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Biggest Website Development Mistakes

Posted on 16. Sep, 2009 by bmackler in Design Fundamentals, Inspiration

We have all been there, just starting out and trying to figure out what makes the best site.  All too often the answer that we come up with is, “throw everything in..they will love it !”

In 2009 there can be nothing further from the truth.  True, many of the mistakes that are made today are the same as 5 years ago…the difference is that its 5 years later and the same mistakes are being made!    The sad truth is that these mistakes are not only the folly of rookie designers, but also many experienced, seasoned designers as well.

Flash Intros
There are those who refuse to Flash at all, that it is the bane of the webs existence, I don’t necessarily agree.  I think Flash has its place, and if done elegantly the added value can be huge.  The one place NOT to use Flash is for an intro/splash screen.  The hey day of this fad is about 3 years ago and the backlash has been immense by many traditionalists.  The reason most developers throw it in to the package because they can make extra money with it, plain and simple.  It ruins SEO, it slows down load time (even on broadband) and causes the casual viewer to bolt, never bothering to see the rest of the site.  Don’t be one of those people.

Too Many Ads
In one word, tacky.  It says to the user that all they are to you is a revenue stream, with no other value. When you’re trying to make money from your website, it’s all too easy to try to fit in more ads than you really should, or start using ad formats that are in the way of the overall message.  If a user can’t find your content or message, he may click on the ad once, but he won’t be coming back to do it again.  Sometimes less is more

Scrolling Text and Animations
This is where the beginner goes on overload.   The novice client thinks this is what they want and the designer goes overboard.  Too much movement on a website is a horrible idea.  If its bad for the eyes then it is horrible for your message.  Everything gets lost because you are too busy looking at the dancing babies and rotating pictures.  A web page should never look like Times Square.  Give the user the chance to actually read the content!

Out of Date Content
It is sort of like your neighbor who has their Christmas lights up in July.  When you go to a site that has content that is clearly out of date, you know they have totally forgotten about their website and its audience.  Time sensitive content that has not been updated for a long time is the quickest way to lose a potential customer.  It is almost  certain that there won’t be repeat visitors.  If the site isnt important to you, then why should it be to them?

Jumbled Layout and Navigation
Way too many websites have yet to learn this important lesson, but strangely enough it  is one of the simplest  to achieve.   Rule to live by : You should be able to get to every page within two clicks, from any other page on your site.   If the user can’t find what they are looking for, they are not going to stick around.  I am not saying don’t have a unique navigation; that is fine.  Be as unique as you want, but don’t make it a struggle to find everything.  Links need to be worded clearly.  It is not worthwhile to be cute and give off the wall names for standard links.  It just annoys the visitor and makes it harder for them to find what they are looking for.  Content should be seperated and given ample space.  If content is too close together and the same size/color it will be too  hard to read.

Most sites should not need a search function.  For the really important things put them on the front page and showcase them.

Jumbled Layout

Broken Links
Perhaps the most annoying thing is to click on a link and have it take you to an error page.  It is probably the quickest way to have interest lost in your message and content.   You’ve got to check your links regularly to make sure that they still work.  It would be a shame to find a site that you think is useful, only to find that it hasn’t been updated in years and none of the links work any more.

Bad Color Pallete
The color pallete you choose for your website is very important. It is well known that colors do effect a person psychologically, so you should choose your palette with that in mind. It is best to avoid using very large areas of bright colors like red, yellow, orange, and bright pink because they tend to be hard on the eyes.

As I discussed in this posting , spend some time and find the right color pallete for your website.

Busy patterns in your backgrounds
Busy backgrounds are very distracting to the eye and scream of the early days of the webt.  Just about antyhing you put on this loud background will get lost…especially if it’s text. Stick to solid colors, soft gradients, or subtly patterned backgrounds.  It will do the same thing to your eyes as the scrolling text and animations.

Obscure Fonts
Its advisable to stick with the most common web fonts :  Arial, Georgia, Tahoma and Verdana.  Anything else and the visitor most likely won’t have it loaded and therefore won’t be able to see it properly.  Additionally, these are the usually the cleanest and clearest to read on screen.  If you want to be creative, then you can use non-standard fonts is in your logo or in headings, if they are displayed as an image.

Page Consistency
It is vital that each of the inside pages run off of a similar design template and they in turn reflect the homepage.  It doesn’t help when you click from one page to the next and you are not sure if you are still on the same website or not.  If your design isnt consistent how can your message be?

Tags: Inspiration, websites