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Web Design Best Practices

I think it’s safe to say few people intentionally create a website that’s hard to enjoy. And yet, there are many common mistakes new webmasters make that create exactly that result. This short article should help you avoid that.

There are two reasons a website is either memorable or forgettable: content and presentation. This article discusses presentation.

While visual appeal is subjective, careful use of color, images, layout, fonts, and ease of navigation can result in a site that’s pleasing to you and your visitors.

Let’s take a look at some these and other crucial elements.

Ye Merry Old Rules-of-Thumb

• Use text and background colors that provide enough contrast to make the words easy to read. Many studies have shown that black text on a white background is the easiest to read
• A trend in recent years is to use smaller and smaller text sizes. As we age it gets harder for many to read small text. Many young people have a hard time reading small print was well. If you undersize your text you are limiting your audience, and limiting our audience isn’t usually what we want to do.
• Another trend that limits your audience size is not having enough contrast between the text and the page color. Many sites are using shades of gray that don't offer enough contrast to be read comfortably by many. Combine that with a small font size and it's double-jeopardy as far sending visitors away nearly as fast as they came.
• Equally important is to use a font that’s easy to read. There are many good font choices, but studies have shown Verdana is one of the easier to read. There are many other new fonts and good choices since that study was done, just choose wisely. You might want to compare how the font you use compares to Verdana.
• Avoid loud background images. If you have one you really love and simply must use, place the text inside a container with solid background color that offers good contrast with the text. This seems to be a lesson most have learned, as I don't see many image backgrounds in use, and where they are, it's usually a soft, muted texture.
• Avoid extremely long pages as much as possible. A wall of text can seem like too much work for many to bother reading. At the same time keep in mind that some content is best served up on one page, and tutorials are a good example. On long pages be sure to use plenty of white space and images (where it makes sense to use them) to break up the content so it doesn’t appear so overwhelming. Here are some ways to make long form content less intimidating:
  • Use lots of white space
  • Use heading tags where it makes sense
  • Use images where it makes sense.
  • Break up long paragraphs into shorter, bite-sized chunks. It also helps to use short, punchy sentences.
• Take it easy on the animation. Too much motion becomes visual clutter that detracts from your message.
• Many folks surf the web listening to their own audio choice. Your own audio can easily be an annoyance if it’s unexpected or unwanted. Additionally, many people surf from work and won’t appreciate your audio intruding into their work space. It's best to give people the controls to start and stop the audio but don’t force it on them. This applies to video with audio as well.
• All original content on the Internet is considered a published intellectual work and is afforded copyright protection unless it’s declared as public domain. Before using graphics, text, or anything else from another website be sure you have permission to use it.
• Never link directly to images or other files on another site unless you have permission. That means on your web page or in your email. This is called bandwidth theft and it’s illegal.

The fines for copyright and bandwidth theft can be steep, even reaching into the six-figure range! It’s easier to get caught than you may think. Each server (where web pages live) keeps a log of all file accesses. If you link directly to an image on someone else’s server, that server records each time the image is called to your page. It’s the only evidence needed in a court of law.

That doesn’t mean you can’t link to other sites, that's a whole different matter, is not illegal, and is usually appreciated by the other site owner.

Those are the basic rules-of-thumb, not an exhaustive list. As with any general rule there can be an exceptions. Just be sure to only break a rule when you have a compelling reason.

This is one of four articles in this website planning series. Next up: Website Planning.