10 Tips for Effective Web Design - Richard Chan Harrogate Easy to read The most important rule, and the one that overlaps into most of the others, is that your website has to be easy to read. Be very careful not obscure the text with a too-dark background color. Likewise, you want to avoid using text that is too small, as it will be difficult to read. Simplicity Also along the theme of simplicity: It must be easy to get around your website. This means to use hyperlinks, buttons and tabs whose functions are clear to the readers. Consistency You must use a page layout that is consistent on all of your site's pages. Typefaces and colors should match no matter which page on the site you're visiting. And there should be certain graphic elements that tie all of the pages together as a single unit. Speed Whatever elements you use in your design, make sure they don't make the page take too long to download. According to some experts, many visitors will leave your page if it takes longer than 15 seconds to load. Politeness Don't be rude to your visitors. How does a website express rudeness? By telling visitors they must have a different browser to view the site; by telling the visitor he must re-size his page to fit your page design; or by playing loud music without giving the visitor an easy way to turn it off. De-clutter Don't clutter up the site with things that you like but which are of little interest to the visitors. We're talking about things such as counters, awards, and so forth. If you want a counter, there are ways to incorporate one and make it invisible to the readers. Animated GIFs Avoid the use of animated gifs. Yes, they're fun - to the person creating the page. But they're distracting to everyone else. Leave control
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