Most Web design mistakes are open to interpretation but there are some web design mistakes that simply can not be argued against. This can be due to the blatant dysfunction they cause a site or simply because they provide a horrible user experience to your visitors. Whatever the reason for web design mistakes, its best to iron them out before your site goes live. Let’s take a look at five common web design mistakes and how you can avoid them.

Hard to Read Text
If the text on your website is difficult to read then there is little hope of users sticking around for long. Readable text depends on three factors: font style, font size and color contrast between background color and text color. Fonts considered easiest to read on a computer screen are sans-serif fonts such as Verdana and Arial. The recommended colors are black text on a white background however any light background and dark colored text can work. Dark backgrounds with light text can strain the eyes considerably.

Slow Loading
There are several factors that can contribute to a slow loading site but it is vital to find them all and eliminate them. Even in this age of broadband internet, fast loading sites are still mandatory. Fast sites make little use of images, optimize any images carefully to make them as small in file size as possible and don’t run any slow loading scripts in the background.

Made for Resolution
Making a site for a certain screen resolution is an old, outdated concept. These days people use all types of screen resolutions ranging from the ancient 800×600 right up to the latest extra wide screen resolutions. Your website needs to be able to display on all resolutions without being cut off. The only way to achieve this is with a fluid, flexible design using CSS (cascading style sheets). Table based designs simply do not have the liquidity of flexible CSS based div layouts.

Pop Up Windows
Pop up windows are a rather ancient concept which are making a return. However popups will probably never truly be accepted by most web surfers simply due to their annoying nature. People think less of your site if there is a pop up window in their face and this attitude is hard to shake. It is safer now to use popup windows, if only for the sake of your visitor’s perception of your website.

Lack of White Space
White space is extremely important on a website. It lets the eyes rest and directs the reader’s eyes to important aspects of the website. Cluttering a web page with too many elements reduces white space and gives a messy effect. Keeping it simple is the key to a clean web design layout.

The above 5 common website mistakes can mean the difference between having an average website and a fantastic, user-friendly destination for your readers to come back to again and again.

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