Web Designers Alert!!!

Hi,

While you are still glossing over what I told you about in my last post, let me just stack you up with some more info about web designing. And yeah I owe it all the web designers straight out of designing schools.
So let me unveil some designer tricks that may take you a step ahead of your competitors.

Go low on Images
An image is poetry without words, or so they say. But let’s just reserve the poetry for later. Visitors on your site neither intend nor have the luxury of time to sit and wait till eternity for the images to load. And trust me, a chunk of relevant information is way better than a truckload of flashy images!
And yeah, one more thing each file on the page requires a separate HTTP request to the server. So a lot of small images-even if they do not add up to a lot in terms of bytes - will slow down the loading a lot.

Navigation Woes
So, you have made the website a beauty of own kinds. But a great site without good navigation is no better than a dumb blonde ;)
With al due respect to your artistic excellence, I suggest you pay more attention to the navigability and functionality of the website. Users won’t stay and admire the beauty of the website unless they find it easier to browse through.

Hide-and –Seek
If you don’t already know Mystery Meat Navigation is the scenario where unless your mouse moves over an image, you have no idea where that link might take you. Only when the mouse hovers on top of it, do you see the actual link. Please don play hide-and-seek with the visitor. Keep the link titles clear and visible. You’ll be doing a huge favor.

Browser Battles
The competition in the telecom sector may just come second. The varied species of browsers have just victimized the user! Keep off from browser specific functions. Because if that particular feature is supported by one browser, chances are it won’t even work on others. Check out the cross-platform compatibility that I mentioned earlier. That should come handy.

Pop Up- Traffic Down
Literally, with each new window that you open out for a link, the user traffic will go down in the same ratio. Creating a new browser window should be the sole authority of the user. You doing that honor will just mess up the user’s screen. And no likes other’s mess! Make all links open in the same window by default.
Yeah, in cases where you have to present a list of links or something like that, use that pop up. But make sure to intimidate the user before.

Font preference
Have you ever wondered why does a printed copy look better than a handwritten note? (Unless of course, if its mine :P) It’s all about fonts. And bear in mind that what sits pretty on MSWord, doesn’t go that well with online web page. Stick to the standard plain fonts like Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, and Courier.

Let me repeat yet again, whatever you create and put on your website, test and make sure the run on all the browsers, with all resolutions and all color. Make your guest feel at home and serve them the best!
Will get you more in my next post. Signing off..


Maneet Puri