People with a creative edge or an eye for beauty do well as designers. The key is to not make any mistakes that may lower the site’s standard, or make it seem like an amateur page. There is a whole list of simple slip-ups that designers have made in the past and then proceeded to post on a website of their own; just so that future designers do not have to make the same mistake.

Bad layout and design, non-standard links, hard navigation, slow pages, wild color schemes, spelling and grammar, out of control music, “under construction” signs on pages, untested sites, and old content are only the beginning. But throughout all of the mishaps found on any page currently on the World Wide Web, the three most common mistakes made in web design have to do with font sizing, the assumption of a default background color, and the screen resolution.

Many people with viewing problems opt to change the font size on their screen in order to view the text better. This is usually only done to make the text bigger and hardly ever used to make the text smaller. However, most web designers do not take this tiny detail into account when creating pages. If this is not properly adjusted in case the font sized is changed on an individual computer, the print will appear broken and the experience will be hardly, if at all, notable.

Both Circuit City and Target have websites with this very problem. Ironically, Target has yet to find a simple solution for this mistake, even after being sued for an inaccessible website. It is very simple to avoid something like this. It is unnecessary to make every sentence a headline, and be sure that there is no fine print. Either way it is an extreme that a website should not be brought to.
The second huge mistake designers make is by assuming. Fortunately, modern times have allowed and encouraged people to be unique. Because of this, it is not uncommon to find a computer with its background color set to anything other than white.

This is a problem because if the website does not have a specific color set in its code, then it will undoubtedly look awful. Even worse still, if the background color is set to the text color of the website, then it may be difficult, if not impossible, to read. Along with situating the background colors, a designer should be extra sure that the colors picked does not turn the page into a rainbow. Text should flow and should be simple to find and easy to read. No one should have to struggle to view a website. Finally, do not ever assume that your site looks visually appealing simply because your computer shows it that way. Send a screenshot to a few people who can give you honest opinions, just to see how it works out on their computers.

You may find the layout gets overloaded, ugly, or even thrown off balance. This will help you to fix any viewing issues before getting the site up and running. It may also aid in finding other small bumps in the road, such as the need to alter the code to fit another web browser. Not all computers offer just Internet Explorer. These days, browsers such as Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome are becoming popular, and most sites need to be made to a certain coding standard to be viewed on each browser.
The screen resolution is one of the most common things designers mess up and it leaves the site with either side scrolling, if an individual uses a smaller resolution, or with a very busy layout, complete with flashes and bursts of colors so confusing that the eye can’t focus on any one thing. These sites have barely any white space and are extremely difficult to read. Worse still is if the person viewing a site like this had a non standard window size or resolution! Not to mention, all of the color and flashing can cause many computers to slow down considerably, making the computer work extra hard for a site that an individual may decide is not worth the trouble.

If it takes too long to load, there is probably another site out there with the same information that does not look like fireworks exploding on the page. Designers need to draw readers in with the appeal and ease of their site. The bottom line is if the page looks like it was thrown together in a few minutes, then no one will take it seriously.

Although the most common, they are certainly not the only three major problems found on websites. There are also issues with pages being overrun by ads, causing people to feel like they are in a mall or watching TV rather than surfing the web. Designers have slipped and uploaded bad images, leaving a giant empty box with a tiny “x” in the corner for the reader to find later, and be upset that they had to miss out.

Web sites that are well designed take the entire environment around every computer into account in all aspects. Well put together web designs adjust easily to different resolution and screen sizes, and default font sizes; and set both font and background colors in order to assure easy viewing and good contrast for any computer environment.

And don’t forget, for any site to be more than a joke, it must have an appropriate domain name. If your site has a url so long there is at least one period in the middle of it, then it is a free hosting situation. Free hosting situations have limitations placed on the page and are normally are not taken seriously. By double checking your masterpiece and cross checking to be sure your site does not make any of these common mistakes, you are guaranteed to create an amazing page for anyone to visit.

Simplicity is the finest attribute known to man, use it. Having a complicated website might seem like the best way to keep people loyal to your site but it isn’t. Complications like flash player activated video clips are distractions to any web browser because it isn’t everyone who has it. This is a simple example of how would be customers can be driven away from your site because of such web designs. Just have a simple layout that makes use of the basic methods of marketing that have been in use ever since the internet began.

Of course, a few people are visiting your website everyday, but are you converting those visits into sales conversions? Questions like these are best answered in a simple phrase:”catch the attention of a surfer”. Place most of your very important adverts and eye grabbing material at the top of the page or in the middle. According to internet surveys and comprehensive eye research such areas are more likely to catch a browser’s attention than anywhere else.

Make use of as many colors for your web design but don’t overdo it. Most of the most successful internet based companies use light colored backgrounds and a little variation in surrounding areas, think of Google, twitter and Facebook. Too much color is only best suited for websites whose core objective is to express it, not professional websites where color is a probable distraction.