It should be noted that designing your own template isn't
an easy task. Believe it or not, many people find that
their visions are best represented when they allow somebody
to work from some guidelines. Doing the job will take a
great deal of perseverance on your behalf. Here we'll
consider some of the bad design techniques that are well
worth giving a miss.
Style Over Substance
We realise that style is a great thing to have as a Web
designer. But if you're still new to the game, it can be
extremely difficult to master the art of blending an
interface in to the background - while still looking
visually appealing.
The biggest mistake is made when a designer goes out of his
or her way to rush a project with additional graphics that
there's no need for. This can happen for a number of
reasons. Maybe the design looks plain without content?
Take a look at MANY major Web sites without content and
they'll look pretty mundane too. That's not the point. A
good design doesn't automatically appeal at first glance. A
good design simply compliments the purpose of the content
that the Web master wishes to add.
You may feel the endless need to do something rash in order
for your Web site to stand out. Resist this urge like the
plague. Just because many other businesses have utilized
the same basic strategy, there's no need to abandon ship
and paint your background pink. Now, that's just silly.
It's been proven that the most welcoming interfaces for
e-Commerce purposes are generally light, with plenty of
blank space and clean easy-to-read text. Let this be the
only guideline you need. Don't fall in to the trap of
over-decorating your page.
Three column layouts are very popular in the current
designing world. This may slowly fade to be replaced with
the Flash all-in-one look, but for the foreseeable future,
we'd consider a three column design a safe bet.
Don't Hide Your Navigation!
Be very careful about placing your navigation links at the
bottom of the page. This technique can work if you are sure
your customers will be reading all the way to the bottom
but if not their eyes will tend to instinctively look to
the top of the page for links to follow.
If they can't find the link they want they will frequently
just hit the back button which may take them away from
your site.
On the other hand a page which is designed to be read can
make life easier for your visitor by having appropriate
links at the bottom. Having to scroll all the way back up
to the top to get to the next page is a real turn off.
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