: A picture is worth a million words ? It’s true when it comes to web design too. Avoid harsh, loud graphics – and also avoid compressing your photos too much – this makes the photo unclear. And remember which format to use, as well. If the photo in question has few colors, (less than 64), and if it contains text, then use GIF. If it’s a photograph, use JPEG – these are for images that contain 32 million colors or less. Avoid using large graphics, as these increase download time. Make them easy to download.

So now that you know what to avoid in your web design, what are you waiting for ? Get started designing your website !