Top 10 Mistakes of Website Design

**Dude111** · March 18th, 2011, 12:58 PM

· Using Frames - Frames were a so-so idea for lazy web designers that didn't work. They make for bad navigation and search engines won't read framed sites.

· Over-use of Bleeding-Edge Technology - Remember that you need to program your site for the masses, not the techno-nerds.

· Animation Over-Kill - Page elements that constantly move tend to assault a user's peripheral vision. People will actually click off such a page just to get some visual peace and quiet.

· Too Complex (or too simple) URL's - Users often try to understand navigation by reading the address of pages. URL's should have easily understandable directory and filenames that reflect the nature of the navigation design.

· Orphan Pages - Keep your look consistent on every page...users don't always enter your site on the home page, so they should immediately know where they are. Always have a link back to your home page!

· Long Scrolling Pages - Only 10% of users scroll past the first page. Keep the good stuff and the critical navigation "above the fold." One page web sites that scroll forever are especially annoying.

· Poor Navigation Structure - Set your site up logically, from the typical user's perspective. Provide them with obvious navigation links that fit the logical structure. If users get lost, they leave.

· Non-Standard Link Colors - The web has adopted a standard set of colors for links that are new (blue) and ones that are visited (purple or red). Users have been trained to understand that, so keep your site consistent.

· Outdated Information - Nothing upsets a user quite as much as finding old prices or out-of-date calendar information on your site. Budget to keep it up to date.

· Long Download Times - Research shows absolutely unequivocally that 95% of new users will leave if your site takes longer than 10 seconds to download. The fastest way to lose new users is to have a big beautiful graphic or Flash movie on a "splash" page that has no useful information or navigation on it. Period.

But the BIGGEST MISTAKE is: People have lost thier sense of 'WHATS GOOD' and its sad!!

I have seen sites that USED TO LOOK WONDERFULL THAT NOW LOOK LIKE CRAP AND THEY ARE HAPPY WITH IT! (10 yrs ago they wouldnt have been)

Whats happend to most people?? THEY ARE COMPLETLY DUMBED DOWN,satisfied with garbage,etc and its very confusing!!

**quickoldcar** · April 12th, 2011, 02:40 PM

I'll add a few.

Useless javascript alerts that just annoy people.
If they are leaving....let them leave already.
I index websites and let me tell you.....it's horrible the way some of these sites abuse the javascript alerts.

Sometimes they do it just because they found out how to, and the alert would simply read "HI".

Linking to 3rd party websites that never load...which in turn makes your site never load.
Linking to images at 3rd party websites, they either no longer exist, were banned for hotlinking or are so large it takes forever to load them.

Overwhelming ads on the page, including multiple popup or popunder ads. People don't like that and never will. Use ads sparingly, discretely and blended in with the site.

Multiple redirects to who knows where, set your 301 redirect up properly and keep it there. Search engines to not follow ajax or javascript redirects.

No or not enough meta information for the website, such as Title,Description and Keywords. Don't overdo this information as well, but properly describe your website.

I double agree on the poor navigation.
The sections of the site should be somewhat organized.
Extremely large pages and endless scrolling is no good.
The content should be limited and paged results using pagination.

Forcing a playing video or music is not a good thing for everyone, you may like it yourself but others may not.