Some Website Design Advices

By: Shen Gerald

Website building has become a common and essential knowledge to many people. Businesses, organisations and individuals have created websites either for profit, or for personal recreational purposes.

When it comes to website building, one should pay extra attention to the fine details. This is to make sure that it performs optimally. Here are some important tips to observe to make sure your website serves its function properly.

1. Avoid using flash

Where appropriate, avoid using flash, especially for the first introduction page. People have to download the Flash player beforehand before they can view Flash movies. Because of this, the number of visitors will decrease considerably because not everyone will be willing to download the Flash player just to view your website.

2. Display clear and simple navigational menu

Provide a simple and easy to understand navigation menu so that even someone who is not internet savvy will know how to use it. It is best to stay away from complicated multi-tiered dropdown menus. If your visitors don't know how to navigate the site confidently, they will eventually leave it.

3. Avoid using audio on your site

Audio is subjective and therefore not all will like the kind of music that is playing on a website. However, if you insist on adding audio, make sure the visitor can control the volume, stop or pause the music.

4. Avoid using large graphic images
Large graphic files take a long time to download and display. Usually, visitors do not have the patience to wait for more than several seconds for the site to display itself. For this reason, keep the graphic files as small as possible. It is a good practice to optimise images before uploading them onto the server. I use GIMP, the free image editor for reduction of image file size.

Well, these are some pointers. They are by no means exhaustive, though. The key is to make the trip to your site as easy and as pleasant to the visitor as possible.

Thank you for reading.