Designing a web site needs careful thinking and planning.
The most important thing is to KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE.
Users are Scanners
A typical visitor will NOT read the entire content of your Web page!
No matter how much useful information you put into a Web page, a visitor will only spend a few seconds scanning it before he/she decide whether to leave or to stay.
Be sure to make your point in the very first sentence of the page! After that, try to keep the user occupied with short paragraphs, and new headers down the page.
Less is More
Keep the paragraphs as short as possible.
Keep the pages as short as possible.
Keep the chapters as short as possible.
Use a lot of space! Pages overloaded with text will kill your audience.
If you have a lot to say, break your information into smaller chunks and place it on different pages!
Navigation
Create a consistent navigation structure that is used by all the pages in your Web site.
Don't use hyperlinks inside each paragraph, to send visitors to every page of your Web. This will destroy the feeling of a consistent navigation structure.
If you must use hyperlinks, add them to the bottom of a paragraph, or to the menu.
Download Speed
Sometimes developers are not aware of the fact that some pages take a long time to download.
Most visitors will leave a Web page that takes more than 7 seconds to download.
Test your web pages over a low-speed modem connection. If your pages take a long time to download, consider removing graphic or multimedia content.
Let your Audience Speak!
Feedback is a very good thing!
Your visitors are your "customers". Often they will give you some valuable hints about what you could have done better.
Provide a simple way to reach you, and you will get a lot of input from people with different skills and knowledge.
Visitor's Monitor
Not everyone on the internet has the same monitor as you.
If you design a Web site to be displayed on a monitor with a high resolution, visitors with lower resolution monitors (like 800x600) might have problems reading your pages.
Make sure you test your Web site on different monitors.
Take a look at our browser display statistics to see the trends in monitor development.
What Browsers Do They Use?
Don't forget to test your Web site on different browsers.
The most popular browsers today are Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome.
One wise thing to do when designing Web pages is to use correct HTML. Correct coding will help the browsers to display your pages correctly.
Take a look at our browser statistics to see the trends in browser development.
What Plug-Ins Do They Have?
Sound, video clips, or other multimedia content might require the use of separate programs (plug-ins).
Be sure that your visitors have access to the software needed to view them.
What About Disabilities?
Some people have viewing or hearing disabilities.
They might try to read your pages with Braille or speech-based browsers. Always add text alternatives for images and graphic elements.