Web Basics

A website should be a constantly evolving communications tool. Some aren't. Here are some of the elements found on both poorly designed and well designed websites.

A less than optimal website has:

• inconsistent navigation
• poor load speed
• outdated content
• graphics that are not optimized for the web
• too many moving/spinning things
• unreadable and poorly formatted text
• links that are broken (or worse, when clicked send you off the site with no way of getting back)
• typographical and/or grammatical errors
• hit counters and/or "Under Construction" signs

Some of these features are so awful that they alone will make the site ineffective.

A well developed website is more complex. It's a sum of good visual design, fresh, engaging content and consistent, logical navigation.

Visual Design

• Visitors eyes should immediately go to the most important content on the page.
  
  
• All graphics used should enhance the look of the page.
  
  
• Graphics should be optimized for the web.
  
  
• Unified font - multiple font faces and styles should be used with great care (the average web visitor doesn't like blinking text, too much italic and/or bold text, text that's too large or small, all-caps text, text with mixed case, and mixed fonts on a page).
  
  
• A rather humorous set of visual design guidlines can also be found here, courtesy of CoolHomepages.com

Content

• In preparing your site content, you need to determine: your site's purpose, its target audience and how to keep visitors interested.
  
  
• Content should be fresh (and dating content should be avoided unless it resides in an "archive").
  
  
• Avoid using terminology that "insider's" might know but visitors to the site may not understand (this is a very common mistake that even some of the best websites make).
  
  
• Site content should be proofed so that its free from typos or grammatical errors.
  
  
• Text should, of course, be readable and nicely formatted.

Navigation

• Site navigation should be consistent, logical, accurate.
  
  
• A good navigational system has to answer 4 questions: Where am I? Where have I been? Where can I go next? How do I get back to the Home Page? (this "golden rule" is courtesy of Vincent Flanders in his book Son of Web Pages That Suck)
  
  
• Navigation buttons should be easy to locate, understand and use.

The Home Page

• The Home Page sets the tone for the entire site.
  
  
• It is often the first and most visited page on the site. "You only get one chance to make a first impression" - make it engaging.
  
  
• It should load quickly.

Behind The Scenes

• Websites should be tested on the most commonly used browsers, browser versions and various operating systems (Windows, Mac, Unix) to make sure they work properly.
  
  
• Websites should be built for optimal search engine placement.
  
  
• Dynamic websites should be coded to minimize the strain on system resources.