43 Web Design Mistakes You Should Avoid

There are several lists of web design mistakes around the Internet. Most of them, however, are the “Most common” or “Top 10” mistakes. Every time I crossed one of those lists I would think to myself: “Come on, there must be more than 10 mistakes…”. Then I decided to write down all the web design mistakes that would come into my head; within half an hour I had over thirty of them listed. Afterwards I did some research around the web and the list grew to 43 points.

The next step was to write a short description for each one, and the result is the collection of mistakes that you will find below. Some of the points are common sense, others are quite polemic. Most of them apply to any website though, whether we talk about a business entity or a blog. Enjoy!

1. The user must know what the site is about in seconds: attention is one the most valuable currencies on the Internet. If a visitor can not figure what your site is about in a couple of seconds, he will probably just go somewhere else. Your site must communicate why I should spend my time there, and FAST!

2. Make the content scannable: this is the Internet, not a book, so forget large blocks of text. Probably I will be visiting your site while I work on other stuff so make sure that I can scan through the entire content. Bullet points, headers, subheaders, lists. Anything that will help the reader filter what he is looking for.

3. Do not use fancy fonts that are unreadable: sure there are some fonts that will give a sophisticated look to your website. But are they readable? If your main objective is to deliver a message and get the visitors reading your stuff, then you should make the process comfortable for them.

4. Do not use tiny fonts: the previous point applies here, you want to make sure that readers are comfortable reading your content. My Firefox does have a zooming feature, but if I need to use on your website it will probably be the last time I visit it.

5. Do not open new browser windows: I used to do that on my first websites. The logic was simple, if I open new browser windows for external links the user will never leave my site. WRONG! Let the user control where he wants the links to open. There is a reason why browsers have a huge “Back” button. Do not worry about sending the visitor to another website, he will get back if he wants to (even porn sites are starting to get conscious regarding this point lately…).

6. Do not resize the user’s browser windows: the user should be in control of his browser. If you resize it you will risk to mess things up on his side, and what is worse you might lose your credibility in front of him.

7. Do not require a registration unless it is necessary: lets put this straight, when I browse around the Internet I want to get information, not the other way around. Do not force me to register up and leave my email address and other details unless it is absolutely necessary (i.e. unless what you offer is so good that I will bear with the registration).

8. Never subscribe the visitor for something without his consent: do not automatically subscribe a visitor to newsletters when he registers up on your site. Sending unsolicited emails around is not the best way to make friends.

9. Do not overuse Flash: apart from increasing the load time of your website, excessive usage of Flash might also annoy the visitors. Use it only if you must offer features that are not supported by static pages.

10. Do not play music: on the early years of the Internet web developers always tried to successfully integrate music into websites. Guess what, they failed miserably. Do not use music, period.

11. If you MUST play an audio file let the user start it: some situations might require an audio file. You might need to deliver a speech to the user or your guided tour might have an audio component. That is fine. Just make sure that the user is in control, let him push the “Play” button as opposed to jamming the music on his face right after he enters the website.

12. Do not clutter your website with badges: first of all, badges of networks and communities make a site look very unprofessional. Even if we are talking about awards and recognition badges you should place them on the “About Us” page.

13. Do not use a homepage that just launches the “real” website: the smaller the number of steps required for the user to access your content, the better.

14. Make sure to include contact details: there is nothing worse than a website that has no contact details. This is not bad only for the visitors, but also for yourself. You might lose important feedback along the way.

15. Do not break the “Back” button: this is a very basic principle of usability. Do not break the “Back” button under any circumstance. Opening new browser windows will break it, for instance, and some Javascript links might also break them.

16. Do not use blinking text: unless your visitors are coming straight from 1996, that is.

17. Avoid complex URL structures: a simple, keyword-based URL structure will not only improve your search engine rankings, but it will also make it easier for the reader to identify the content of your pages before visiting them.

18. Use CSS over HTML tables: HTML tables were used to create page layouts. With the advent of CSS, however, there is no reason to stick to them. CSS is faster, more reliable and it offers many more features.

19. Make sure users can search the whole website: there is a reason why search engines revolutionized the Internet. You probably guessed it, because they make it very easy to find the information we are looking for. Do not neglect this on your site.

20. Avoid “drop down” menus: the user should be able to see all the navigation options straight way. Using “drop down” menus might confuse things and hide the information the reader was actually looking for.

21. Use text navigation: text navigation is not only faster but it is also more reliable. Some users, for instance, browse the Internet with images turned off.

22. If you are linking to PDF files disclose it: ever clicked on a link only to see your browser freezing while Acrobat Reader launches to open that (unrequested) PDF file? That is pretty annoying so make sure to explicit links pointing to PDF files so that users can handle them properly.

23. Do not confuse the visitor with many versions: avoid confusing the visitor with too many versions of your website. What bandwidth do I prefer? 56Kbps? 128Kbps? Flash or HTML? Man, just give me the content!

24. Do not blend advertising inside the content: blending advertising like Adsense units inside your content might increase your click-through rate on the short term. Over the long run, however, this will reduce your readership base. An annoyed visitor is a lost visitor.

25. Use a simple navigation structure: sometimes less is more. This rule usually applies to people and choices. Make sure that your website has a single, clear navigation structure. The last thing you want is to confuse the reader regarding where he should go to find the information he is looking for.

26. Avoid “intros”: do not force the user to watch or read something before he can access to the real content. This is plain annoying, and he will stay only if what you have to offer is really unique.

27. Do not use FrontPage: this point extends to other cheap HTML editors. While they appear to make web design easier, the output will be a poorly crafted code, incompatible with different browsers and with several bugs.

28. Make sure your website is cross-browser compatible: not all browsers are created equal, and not all of them interpret CSS and other languages on the same way. Like it or not, you will need to make your website compatible with the most used browsers on the market, else you will lose readers over the long term.

29. Make sure to include anchor text on links: I confess I used to do that mistake until some time ago. It is easier to tell people to “click here”. But this is not efficient. Make sure to include a relevant anchor text on your links. It will ensure that the reader knows where he is going to if he clicks the link, and it will also create SEO benefits for the external site where the link is pointing.

30. Do not cloak links: apart from having a clear anchor text, the user must also be able to see where the link is pointing on the status bar of his browser. If you cloak your links (either because they are affiliate ones or due to other reasons) your site will lose credibility.

31. Make links visible: the visitor should be able to recognize what is clickable and what is not, easily. Make sure that your links have a contrasting color (the standard blue color is the optimal most of the times). Possibly also make them underlined.

32. Do not underline or color normal text: do not underline normal text unless absolutely necessary. Just as users need to recognize links easily, they should not get the idea that something is clickable when in reality it is not.

33. Make clicked links change color: this point is very important for the usability of your website. Clicked links that change color help the user to locate himself more easily around your site, making sure that he will not end up visiting the same pages unintentionally.

34. Do not use animated GIFs: unless you have advertising banners that require animation, avoid animated GIFs. They make a site look unprofessional and detract the attention from the content.

35. Make sure to use the ALT and TITLE attributes for images: apart from having SEO benefits the ALT and TITLE attributes for images will play an important role for blind users.

36. Do not use harsh colors: if the user is getting a headache after visiting your site for 10 consecutive minutes, you probably should pick a better color scheme. Design the color palette around your objectives (i.e. deliver a mood, let the user focus on the content, etc.).

37. Do not use pop ups: this point refers to pop ups of any kind. Even user requested pop ups are a bad idea given the increasing amount of pop blockers out there.

38. Avoid Javascript links: those links execute a small Javascript when the user clicks on them. Stay away from them since they often create problems for the user.

39. Include functional links on your footer: people are used to scrolling down to the footer of a website if they are not finding a specific information. At the very least you want to include a link to the Homepage and possibly a link to the “Contact Us” page.

40. Avoid long pages: guess what, if the user needs to scroll down forever in order to read your content he will probably just skip it altogether. If that is the case with your website make it shorter and improve the navigation structure.

41. No horizontal scrolling: while some vertical scrolling is tolerable, the same can not be said about horizontal scrolling. The most used screen resolution nowadays is 1024 x 768 pixels, so make sure that your website fits inside it.

42. No spelling or grammatical mistakes: this is not a web design mistake, but it is one of the most important factors affecting the overall quality of a website. Make sure that your links and texts do not contain spelling or grammatical mistakes.

43. If you use CAPTCHA make sure the letters are readable: several sites use CAPTCHA filters as a method of reducing spam on comments or on registration forms. There is just one problem with it, most of the times the user needs to call his whole family to decipher the letters.

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Daniel Scocco on April 30, 2007 | Filed Under Blog Design

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290 Responses to “43 Web Design Mistakes You Should Avoid”

kris on April 30th, 2007 5:48 am

Hi,

A few more..

44.Do not use hidden text.

45.Do not link to banned sites. Google is strict on this.

The ones you can do…

46.Place your ads at the top. They tend to get clicked more. The ones on the right are next in line to get clicked.

47.Get listed in dmoz and yahoo.com. Google specifically mentions this.

48.Get into adwords. The tools given are a great help.

49.Try tools at seomoz.org. They are the best for picking up keywords from your site.

50.Choose a specific theme for your website. Do not alter the theme midway. If you have multiple themes, choose anothere website. Of course, you have to do this considering the monetization aspects.

51.Start a blog. Keep posting one article a day.
Daniel on April 30th, 2007 5:53 am

Kris, I agree with not using hidden text and being consistent with your theme.

The other points are more Search Engine Optimization than design, but yeah they are useful also.
Rishi on April 30th, 2007 6:29 am

Hey Daniel,
Really cool tips. I follow only 41 of them and now will follow all 43.

And Kris, I agree with you on the theme point, my recommendation is always go for a custom theme design maybe yourself, any designer or any generator and think 10 times to change it.

And Daniel, which editor do you prefer? I used to have FrontPage but now using Nvu. Any recommendation to your readers about an editor?
Daniel on April 30th, 2007 6:34 am

Rishi, we had a discussion sometime ago about HTML editors, check it out:

http://www.dailyblogtips.com/wysiwyg-html-editors/
AmeyJah on April 30th, 2007 6:51 am

hey, i agree with you.
Since we should not annoy reader it is better to place it at top (with left alignment) the best and wroked for me for my wordpress blog.
here are some suggestion from my side:

52. check your spelling and grammar ( don’t laugh it’s fact, and i have suffered a lot from due to this)

53. try to avoid useless wordpress plugings so that your page can load faster. ( it’s not necessary to have avatar for comment section)

54. Most important: differentiate between your and readers comment. it can bee done by adjusting background color or text color)
Daniel on April 30th, 2007 6:57 am

Amey, good ones.

I need to apply number 54 :).
Roberto Alamos on April 30th, 2007 7:10 am

55. When possible use ‘em’ instead of ‘px’ or % as a measure in your CSS. It grows (or shrinks) proportionally if your user increases (or decreases) his browser’s font sizes. That’s because em’s size is relative to the font size of parent elements while pixels and percentages are relative to screen’s size.
basketer on April 30th, 2007 8:56 am

Hey Daniel,

this post is a great confidence booster especially after I realized that I was doing just one mistake out of the 43 you had mentioned.

The list seems pretty comprehensive but I think we can have a few more additions, as other people have already suggested.

Actually, this can be a great meme if you are looking for one.

Also, I do not agree with a couple of points you mentioned. Its alright catering to the needs of your visitors, but I think the readers should be expected to get a bare minimum of resources with their browsers.

Thats why the JS points are inapplicable according to me. Its high time they get that.
Webbie on April 30th, 2007 11:19 am

This should be like our 10 43 55… Commandments.
Good stuff.
Cucirca on April 30th, 2007 11:25 am

Great tips Daniel I will have to apply some of them
Bret on April 30th, 2007 11:46 am

Great post. I especially like the points about “no music” and making captcha readable. I don’t know how many times I’ve entered the wrong captcha word just because I couldn’t read it. And music on a site…let’s just say it’s a sure sign of an amateur: “Hey! Look what I learned how to do!”
AL on April 30th, 2007 1:04 pm

Hey no one told me porn sites are becoming more usable!

Later, gotta check ‘em out
Daniel on April 30th, 2007 3:22 pm

Bret, yeah CAPTCHA filters are annoying, in fact my advice would be to remove them altogether.
Ben Evert on April 30th, 2007 7:19 pm

Excellent list. I can’t believe that people still put flash, music etc on their sites. It annoyed me years ago and still annoys me today. And, thanks to the additions from the other readers. Keep up the good work.
Tim on April 30th, 2007 7:33 pm

Is statement in point 41. “while some vertical scrolling is tolerable” meant to be ironic? This page with its’ included comments is quite possibly the longest in internet history (over exaggeration).

I find nothing wrong with long pages as if the information is of interest. Sometimes having multiple pages for articles just adds more messy navigation.

Great list though!
Daniel on April 30th, 2007 7:40 pm

Tim, yeah sometimes it is difficult to mention that rule. I could break the post into smaller parts, but this would also annoy the readers.

Usually think that blogs are a kind of exception for that rule due to the large amoung of comments they get.
Rex on April 30th, 2007 8:42 pm

Certainly a nice list, I think i have used and recomended them to my web production clients but not listed them so well before.

Not too sure about your web editor comment, hey develop a web in frontpage, test it on multiple browsers b4 release. At least Frontpage has a spell checker and people in the stell/fabrication and Nursery (plants) sectors may be able to get a half decent web site running.

Which brings me to AmeyJah, by all means let us know how you have been burnt by your inability to spell check your own web sites and then make at least two spelling and two gramatical errors in your comment, Doh!

Thanks for the entertainment, Rex.
Vent Swap on April 30th, 2007 11:08 pm

Great list and I really wonder what fonts would you guys recommend?
Adam on May 1st, 2007 12:20 am

Most of these are crap and way out-dated!

First off; blinking text is long dead and goes without saying. Just ask Lou Montulli.

Flash has smaller file sizes than jpgs.

Do not use music, period??? What??? What if its a site for a rock band? Its silly to offer such broad rules with no thought.

Badges are cool, leave badges alone. And what legally has to put the badges of there suppliers?

And some more, but I dont have time.
Daniel on May 1st, 2007 12:30 am

Adam, it is always a good idea to get back to the basics. If you have “mordern” web design mistakes feel free to share them :).

Thanks for the comment anyway.
mostafa on May 1st, 2007 1:02 am

great article wow

this site changed my life
Rikki on May 1st, 2007 1:57 am

Dont agree on point 40 at all.

I HATE pages that have one paragraph then links to the next 28 pages. It could all be done in 3 and save dicking around when I try to print things.
Yuri van Geest on May 1st, 2007 3:13 am

Hi,

Good article and good discussion. Some basic stuff but it is always good to remember the basics once in a while And I loved tip nr. 55

My 2 cents (of key design mistakes):

56. Neglecting the standards for Sitemap structure and XML (SEO and usability impact)

57. Neglecting the standards for Web Accessability

58. Subjectifying discussion on priorities on webpages instead of using user centered design techniques like online personas+scenarios, Google AdWords -> free keyword selector tool (objectifies the selected content in every webpage), web surveys on your site, webstats on your site, eye-tracking studies, benchmarkting (a.o. award winning sites), industry level web design research etc. Neglecting market data in favor of internal politics and strategy can be huge mistake in my view.

59. Neglecting the importance of a Glossary in the header or footer (good for SEO and usability)

60. Ignoring the use of trigger words throughout the site. The trigger words should be based on analysis of keyword selector tools from AdWords, Yahoo Search etc.

61. Offering standard FAQ pages while ignoring the possibilities of offering context- or webpage-specific FAQs throughout the whole website. Better for usability experience.

62. Designing without taking mobile access from smart phones, PDAs etc. into account.

I agree with most points related to JavaScript, Flash (and RIA/Ajax/Flex). The trouble is that it is a mixed picture popping up. Flash and RIA can enhance the user experience but at the same it can be a hassle in terms of measureability, maintenance, costs, accessability (W3C) as well as SEO impact. Of course, there are advancements regarding Flash and RIA in these respective fields but still… a critical view is needed here in my view.
ta on May 1st, 2007 3:27 am

38. Avoid Javascript linkes

What problems?

I can come up with one
Expirienced users use the shift or controll key(Windows) to open a new window/tab. If the purpose is to execute Javascript code, use input-button element.
Daniel on May 1st, 2007 3:35 am

ta, the one you mentioned is true. Additionally bear in mind that almost 12% of the Internet users (as of 2006) do not have Java compatiblity on their browsers.
Prateek on May 1st, 2007 3:55 am

Tip 38
Prateek on May 1st, 2007 3:55 am

Tip 38 is hard to follow if you are making AJAX websites
Cookie on May 1st, 2007 3:58 am

Here’s another one: don’t use visitor counters. Instead, use an invisible tracking system like Google Analytics. People couldn’t care less that they are visitor number 8541371!
Daniel on May 1st, 2007 4:15 am

Cookie, I agree. This would be our tip #63!
nick on May 1st, 2007 4:25 am

wrong on number 40. Getting users to click through next page, then next page and so on is a good way to lose users.

Ask any competent marketing person, long sales copy trumps short sales copy every time.
Daniel on May 1st, 2007 4:39 am

nick, I guess it depends on the type of website.

Take a look at NYTimes, The Economist or other big mainstream websites. Most of them adopt short pages, and break up articles into several pages.

I know this is partially a reason to increase page views and advertising fees.
murphyz on May 1st, 2007 5:03 am

Music on pages is one reason why I detest myspace - I hate clicking on someone’s page and having music start.

Mxx
Mike on May 1st, 2007 5:20 am

This list is very helpful. Thanks for putting it together.

You mention no music, no animated graphics, and a few other things. I agree with your suggestions. Take a look at most myspace web pages and you’ll see many bad practices. It just goes to show that sometimes a bad thing does not bring down the popularity of a site. But, we should always strive to make the user’s experience better.
haha on May 1st, 2007 7:09 am

good points but you should reread this one
“40. Avoid long pages: guess what, if the user needs to scroll down forever in order to read your content he will probably just skip it altogether. If that is the case with your website make it shorter and improve the navigation structure.”
Matt on May 1st, 2007 9:28 am

Many good points, some not so good points…

A.) Paginated content is BAD and is not MAINLY for revenue and page views, its ONLY for rev. and page views.

B.) A commenter mentioned standards and XML (I’m sure s/he mean XHTML) and how [XHTML] has some SEO benefits…. guess what people: MYTH. There is not a single browser on the market today that is capable of rendering xhtml correctly. (Shush people… it’s true.) All browsers take XHTML and convert it to HTML for display so pleeeeeease start giving the browser HTML again… XHTML is a side project of the W3C, not intended for actual use.

C.) HTML Tables were ever intended to be used for layouts and by no means have been “replaced” by CSS. Tables are meant to display data in a… wait for it… wait for it… TABLE!!! Whoa! Things like product comparison ‘tables’ or a multiplication ‘table’ to name a few. A grid of content that is intended to be displayed as a grid is a fabulous and perfectly compliant use of the table markup. So i would venture to add another thing to this list…

63: Do not use bloated CSS and div floats to render tabular data, use the table markup… that’s what it’s for! Your browser will thank you for not choking it on uncalled for, excessive markup. Your browser loves to render tables and it’s really good at doing so, even when they are used for a ridiculous purpose. (That’s probably why they were used for layouts for so very long. Oof.) So imagine how brilliantly your browser will render the table when you are using it for its actual purpose!

This was an awesome read and a great thread of comments… the best thing I’ve read all month.

P.S. I love the list and I sincerely thank you for taking the time to write it for us but I would advise you to heed your own advice (rule #42)… I spot some not so perfect grammar. I wouldn’t have said anything if you hadn’t of been preaching it.
Matt on May 1st, 2007 9:33 am

…boy would I love to edit a couple mistakes from my previous comment.

MAINLY = PARTIALLY

So i would venture = So I would venture

…hadn’t of been… = …hadn’t been…

Sorry ’bout that. If i didn’t bring them up someone else would have of course.
Daniel on May 1st, 2007 10:04 am

Matt, thanks for commenting. I agree that HTML tables were created for tables and not for design layout, but many people used to employ them that way.

Good points about having a clear CSS structure.
kareno on May 1st, 2007 12:52 pm

Hm, all are good tips, but I’d hoped that by now anyone who’s making a website should have the web sense, or at least the common sense, to know that blink text and popups are not the way to go. But many fancy commercial sites promoting new products and such do still resize browser windows and use only flash, so I guess they still have stuff to learn.
richard on May 1st, 2007 1:14 pm

A good post, thanks. It is also enhanced by the comments.
Colin Whitworth on May 1st, 2007 1:35 pm

Don’t hate Flash, hate the developers who misuse it. I think it is a great way to build websites.
Daniel on May 1st, 2007 2:05 pm

Colin, yeah the problem is not in Flash itself since it is a great technology.

Most of the times it works that way though. For instance XHTML is also very efficient, still people tend to mess up with it :).
MotorsportBabesAU on May 1st, 2007 6:14 pm

Great ideas there. My site currently has a few of those items listed but they were thing that I was wondering about anyway!

Only issue I have is the animated gif one. I thought that when used appropriately these could be quite effective. Particularly in adverts. I agree not to over do it though.
Jermayn Parker on May 1st, 2007 6:21 pm

Great list, while I agree with most of them, I tend to disagree or slightly disagree with some of your points and also the points that were made in the comments section.

You can read more hear.
http://germworks.net/blog/2007.....uld-avoid/
Chris on May 1st, 2007 8:17 pm

Speaking of “your site will lose credibility…”

You have a grammatical error in #14.
Daniel on May 1st, 2007 8:22 pm

Corrected. I did proof read three times, but it slipped off hehe, I am glad it was 1 mistake out of 1500 words.

Thanks for spotting.
Strange Duck on May 2nd, 2007 7:48 am

Good stuff. Two points I will debate, however. Whereas before I didn’t like new browser windows opening for external links - now I love it. Especially with Firefox and tabbed browsers. In fact, if a new window doesn’t open with an external link, I am outright miffed. And completely lost.

I like to go back and forth between web sites, a lot. So, more open windows is better than cycling through the back button.

Also, this page is really long. It doesn’t bother me at all. Scrolling down is easy. To have to click to a new page is a drag and interruptive. I think the user-friendly gurus changed their minds on this long ago.
Daniel on May 2nd, 2007 7:56 am

Strange Duck,

Regarding the browser windows, we can put it this way: if you make links open new windows the users that have Firefox and tabbed browsing will be happy, but the users who dont will be pissed.

If you dont make links open new browser windows I dont think Firefox users will get pissed though, after all they can still open a new tab with a center mouse click or with keyboard shortcut.

That way you make sure everyone is getting hiw own.
SEO Practices on May 2nd, 2007 8:31 am

Thanks great list. It shows us seo beginners a path to making our sites user-seo friendly.
Sue on May 2nd, 2007 10:27 am

Matt said:
B.) A commenter mentioned standards and XML (I’m sure s/he mean XHTML) and how [XHTML] has some SEO benefits…. guess what people: MYTH. There is not a single browser on the market today that is capable of rendering xhtml correctly. (Shush people… it’s true.) All browsers take XHTML and convert it to HTML for display so pleeeeeease start giving the browser HTML again… XHTML is a side project of the W3C, not intended for actual use.

Unfortunately Matt, you are incorrect. XHTML *is* HTML. The tags in XHTML are the same ones we were using in HTML 10 years ago. It is WAY easier to use XHTML and CSS than the mess that used to be tables for page layout (tables are useful for tabular data). There is no way it breaks the browser. It is not a pet project, it is preferable for usability and access, and I for one will never go back to using HTML and tables. Sounds like you need to dump your Front Page, Matt.

Thanks for the article, Daniel, this is a good one. Especially nos. 9, 10 and 11.
Jeff on May 2nd, 2007 12:42 pm

great list, it is rare to find such a large amount of subjective content all in 1 place that I agree completely with!

Well done.
Matt on May 2nd, 2007 3:50 pm

Sue Said:

“Sounds like you need to dump your Front Page, Matt.”

So Matt is saying:

LOL… While I thoroughly appreciate your loathing of Front Page (something I must clear the record and say I neither use nor condone) I must inform you that you are indeed the incorrect one.

XHTML is *similar* to HTML. In order for you to be correct you would have had to have said XHTML *is* XML. To say that it’s 100% the same as HTML is simply a testament to your lack of education on the subject. Don’t feel isolated, you are not alone and I’m not picking on you… but in all fairness I did say “Shush people… it’s true.” Newsflash: you’re ‘people’.

Ok.. here’s where it starts to get a little on the stern side. You started it

Do you think in order to achieve a layout in HTML you have to use a table? (Who uses Front Page now??)

Do you think you have to use XHTML to use CSS? That’s asinine. Besides, if XHTML and HTML are “the same” then why are you an apostle for XHTML in the first place and why does it matter what you choose to use? According to you it’s the same thing. So where is your valid point? (P.S. XHTML is not some *new* way of writing HTML. The specs, XHTML and HTML 4.01, came out at damn near the same time… literally months apart.

I support closing all elements. I support properly nested tags. I support semantic markup and less bloat. So where in the real world does that mean that I *must* support XHTML?? I’m afraid that Sue needs to dump her Notepad. (Sorry, tried to think of something funny to counter her Front Page comment and all I could think of is how 98% of all these self-proclaimed standardistas insist they write all their “code”* in notepad. Lies. If not lies.. then stupidity. Anyone who is not taking advantage of syntax highlighting is creating their own prison.)

I put code in quotes because these same people also think that the markup they write is called “code” when in reality it’s called markup. Code tends to contain things like conditions, methods, classes, etc… coders know.

So… stop pretending that XHTML is the only way to write a semantic web and stop calling your markup “code”.

P.S. No way it breaks the browser?? Are you nuts? Try passing Internet Explorer your XHTML as XHTML (which *IS* XML). [You will probably need to use something called "code" to do this... as it cannot be done with "markup".] Do you see a webpage or do you see exactly what you see in Notepad? Hmmm… uh-thank you very much.

Thank You,

Matt (A reformed XHTML user. Yeah, used to use it and preach it, too. Until I did some learning on the subject.)
Jermayn Parker on May 2nd, 2007 7:05 pm

Looks we have just solved the problem off having no hot air for our air ballon :rolls:
George Gumpert on May 3rd, 2007 10:04 am

These are all very obvious, but it’s scary how rarely they’re followed.

Very good list you got going here!
doug on May 3rd, 2007 10:33 am

it looks like you broke your own rule. i thought your list of responders would go on forever before i would get to your reply area. i have a simple rule based ironically on my lack of knowledge of all the things possible which (can be done): i take a direct approach and simply type what i want to say. i (KEEP IT SIMPLE) DOUG
I DIDN’T “already say what i said above as your error message indicates. what’s wrong with (your) perception (???)
Daniel on May 3rd, 2007 4:02 pm

doug, yeah this page became very long indeed.

As I said before in a comment I think some types of website could get around that rule. Blogs, for instance, there is nothing you can do to avoid the long pages on posts that have many comments.

KISS: Keep It Simple and Stupid. This is a very good rule of thumb, I agree.
Strange Duck on May 3rd, 2007 9:17 pm

Daniel,

I get pissed even when using IE and Safari. This is because I am a multiclicker and when doing research I click about amongst many sites. Cycling back to find the original doc and losing all the others that I opened is a drag.

I am not speaking for everyone, and the usability experts even disagree, but I prefer multiple windows opening to cycling through the back button, and losing pages that I am still reading. So for me links within the site shouldn’t open a new window, and external links should.

Oh, another reason I like it is because I am a skimmer, so sometimes I do not even know I will be leaving the site. If a new window opens it is instant feedback for me.

I am sure this will remain a contentious issue. That’s ok. The others I am in agreement with.
Jermayn Parker on May 4th, 2007 5:42 pm

@Strange Duck - In regards to your net usage, the experienced user most of the time surfs like you mentioned but the ‘common’ user does not surf and use the net like that.

We design for the ‘common’ user and not the expert user because the expert user has enough knowledge to surf and use his skills to surf the way he likes but the ‘common’ user needs everything layed out nice and simple for him. You want their experience to be pleasurable and not annoying or frustrating as the website is a service and service counts….
Daniel on May 5th, 2007 3:54 am

Jermayn, exactly. Sometimes we wrongly think that our habits reflect the habits of other people.

Do not design a website based on your personal preferences, design it for who will be reading it.
nobody on May 7th, 2007 1:29 pm

Another item I’ve seen that would be great on this list is Javascript used for page layout. I browse with Javascript disabled, and if your page displays horribly I just leave.

Also, I find it ironic that you require email addresses to post comments.
CodeBit.cn on May 7th, 2007 7:40 pm

great list.
thanks
Michael on May 8th, 2007 5:15 pm

“9. Do not overuse Flash”

Well that’s just silly!

It would be wrong to overuse anything - because if you’ve overused it, you’ve used it too many times (how observant).

You could say, “do not overuse HTML” and it would be just as valid.

Many of the best sites on the internet are flash-based… perhaps you should change your comment to read:

“only use flash where appropriate” and then I’d agree with you.
johno on May 8th, 2007 7:14 pm

As usual some great tips. However, I beg to differ with your point re the use of tables. There is nothing wrong with using HTML tales for tabular data - that’s what they are intended for. However, CSS should be used to style those tables.
ps: this site’s a real treasure trve of info and tips.
Sam on May 9th, 2007 12:35 pm

Just thought the author would like to know that there are, in fact, several grammatical/spelling errors on this very page…perhaps, a way to mitigate this is to find your closest grammar nazi and ask him/her whether he/she would be kind enough to proofread new pages. Spell check alone is simply not enough. You have to actually read the text to ensure that it is coherent.
Daniel on May 9th, 2007 3:48 pm

Sam, spell check is not enough indeed, usually I proof read my articles two times.

Sometimes though you become blinded to your own mistakes, having a proof read partner is a good idea.

I guess I will proof read for the third time now ;).
ahmed on May 10th, 2007 5:17 am

i think what is your openion about the boring text that is from the design point of view
Eric on May 10th, 2007 8:10 am

Nice article with good tips. (I “think” mind most of these rules…but Im off to go check!)

Meantime will sign up for your RSS feed.

Eric
krish on May 13th, 2007 10:35 pm

hi,

Great list, this has helped me in convincing my boss, not to use music and too much flash.
Daniel on May 14th, 2007 2:13 am

Glad it helped Kris. Actually it is funny how many clients ask designers to include music and other crap stuff on their website…
Matt Keegan on May 16th, 2007 4:01 pm

Most people make a first impression within five seconds time. If you don’t have a site that captures the initial interest, nothing else matters.
TandemAdam on May 16th, 2007 4:24 pm

Not true Matt!

This is just another generalization. First impression is an important thing for some types of sites, but it always comes back to myspace. When I first layed eyes on that design disaster, I thought it was an abomination. But some how more space on the internet is taken up by myspace than porn. WTF!

So people do seem to fight the first impression these days, and seem to want more from a site than just a pretty face.
Daniel on May 17th, 2007 2:02 am

Matt, the first impression is really important, but once you captured the attention of the reader you need to make sure that he will like what he sees, converting him into a loyal visitor.

Even if you make a wonderful first impression (graphics and tagline and all) you will still have problems if all the rest of your site is crap (navigation, links, content).
johno on May 17th, 2007 7:52 am

First impressions are important, but ultimately the quality or price of the product or service is the decider. If you don’t make a good first impression, then they (potential clients) will never take that second step and discover that your product/service is what they need. The analogy of a house comes to mind: a house may look like a wreck on the outside, but may in fact on the inside be exactly what the potential buyer is looking for - but a shoddy exterior and therefore a bad first impression and they’ll never know what they missed.
Delfin on May 20th, 2007 11:41 am

34. Do not use animated GIFs:.
Should we make an exception with the honourable Yahoo’s web-site…the rest is excellent
justin on May 20th, 2007 3:56 pm

cool tips i will be sure to use them in my future websites! thank you
ozlady on May 22nd, 2007 4:20 am

Loved the tips - will be referring to them a few times. Noticed something in the comments: “Do not design a website based on your personal preferences, design it for who will be reading it.”

Took me a while to come to terms with this - and it’s amazing how many sites that I think are ugly are actually very, very, very successful.

Great tips - thanks!
Suemarie on May 25th, 2007 4:59 pm

Great article - good tips. I also really dislike websites with pages that are still under construction. If the site must go up then don’t put a live link to a page that is not complete.
Also agree with an above comment about animated .gifs. They are annoying and make it difficult to concentrate on reading. I usually don’t stay.
Thanks everyone for great tips and comments!
Fred on May 28th, 2007 8:25 am

Sound advice … my blog stumbled at number 1!

Changing now, thanks for your help.
Izmir Tasarim on May 31st, 2007 3:11 am

Thanks for useful informations.

Best regards
Prateek on May 31st, 2007 3:22 am

Another tip:

Close comments after a point…coz they get really annoying…
Izmir Tasarim on May 31st, 2007 10:48 am

Thanks for helpful information you catch up us with your instructional explenation.

What people do is more important that what they say…

Best regards
TechZilo on June 1st, 2007 8:44 am

Now, that is a HUUUGEEEEE list
Trubadurix on June 9th, 2007 8:43 pm

Have to disagree (as some other have too) on number 40.
Pagination is so incredibly annoying and a sure way to lose visitors. Much better to have more text on each page (less is more…in this case, less pages)

However, the best way is probably a combination. Avoid “too long” pages and also avoid “too many” pages
templatestaff on June 10th, 2007 6:52 am

I agree with most of these points. Also, canned CMS systems like Joomla! really respect many of these things. Another rule is to allow the user to contribute and add news and/or articles (without moderation would be even better).

http://www.templatestaff.com
SomeGuy on June 14th, 2007 3:04 pm

If I avoid these ‘mistakes’ my site will be really sucky. Perhaps you mean ‘…tips to follow’. Who knows, eh?
PraP on June 21st, 2007 2:16 am

thanks for valuable information.
Neon John on June 21st, 2007 10:28 am

Couple of comments:

* NO FLASH! At all! At least if you want me to see it. One of the more popular FireFox extensions is FlashBlock. There’s a reason….

* Long scrolling pages are fine. I too HATE continuation pages. They’re a pain in the butt to read and a much larger pain to ScrapBook, WebStrip, etc. This is especially important if you’re offering original content and not just bootlegged photos and videos.

* The one exception to the above rule is, PLEASE don’t put 50 high-res photos on one page. As a dial-up users, I want to see your page today and not tomorrow. Learn about thumbnails. And while you’re at it, learn about making them large enough to see without having to click up the full res photo. I want to click on the full res photo to get the details and not to try and figure out what the photo is.

* I HATE javascript links that can’t be opened using -click in FF. Unless there’s a REAL good reason, use simple HTML links.

* Don’t change link colors. Everyone’s used to blue links and purple clicked links. Make me spend time appreciating your site instead of trying to figure out where the links are.

* Opening new pages on link clicks doesn’t much matter either way with me. I have FF configured to defeat auto-new-page-open. I control when new pages (tabs) get opened.

* This may be the biggest one of all. LEAVE THE TEXT SIZE SET TO DEFAULT. I don’t have 18-year-old eyes and I’m not sitting in front of a 24″ monitor! I have the default text size in FF set to what’s comfortable for me. Why make me uncomfortable?

* Remember that some of us are still shackled with dial-up. Others are on satellite broadband connections and still others on EVDO. A 350kb initial page or one that opens 10,000 connections before displaying anything loses my interest very rapidly. I really don’t care about your artsy-fartsy web design (you’re probably not very good at it, to begin with), I’m interested in your content. You know, words, pictures, etc.

My personal standard is no page is allowed to require more than 30 seconds on dial-up and I try to keep it much below that.

I see a significant amount of FrontPage bigotry but I’ve yet to see any reason. So far I’ve yet to see a sufficient reason to scrap my freebie copy of FP. I’m going to look at NVU and AMAYA in a bit. I’ll be shocked if either are better from a user’s perspective.

John http://www.johndearmond.com
TandemAdam on June 21st, 2007 1:34 pm

You need to embrace the future Neon John. Fork out a little more for a proper internet connection. And enable flash too, I cant stand people who think flash is the devil. It has come a long way in the last 2-3 years. You need to climb out of your hole and join the party.
Neon John on June 21st, 2007 3:30 pm

>You need to embrace the future Neon John. Fork out a little more for a
>proper internet connection.

Good idea, kid. In fact I was just discussing that last week with the chief engineer of our phone company. He says we need new copper to install DSL.

So.

LAN party at my place next weekend. I’ll supply the BBQ and beer and you supply the cable. We’ll need 23 miles. Allowing for the terrain that mountain goats can’t climb, round it up to 25 miles. I’ll have the miniSLAM installed and waiting for you when you get here.

Oh wait, I can hear it now. The Answer Man sez: “get satellite”. Great idea. We’ll need the services of a mining company to move a few million tons of granite so that I can get the southern exposure satellite requires.

Is that the Answer Man saying “Get EVDO?” Got it. Slight complication, though. The nearest tower is on the other side of that mountain.

Hmmmm, I think the Answer Man’s all out of answers. Dial-up it is.

>And enable flash too, I cant stand people
>who think flash is the devil. It has come a long way in the last 2-3
>years. You need to climb out of your hole and join the party.

Pardon me, I think you’ve mistaken me for someone who gives a spit what you can stand. You see, you have our roles reversed. If you’re publishing a website then I’m the consumer, the guy who’ll look at your site, perhaps tell others about it and if you’re real lucky, maybe even click on some of those Googlie ads.

If you serve me up your revealed enlightenment using Flash then I won’t see it. I won’t be able to click on your ads. I won’t be able to digg your stuff. You lose. Perhaps you ought to look at how many people have downloaded that flash killer extension before you let your personal preferences govern your web behavior. Seems to be a bunch of us folks who hate flash. Or more accurately, hate what people are doing with it.

John
TandemAdam on June 21st, 2007 3:53 pm

Ok first of all, the amount of downloads a FF extension gets, does not mean how many people use it. It may sound good at the time, you install it, you find out its crap, you uninstall it.

personally I like good flash content, and use AdBlock Plus to stop annoying banners and such. There is no need to block content that you might want to look at just because of the platform it was built in. You should be blocking on the context of the content.

And going by your rules, it seems that ALOT more people think this is a smarter way of thinking because AdBlock Plus has been downloaded far more than any flash blocker.
Linma on June 22nd, 2007 9:51 pm

It is quite valuable for me. Thanks a lot.
ruud on July 6th, 2007 6:09 am

thank you.
egforum on July 7th, 2007 6:27 pm

thansks….
Ed on July 7th, 2007 7:23 pm

Great post. I need to buy my site designer a drink.

To add to the conversation, hard and fast rules apply most, but not all, of the time. For instance,

Don’t auto launch music when a page opens. I agree with that 100%, except one of my favorite sites, Dave barnes, blasts out his music straight away and I love it.

Maybe adapt the rule to say “Only auto launch good music on a good musician’s site”. And then add a subsection to explain what dictates “good” and “musician” and… before you know it, you are back to “Use music with discretion.”

Good designers and coders and mark-uppers should be able to flex a bit and why not bend some rules? I try to beef up the title tags with a bit of obscure humor. “This a picture of a snooker table, and the green ball is next to the blue.”

I really like the idea of differentiating the site owner’s comments. And that is where avatars come in, but color coding background would work too. Haloscan, are you reading this.
tommy grub on July 16th, 2007 6:45 am

Ok first of all, the amount of downloads a FF extension gets, does not mean how many people use it. It may sound good at the time, you install it, you find out its crap, you uninstall it.

personally I like good flash content, and use AdBlock Plus to stop annoying banners and such. There is no need to block content that you might want to look at just because of the platform it was built in. You should be blocking on the context of the content.
Pan on July 17th, 2007 10:52 pm

Great post! now we have something to show when the clients asks for a 2 hours of intro or a reaggeton song.
Ovais Khan on July 19th, 2007 12:14 am

Dear Webmaster,

I have launched a new web directory, kindly visit and place your link
http://www.ahcorporation.com/f.....efault.asp

Thanks.
David on July 19th, 2007 7:21 am

I’m doing it all wrong !!!! my gosh, and I’m not a web designer
Behihoo on July 19th, 2007 3:06 pm

Also a typo on #7
Lets vs. Let’s
Chris on July 20th, 2007 6:38 am

These are like the 10 commandments handed to Moses! Gonna bookmark this page to show all that need a lesson… Thanks!
Kevil on July 20th, 2007 9:57 pm

谢谢，受益匪浅
Ezequiel on July 26th, 2007 1:54 pm

muy bueno.
JohnGalt on August 16th, 2007 6:26 pm

Good article, but, in following the advice from Mistake #42 (no grammatical mistakes), you should change the “lets” in Mistake #7 to “let’s” (because it’s a contraction of “let us”)
Christopher on August 18th, 2007 7:12 pm

Thanks for the tips. I have been guilty of opening new windows and long posts.
Huns on August 27th, 2007 11:11 pm

谢谢！受益了
Megan Vaillancourt on September 16th, 2007 2:14 am

I agree. Alot of the steps I am going to print out to make sure I am not doing. Another thing …I have noticed sites with to many pictures and not enough information. I think people have to remember why they are creating a site. To get there information out.

Thanks for the time you put this together. Great information

MEGAN
Patches and Hacks on September 18th, 2007 9:58 am

Some may now agree to the “do not cloak links” rule. It is sometime good to hide your affiliate links by making them pretty. you’re not doing this to elude your users, you should disclose this, but there are some good reasons for doing such redirects ( like when you want to change such an affiliate link and you used it on hundreds or posts… if you would have used a cloaked link then you would only have to change on link )
In case you want to use such link you might want to have a look at my new plugin that let’s you easily define such links without any need to write code for the redirect.
the plugin is free and you can get it here: http://patchlog.com/wordpress/.....ate-links/
That post also explains some other reasons why using hidden affiliate links might be good for your blog.
ronald on September 25th, 2007 10:20 pm

wow.!! very very nice post… I agree to this…
adib. on October 6th, 2007 12:38 am

i like this post..but i can’t avoid using the frontpage..ermm..
khai on October 7th, 2007 12:44 pm

thanks for the tips.. what a lucky incidently to be here… !!
Collin on October 8th, 2007 5:45 am

Great advice thanks again!
Valerei on October 11th, 2007 12:26 pm

do not use long pages? this was the longest page ever. good tips though. my site is clean.
Ched on October 14th, 2007 11:29 am

Nice list. Thanks.
Daniel on October 18th, 2007 10:32 am

Yeah when I wrote this I was not expecting almost 200 comments :).
Kimberly on October 20th, 2007 10:38 pm

Great list. I would like to add one that is a pet peeve of mine. If you are going to have printable pages, such as help pages or articles for example, design them to print only the pertinent information without the headers, menus, graphics (unless specific to the info), ads, and such. If it’s printable, I expect a nice clean page of text.

I would also like to comment on the drop menus…I use them and don’t see a problem with them if used correctly and cleanly. For example, on my website one of my button is titled “Help Files”. Clearly this will lead my visitors to help files for my service and products. Also, if for some reason their browser doesn’t let the menu drop down, if they click on the help files button it will take them to a page with links and info to each help file available with a clean printable link for each one as well. All the other buttons on the drop menu function the same way as well. In other words, my drop menu I have set up so that my visitors don’t get confused.

Anyway, sorry for the rambling, it’s just my view of things. Again, great post and comments.

Off to read other posts you have…
Anastasia on October 21st, 2007 12:40 pm

A nice list and great comments - I am certainly going to make use of most of the nints when I upgrade my website (next summer:) - it must take ages and loads of planning); uncluttered content is a rarity these days - it is so easy to get sidetracked when inundated with your web search results …
Anyways, my tiny contribution
# n+1 it is great when they say which browser I should opt for when viewing the site content - most people have a few at their disposal, and telling visitors which one works the best can help prevent a major outburst of negative emotions
# n+2 if anything needs to be downloaded, make sure that both the extension and size of the file are explicitly stated (it does not concern pdf files only - it is such a nuisance when you discover that you have to install some new software to view the file you have just saved onto your computer)
# n+3 always be considerate of your visitors’ needs - make it possible for them to provide feedback; ever since I went “virtual”, I’ve got so many useful hints and insights from the people who use my website, and tend to believe that they are the best source of inspiration
Kurye on October 24th, 2007 8:09 am

Escuse me my english is bad. Bu yararlı bilgiler için site yayıncısına teşekkür ederim.
Tibet Arts on October 29th, 2007 11:42 pm

Very nice Tips Thanks for your Great job .

Glad to found your web site.
Loo Bra Doo on November 1st, 2007 3:17 am

thanks for this good informations.
kurtlar vadisi pusu on November 1st, 2007 3:20 am

very useful informations, thanks to you.
taha on November 1st, 2007 3:21 am

good tips.
zr3 on November 1st, 2007 3:24 am

I like your tips. I’m testing on my two music video website; ajer and zr3, thanks.
gebze web on November 1st, 2007 3:28 am

thanks for your tips, i will translate it in our lang; thanks again.
anketler on November 1st, 2007 3:32 am

modern tips to web 2.0; thanks for informations!
video man on November 1st, 2007 3:36 am

great list, have a nice day.
Vancouver Seo on November 6th, 2007 1:08 pm

I would add also:

- always define standing-out, at least h1, h2 fonts to emphasize web subject.
- optimize pictures for the fastest possible load
- use only web based colors, other may appear different than you think

Cheers
Purpleminded on November 11th, 2007 9:44 am

Nice article! I’ve just about completed a new WordPress based site, and your checklist was very helpful! Thanks!
Mikko on November 30th, 2007 8:05 am

I love this roundup posts.

#12 - I have a single badge on my site, the feedburner chicklet. ;D
ski on December 2nd, 2007 12:21 pm

Some good points there, as for use of Flash it depends if you need to be found by search engines. You can optimise flash only sites as well but it is very difficult.
jakes on December 3rd, 2007 6:08 am

nice list daniel….iam going tom apply many in mine…continue ypur work..
escimo on December 4th, 2007 1:02 pm

Thank you! Post is really helpful for my lectures!!!
Bob on December 9th, 2007 3:14 am

42. No spelling or grammatical mistakes….

18….and it offers MUCH more features.

Should be many, features can be counted.
Flaschen Geist on December 12th, 2007 2:14 pm

Cool …. i try to keep them in my mind :-)))) thx!!
Black Friday Shopper on December 17th, 2007 2:35 pm

Thanks for the list. I have corrected a few of these mistakes over the years myself. Should also mention using - or _ for internal links vs spaces. I’ve seen quite a few of these mistakes as well.
snowgirl on December 17th, 2007 10:59 pm

very nice tips
Select A Job on December 24th, 2007 8:55 am

Excellent…!!!
Web design tips tutorials on December 27th, 2007 3:33 am

Great list of tips. Anyway, I dont know if its been mentioned but :

- Make sure to check your links are functional and work before publishing them

- Make sure your site loads fast.

Great tips yet again!
Aaron on December 31st, 2007 1:38 am

Great tips - every web newbie should read this! thumbs up!
nihal thainua on January 9th, 2008 2:20 am

Some points are very Impressive.
but in some Cases we can not mind. for examaple client says, i want to open pdf form on click, in this case what we do ?
Daniel on January 12th, 2008 4:12 am

Nihal, you will need to persuade the client. PDFs aint that bad, what about clients that want to play music :).
Jake on January 15th, 2008 1:41 am

Wow… These is a really great tips Sir! I agree with all your tips specially with #9. Flash pages or sites really is hard to optimize I guess. And it must not be used on most part of the website. Thanks for the tips Sir! keep up the great blog… Bookmarked.
Web Tasarım on February 4th, 2008 10:57 pm

thanks, great tips every web newbie should read this!
Google Reklam on February 4th, 2008 10:58 pm

thanks for your useful article
JBiggs on February 6th, 2008 6:50 pm

I’m very enjoy reading this content.
Thank you for good information
google reklam on February 11th, 2008 7:07 am

thanks
google reklam on February 11th, 2008 7:18 am

thansk
web tasarım on February 11th, 2008 7:57 am

thanks
google reklam on February 13th, 2008 5:56 am

thanks…
zoqaa on February 14th, 2008 10:17 am

thank you man!
Vivek Keserwani on February 15th, 2008 8:09 am

Hi Daniel, You have given so many tips in one shot, which is very nice. I had visited hundreds of sites but got all in your single post. Thanks.
carbroker on February 16th, 2008 2:10 am

What about “spam your site on blogs like this”? Seems to be a lto of ppl doing it….

Great list, though
Aaron Mills on February 17th, 2008 5:34 pm

I noticed your great list is missing Clip Art! It seems everyone misses this. Maybe its just my clients in the church field that are still using clip art.
sağlıklı beslenme on February 21st, 2008 8:35 am

thanks.
yüz maskesi on February 21st, 2008 8:36 am

thank you
djyano on February 24th, 2008 3:51 am

Hello dailyblogtips great article!Great list of tips!
I really agree on 26.

Im going to post this article at my blog!

visit me sometime!

http://www.djyano.blogspot.com
kishore Blog on February 25th, 2008 6:32 am

Very USEFUL tips. Thanks a ton. I will follow you.
Also your Site. Ya, i will keep visit here.

http://www.kishoreblog.com
LeeC on February 28th, 2008 12:22 pm

I’ll remember all those next time I want to make a boring, text filled site… pretty much like this one.

If I wanted to attract artistic people (and I would, being an artist/musician/game developer), I would make an artistic site and the relevant visitors would know what to expect. They’d expect flash, they’d expect music, they’d expect something more than black and white scrolling text (with blue links). They’d expect an interactive experience that shows as much imagination as the content itself. Anyone who didn’t like it, probably shouldn’t be there anyway, so them going elsewhere just saves wasted bandwidth.

If you can’t draw and animate then fine, don’t use animated GIF’s, but for those of us that can, we’ll make good use of them thanks.

If you can’t use flash beyond dragging some movieclips onto a stage and then dropping code onto them that creates on (press){} events, then don’t use flash. For any AS2.0/3.0 coders, we’ll be happy to continue making them do what they should do.

People with high speed internet connections and fast PC’s don’t want an internet full of dismal blocks of scrolling text. We already did that 25 years ago when BBS’s and Compunet were around… times have moved on.

Todays information exchange is capable of so much more and if you can provide an interesting experience, (that has more interactivity than the scrollbar down the side of the page —-> see right) then provide something for people to enjoy. People can download a megabyte per second and more… do you know how much well created flash content can be put into one megabyte? Probably not.

For all those who don’t like it, there’s always google.com… all the scrolling, well laid out text and links you could dream of.

But here’s another couple you can add to the list…

64. Don’t cover a high percentage of your opening page with sponsor links. Users didn’t click on your link to see your sponsors, they clicked to see “your” information.

65. Don’t make rules and then contradict them.

Oh and maybe add “…if you only want to make unimaginative websites.” to that heading. It would prevent people scrolling through hundreds of lines of text in the hope of finding something useful, only to be disappointed.

And finally, to Bret’s words of infinite wisdom regarding music “let’s just say it’s a sure sign of an amateur…”… No more so than making sweeping dictatorial statements about what content people should put on their site. The web isn’t created just for YOUR benefit, in case you didn’t realise. Remember, any amateur web designer can throw tables of text together. If you’re impressed by text, they hey-ho, good for you. Some of us require a bit more talent to be shown to impress us.
Daniel on February 28th, 2008 2:45 pm

LeeC, everyone is entitled to an opinion :).
Darryl on March 2nd, 2008 2:33 am

Hurray, for LeeC’s comment. Yet another ream of Web design tips from the 90’s that seems to suggest the whole internet is meant to look and work like wikipedia or something.

Can you imagine how dull the world would be if this was how architecture or other important design disciplines were approached?…

…but I guess you cant codify good design into a handful of ‘tips’.
articles on March 4th, 2008 8:29 am

hi,

Great list, this has helped me in convincing my boss, not to use music and too much flash.
SolShine7 on March 9th, 2008 9:07 am

Good tips!
vicky on March 9th, 2008 6:50 pm

great tips….i have to confess i made many of the listed mistake. will correct them asap.

thanks for the informative article
Fleur Allen on March 11th, 2008 11:13 pm

Wow what a read! A bit overwhelming on the first read but very, very helpful… thanks, will work through them…

Cheers
Floroskop on March 18th, 2008 2:32 am

Hello!
I think this try.
Web Design Belfast on March 19th, 2008 3:49 am

Some great tips. I use flash quite a lot although I optimise it to work well with the Search Engines.
tuzla nakliyat on March 19th, 2008 5:24 am

thanks.
kocaeli nakliyat on March 24th, 2008 2:58 am

thank you.
Ph.D. Student on March 25th, 2008 6:56 am

Well done, that’s mostly a great list.

In addition to your list, I would like to see people using meaningful mark up.

We are all aware that the b and i tags exist in (X)HTML standards. These do not carry meaning. They carry style, which is what your CSS conveys. Use the strong and em tags. This means that those who use screen readers are able to hear the emphasis in the voice, something that sighted individuals take for granted by looking on the screen.

As a general design point: if your site makes no sense with style or javascript, it needs a redesign. OK it’ll be boring, but it’s also how Braille readers and screen readers are likely to encounter your site.

As a side point, there is almost never a good reason to use Flash, if you are providing UK services. In doing so you immediately fail clause 4.7 of the DDA
“a service provider has [i.e. you have] to take reasonable steps to change a practice which makes it unreasonably difficult for disabled people to make use of its services.”
Flash is not accessible, therefore you are mandated to not use it (or at least to provide an exact equivalent)
Sanjay Amberkar on March 29th, 2008 12:06 am

You all are genious people
flash on March 29th, 2008 11:03 am

wow, thank you for your insight on this topic , i can now see how i have made many of the mistakes you have noted.
Michael on April 2nd, 2008 4:58 pm

Great content. Wish everyone knew these rules would make it much easier while viewing some sites!
çiçek on April 10th, 2008 5:18 pm

wow, thank you for your insight on this topic , i can now see how i have made many of the mistakes you have noted.
Rajesh on April 16th, 2008 5:00 pm

Thats reallly great….. I agree we should not change the design as often… I have done that mistake and got some very bad consequencess….
Custom Web Design Blog on April 17th, 2008 9:14 pm

This is a great perspective coming form the designers needs, and here’s a list of mistakes for the consumer side of things:

The 10 Great Fallacies of Web Design
Frank on April 18th, 2008 1:30 pm

If I were to take your advice there would be no code on my pages at all…LOL Your tips are too conservative at sometimes quite ridiculous. e.g. You said to avoid drop down menu’s. This advice is very constraining if designing a web site that has multiple categories,links and so forth. I recently designed a real estate page for a realty business using Fireworks button html slices and it works like a charm and the client loved it. After all, isn’t what we’re after is the results of our work rather than a set of rules that don’t offer solutions?

Thanks for your advice, but I’ll go my own way….LOL
kelly on April 19th, 2008 4:03 pm

These are some excellent tips here. I find it very annoying when websites have music played when you 1st go to the site. The 1st thing i want to do is leave the site. Also i don’t like when the site asked you for your email information before taking you to the actual website. I shouldn’t have to give out my email information before going to the main website.
footprinter on April 20th, 2008 2:15 am

Actually, all the 43 mistakes will be avoid except the 5st if the webmaster is chinese.
sosyal bilgiler on April 24th, 2008 11:48 am

I have added this website to my bookmarks. Thanks and regards..
hunch on April 25th, 2008 2:40 pm

Ideal fonts to use:

Nothing too fancy as stated. in my experience as a designer etc, i offer the following suggestions:

Preferably use sans serif fonts (that is nothing with feet, curls, swooshes or hooks - fonts like palatino, times new roman and garamond are all serif fonts) for body text.

It there are large sections of text, reading serif fonts on a screen at small size can get annoying, it is not like you are sitting reading a newspaper. They are far more readable and on-screen.

Fonts like tahoma, arial, verdana, etc are good for basic text as most users have the fonts readily installed on their machines. if you use the more obscure fonts as default fonts (and for all text that is not saved as an image), it will be substituted for the users own default font and can look far different to what you intended.

font - like helvetica to name one of a few, are the stereotypical designers choice (as the stereotype goes) for many things as it is simple yet classic and readable. this is a big concern when making aiming to make text accesible to people with sight issues etc.

serif fonts can be ok with larger things like headers. or unless you choose to have your text set at the equivalent of 12 pt type. i prefer palatino type if using a serif font.

i heavily recommend avoiding the use (or over use) of stupid fonts, fonts like comic sans, curls and all the ugly childish fonts if you dont want your webpages to look like you have just taken a course in Kindergarten Scrapbooking 101.

===================================

another couple of things you might want to keep in mind:

make sure you have a good contrast between background colours and text colours. black on white is good. hot pink on a magenta that is hardly distinguishable is not.

A NOT TO ALL YOU MY SPACE USERS WITH LIMITED WEB EXPERIENCE — you dont need knowledge to make something stylish and functional, but please buy a clue and realise that WHITE TEXT on a background image that is MOSTLY WHITE does not make your freaking site readable. Same with people that choose yellow text on a yellow background - yes i have seen this happen. Why bother having text on something i you cant read it unless you’re being alternative to alternative…or something that only you understand.

also LIMIT YOUR FONT CHOICES. a maximum of 2-3 fonts in any one space is generally a good number. too many and you lack consistency and look like you learnt your web design skills when you were 13.

a little font for thought…

Whilst there will always be some variance and suitability based on your particular PURPOSE for the SPECIFIC website, this is a good general guide.
issam on April 25th, 2008 5:01 pm

Really great tips thx
Dale Merritt on April 25th, 2008 10:41 pm

I find that blogs can do anything a web site can do and much easier to manage. With widgets, a free blog could be your next web site at http://www.moguling.com
Farrhad on April 27th, 2008 7:22 am

The tips kris has left are really good. A combination with your tips will be awesome!
nirvana on April 27th, 2008 4:02 pm

Great tips.A great website is now just 43 steps away!

The undeline has to be below content and tilte,keywords in the website.The lifeline of any website is the search engine ranking.To increase it is definitely a priority,
1.
Obviously there need to be great content -Match or step ahead of other cool sites in your websites niche.
2.
Make unique titles for every page based on the page’s content is very important using type the title here.Limit the title to less than 63 characters.
3.
Submit your website to search engines,eg.to google at google webmasters and verify it.
4.
prepare a sitemap after say,there are more than 15-20 content pages in the website.This will help google/yahoo/msn/…index the relevant pages on your site.
5.Keep on adding great content and soon users will start to flow in .

Enjoy website building.Bbye.
nirvana on April 27th, 2008 4:12 pm

Great tips.A great website is now just 43 steps away!

The undeline has to be below content and tilte,keywords in the website.The lifeline of any website is the search engine ranking.To increase search engine ranking and get all relevant pages in your website listed in search results is definitely a priority.So,

1.
There need to be great content -Match or step ahead of other cool sites in your websites niche.Make the pages content rich.
2.
Making unique titles for every page based on the page’s content is very important .Limit the title to less than 63 characters.

“Yeah,I’ve built my website,nowwat?”
When you fell there is reasonable quantity of content in the website it is time to start attracting search engines to index your website.So,
1.
Submit your website to search engines,eg.to google at google webmasters and verify it.
2.
Prepare a sitemap after say,there are more than 15-20 content pages in the website and submit the link to the sitemap to search engines.This will help google/yahoo/msn/…index the relevant pages on your site.
3.
Keep on adding great content and soon users will start to flow in.

Enjoy website building.Bbye.
Masalaboard on April 28th, 2008 2:46 pm

These are some excellent tips here. I find it very annoying when websites have music played when you 1st go to the site. The 1st thing i want to do is leave the site. Also i don’t like when the site asked you for your email information before taking you to the actual website. I shouldn’t have to give out my email information before going to the main website.
Mobile Antivirus on April 28th, 2008 2:49 pm

wow, thank you for your insight on this topic , i can now see how i have made many of the mistakes you have noted.
Xboard on April 29th, 2008 11:50 am

Wow!! Great job! This must have taken you a long time to do. Thank you for all of the information, it was very helpful!
webhosting on May 1st, 2008 8:01 pm

43. If you use CAPTCHA make sure the letters are readable

VERY important people I really hate it when i have to redo that stupid captcha
AdSense VS Chitika on May 1st, 2008 11:00 pm

#44:

When using Flash, offer an alternate html based version of your website.
Muzaffer_Bhat on May 6th, 2008 7:07 am

On the subject let me add one more point that never use frames on home page because it will increase the download size of your website and hence optimization problem. If necessay use frames inside the website but never on home page. Thanks for sharing incredible info. on web designing.

43 Web Design Mistakes You Should Avoid

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