Avoid These Web Design Mistakes!

Avoid These Graphic Design Mistakes When Creating Your Web Site:

Many "webmasters" make the mistake of not putting themselves in the shoes of their customers or visitors. What type of browser does this visitor use? Are fancy graphics really necessary or are your visitors simply looking for information quickly and easily in text form? What type of internet connection are they using? Stats show that 45% of all internet users are still using a slow dial up connection. Don't forget about them! The average user will leave a site within 7 seconds if the site hasn't loaded by then! Here's a basic list of considerations when designing your website:

Backgrounds And Fonts:
Not all fonts are available, or will display properly, in all browsers. For example, the title text above uses the font "Arial". Before publishing this page, we tested it using Firefox, Inernet Explorer, and Netscape to make sure the page looked the same, no matter which browser the user would have. If you have a favorite font you're not sure about, try using them in your graphics instead. Just make sure the font is kept clean, simple and readable. You would not want your visitors to squint or use a magnifying glass just to read your text! In choosing your font, also take note of the background color and design. A dark font obviously should not have a dark background. Make sure your background color will emphasize your text, and vice versa.

Watch The Graphic Size!
This does not mean that you should not use large graphics. But a good idea is to keep graphics to a size less than 100kb each (for example, the header above is about 79kb) Just keep in mind that large graphics can take a considerable time to load, and your visitors might not stick around long enough to appreciate your artistic abilities! Consider the visitors that are only visiting your site for informational purposes. They might be in a hurry or on a deadline, and they certainly don't have time to view pretty graphics. They want information, and they want it now!

Animated Gifs And Flash Animation:
Flash animations are nice to look at, and generally have a smaller file size than a comparable gif animation. But even some flash animations can have a large file size. To keep the size of the file small, you can try to reduce the numbers of colors and repeated pixels used. This will keep the size small and the design simple and clean.

Are you guilty of any of the graphic design mistakes discussed above? Don't worry, it's not too late to change!

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Learn About Graphic Design:

For your website to work, you do not need a professional graphic designer to do the work for you. And you do not necessarily need the a lot of the beautiful and exciting graphics and animations that others may be offering (including this site!). Just use graphic design elements that will compliment and bring out the best of your vision.