Common Sense Web Design

The days of trying to keep everything above the fold are over, some design experts say.

Many experts are saying that users are now accustomed to scrolling down the page. More and more often we are seeing important information posted below the fold on the main pages of sites.

This notion is controversial, however. See:

https://www.nngroup.com/articles/page-fold-manifesto/

It’s certainly something to ponder. For myself, I still try to keep major info above the fold, but I’m more likely to make the home page longer.

Have you ever had the experience of coming to a website and wondering where the links are? Irritating, isn’t it?

Don’t assume users will be patient simply because it’s YOUR website they are looking at. Make sure the links on your site are obvious to the user immediately. Avoid styling them in a way that confuses the user.

Avoid using images as links. Search engines prefer text links. Use your CSS file to style them so as to avoid unnecessary code in the html file — search engines like this.

It’s especially important to underline links that occur within the text so that users will recognize them and be encouraged to click on them.

Avoid styling your links so the underline only appears when the mouse hovers over the text. Users associate underlined text with a link and will likely have trouble finding them if they are not underlined.

It is good to have the links change colors. This is a further indication to the user (aside from the “hand” image that appears) that they have found a hotspot. Be careful not to choose colors for your rollovers that will fade in with the background color.

In terms of link colors, use light against dark or dark against light.

This means that the text should be dark if the background is light, or the text should be light if the background is dark. Be wary of flirting with the “in between.”

Consult Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide for SEO basics for your website. You will probably notice that the parameters they list make sense.

Imagine you are in charge of running a search engine. You’d prefer sites that have a strong track record (been around for a while and have been updated at regular intervals). You would not prefer sites that were launched and then never updated again.

You’d also want your code to be clean (clear of tables, with as little as possible coding in the actual page). Styling should come from a cascading style sheet with the appropriate css file extension rather than from within the html code.

The guide will show you how to create unique, accurate page titles as well as accurate meta tag descriptions.

You’ll also learn how to improve the structure of your URLs using descriptive words in the URL, make your site easier to navigate, prepare two sitemaps (one html and the other xml), write better text, insert alt tags for images, use header tags appropriately, make effective use of robots.txt, be aware of rel=”nofollow” for links, and how to promote your website.

Social media is another effective tool for promoting your site

Want to know more? See Search Engine Optimization.

You’ve got everything on your new site up and running in a development folder. Now’s the time to launch it, right?

Wrong.

You need to test it first.

Testing means trying — aggressively — to find errors. Essentially you want to try to break the site, the way you would test a child’s toy by trying to break it.

Testing is especially important with database-driven e-commerce sites. The last thing you want to do when you open your online store is give people products or services for free — or worse, overcharge them and then have to refund money.

First impressions can make or break your site. You don’t want to give your first users a bad experience: they will never return, and they will tell their friends.

Proofread all text (preferably by a professional proofreader), and test all email links by using them to send yourself a test email. Keep track of all the emails you send and compare that list with the list of emails you receive.

Go out of your way to find errors;  then track the errors you find, correct them, and verify that each error has been corrected. You must be able to reproduce the error.

For professional proofreading, contact Christopher Merrill.

A common mistake that many small businesses make with their first logo design is to try to do too much. There’s a simple rule of thumb for logo design for the web: Keep it clean, simple and small.

Size Matters!

For web purposes, your logo should be recognizable and easily legible at a height of not more than 90 pixels and a width of not more than 250 pixels. Anything more will limit your options, and almost certainly waste valuable “real estate” on your page. If your designer has generated something for you that cannot go that small, make them redesign the logo for you, and make them show the results to you at these dimensions or smaller.

For print purposes, the logo should be clean and legible at a height of no more than 1/2 inch and a width of no more than one inch.

Take a look at the two logos above; each uses two colors (not including white a black). Clean, simple and small.

WARNING: There are many individuals out there who claim to be logo designers, but don’t understand the restrictions of a web page. Be sure you hire an experienced, qualified logo designer who will tell you when too much is too much.

If you are looking for a logo designer, go to LukeRenn.com.

For more information on logos and logo size, go to Logo Design Mistakes.

There are big differences among hosting companies. Here are some things to consider when you are shopping for one:

• Do they often have site downtime?
• How long has the company been in business?
• Is the company reselling from another source?
• Are site add-ons available (form mail, WordPress, statistics panel, etc.)?

and most important:

• Is 24-hour phone support available? If so, what is the average wait time?

Avoid cheap hosting companies or resellers. You are likely to regret your decision down the road. You also may end up paying more in the long run.

Godaddy’s telephone support is excellent, and their reps are usually courteous and patient.

If you don’t need immediate responses to your support issues, Dreamhost is another option. They respond reasonably quickly when you send them a trouble ticket, and they allow a limited number of callbacks with some hosting packages.

Novice website owners often think that they will never need to contact their hosting company regarding issues that arise; perhaps about half the time, this is not true.

Be sure to keep your user name, password and pin number readily available in case of emergencies. You never know when you will need them.

Set up a Godaddy account here.
Set up a Dreamhost account here.