Do you want to know the truth about website design? Web designers are masters of this craft and know it the best. Although many people have some idea and working knowledge of web design, it is often plagued with misconceptions and false notions. Not only do these cause you precious time and money, but they also result in below par website design and performance preventing you from tapping into the large pool of prospective customers that surf the web daily.
To help improve your website design knowledge and increase the chances of your website success, here are a few commonly accepted myths and some truth about web design:
1. Flash animation is good for attracting visitors to your website, but it can slow down the performance of your site
Though Flash can add great appeal to your web pages, it is not a necessity. Add Flash features only when they are relevant to your content and carry significant value for your visitors.
Flash animations can greatly increase the time your pages take to load, especially on old computers. Test your animations for load time and proper functioning. If you add flash to your website, always include a non-flash version of your web page for browsers with slow network speed to be able to render and view your site.
When used judiciously, flash can enhance your website’s look and impact on customers but excessive or unnecessary use can annoy them and make them move on to other sites.
2. Colors make the web site design attractive, but too many on a single page may annoy your visitors
Colors must be used in moderation. A multitude of colors on a single page can annoy visitors and make them leave your site. Web design experts recommend a maximum of 2-3 colors on a single page.
To make your website attractive, rely on intelligent use of colors. This involves proper color coordination between text, background and image colors. For instance, dark text and images on a light background increase the allure of web pages. Also, make sure the color of links on your site is consistent with other colors on the web page.
3. Images and Videos make the web design more attractive, but use them conservatively
Images and Videos help to reinforce your message and add appeal to your website. Like excess animations, too many images can distract visitors, divert their attention from the call to action and make your web pages slow to load.
In addition to visitors, search engines are also harsh towards slow loading sites. With millions of pages to crawl, search engine crawlers will move to other websites at the slightest delay in your site’s load time, lowering your visibility and organic search rankings. So you should keep use of graphics and flash in check.
4. Optimize your web site design for Internet Explorer only, but its no longer the only browser with significant market share.
This is a very common misconception. Your site may appear differently on different browsers. It is always advisable to test your site on multiple browsers to ensure it has an appropriate look and feel for all major browsers such as firefox, IE, Safari and Chrome.
In addition, with the popularity of mobile internet ensure that your site can be properly viewed from mobile phones such as iphones, android phones and blackberrys as well.
5. IT and Computer knowledge is required to be good web designers, not really.
It is true that computer and IT professionals have a better understanding of web design tools and technologies than most of us and if you are a novice, it is best to hire a professional web designer. However, learning web design is not rocket science. There are several books, tutorials and tools that can assist you with it. Give it a little time and you can become proficient in website design and development yourself.
With all this new information, start making smart decisions for your website design without wasting time and money on unnecessary bells and whistles that will not have any impact on the traffic to your website or conversions!