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Web Designs Deadliest 4 Mistakes
By Moe Tamani (c) 2008

Some web designs are truly so repulsive that they actually
drive people away from the site and prevent them from returning.
Both you and your web design company must avoid these situations
at all costs. Otherwise you run the risk of allowing your
reputation to be diminished or being labeled and avoided by
clients and customers.

Web Design's Scariest Backgrounds

The background of your website is one aspect that you have
control over and you can easily change or alter to suit your
client's needs. You must be aware, however, that some
backgrounds are simply not attractive at all. Some of these
backgrounds that should be avoided at any cost are:

• A completely black background with light or white text
superimposed upon it. Even the best web designers in the world
have difficulty achieving an appealing look with this type of
background. It gives viewers the impression that you are
imperious and condescending and does not do anything to
encourage readers to stay on your site. Also, some browsers,
when used to print a page, also print background color. This
could cause complaints from customers who are not happy about
the amount of ink they used in order to print a single page.

• A completely black background with dark words. This is an
even worse background choice than the previous one because the
words simply cannot be seen without great difficulty. In order
to read the text, visitors to your site will have to first
highlight the text, a task that will quickly irritate them.

• Complicated, tiled images. Fresh web designers often use this
type of background because it is convenient and looks good to
them. They should also bear in mind, however, that this type of
background can dramatically increase the amount of load time for
a website.

Web Design's Scariest Text

The main reason people visit your site is that they are
interested in the content contained within your website. If they
are unable to read your text, then there is nothing for them to
stay for. Your web design company definitely does not want
visitors to find nothing worth reading on your site, so avoid
the following pitfalls:

• Centering all your text. A page with all of its text
completely centered is unattractive and difficult to read.

• Overly emphasized text. Some designers bold every other line
of text and italicize the rest. This is self-defeating because
in attempting to make everything stand out, nothing stands out.

• Flashing text. Although some people find text that constantly
disappears and reappears appealing, it is almost impossible to
read, defeating the purpose of even having text in the first
place. Text is there to be read!

Web Design's Scariest Content

As a web designer, you should never ignore your content. At the
end of the day, the content of your web page is what either
draws visitors to your site, or drives them away. You should
make sure you include interesting and attention-grabbing content
and avoid the following mistakes.

• Pages consisting solely of links. Pages where every word is a
link on its own do not serve any purpose other than to convince
visitors never to return to your site.

• "Funny" content. Including humorous content is risky, at
best. Some people may not understand your humor and will need to
have it explained to them or, more likely, they will simply
leave your site in search of something more interesting that
they can actually understand.

Web Design's Scariest Multimedia

Many designers find themselves in love with multimedia and
attempt to use it in every project that they undertake. The web
design company you work for probably does appreciate your talent
with multimedia and, when the situation calls for it, you can
showcase your talents to your web design company and your
clients. However, designing using multimedia tools is a very
time consuming process. You should not let your desire to show
off your skills with multimedia compromise the work that you
eventually hand in to your clients. You should do your utmost to
avoid the following traps:

• Image overload. Images of all forms, including icons, should
not be present in large numbers. As a general rule-of-thumb,
anything more than two images is overkill.

• Overly large images. The readership of your site will not
suffer if your images are not of print quality. Large, high
quality images take a long time to load and most readers would
not care if you had used a low quality image.

• Embedded audio. Audio streams that play constantly while the
page is open are very annoying for visitors who simply want to
examine the content of your site. Worse, these audio streams are
usually impossible to turn off. If you absolutely must include
some form of sound with your web page, you must give your
visitors the controls required to turn off the sound if they
wish.

A scary web design is most definitely not what your web design
company hopes that you will produce. The web pages you design
should be appealing to readers and help keep them on your site,
and not drive them away.
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Moe Tamani is a search engine optimization specialist for SEO 1
Services specializing in Seo web design
http://www.seo-1-marketing-services.com
http://www.Brazenwebdesign.com
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