DAVID LETTERMAN HAS THEM. So does Fortune Magazine, the New York Times book review, and even the FBI. I'm talking about top ten lists. So, not to be left out, I have here a top ten list of web design blunders. It's simple, short, and to the point, and aims to help both new and experienced web designers avoid the common pitfalls that could make your training site soar... or sink.

Try not to slice and dice up your screen with lots of frames. Not only are they difficult to code and often ineffective, but they can make a site look fragmented, and the user may find difficulty printing them.

Having animation on your page can make it more visually interesting but don't use it just for it's own sake. Make sure it relates to the content. Useless animation can look amateurish at best, and annoying at worst. 

Where do you want to look?

This one is very important. Every link should not only function properly, but also take the user where they were intending to go. Don't leave them hanging, or lead them down a blind alley from which they cannot return.


For Example:
Click HERE to continue, or
Click HERE to see something exciting!

Just as you wouldn't want to eat anything stale, so you don't want someone to view your site a few times and think it was stale. Update, renew, and revitalize, and do it often. After all, the goal is not only to have users visit your site, but to want to return to it as well.

Use colors that match, and colors that guide. More is not necessary better when it comes to color. There are dozens of books and websites on the subject, so I won’t belabor the point, but just advise you to use what has worked in the past. Don’t reinvent the color wheel. 

Roll your mouse over
the faces above

We designers know that there is lots of code behind the scenes keeping all the stuff on our page in it's place. Keep it there, behind the scenes, don't let them see it. Viewing a site should be a seamless experience for the user. They don't need to know, or see what makes it work, only that it does work.

Your site should have a purpose, and all the content should as well. Everything the user sees should support it. As the saying goes "when in doubt, leave it out."

Just tell them what they need to know. Don’t be bombastic (using verbal padding, such as the word bombastic!). There is a rule that applies to sales that you can apply here: KISS (keep it simple stupid).

Offer insight, offer information, and make the content useful and interactive, and they'll come back for more. Just make sure you don't hit them over the head with it. People don't take kindly to being pushed.

Compress it, slice it, dice it, reuse it. Keep those images small, and keep your pages loading fast. Remember, not everyone has a T1 line like you!

Parrish, Diedra-Ann,(2000) Working Woman Magazine Special Internet Issue. p.28. New York: Working Woman Network.

Proximity & Design

http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/Articles/Designprin1/start.htm

Repitition & Contrast

http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/Articles/Designprin2/start.htm

Choosing Color Schemes

http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/Articles/ColorSchemes/start.htm

Using Animation

http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/Articles/animation/start.htm

Image Resolution and File Size

http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/Articles/wpdresolution/start.htm

Gordon Lam
Graduate Student
SDSU Educational Technology