Top Ten Mistakes In Web Design

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  1. Bad Search

    2. Often times search engines aren't very usable. They aren't able to handle typos, plurals, hyphens and other variants of the query terms. Users often times don't pay attention to these little details and so they end up having problems. Another problem occurs when search engines don't prioritize the results. It is best when results return in order with best results listed at the top.

  2. PDF Files for Online Reading

    3. PDF files may become a nightmare. When you come accross a PDF file you can say good-bye to smooth scrolling and hello to tiny fonts. It can be fine for printing adn distributing manuals. It is best if you are able to transfer a document in and out of PDF format.

  3. Not Changing the color of Visited links

    4. When doing research you are often visiting link after link. Users don't pay attention to the links that they have already used so they often end up going back to the same link by accident. Links that have been visited need to be highlighted to let the user know that they have already been there.

  4. Non-Scannable Text

    5. It is like a resume. Nobody wants to look at a page and have to study it to figure out what it means. It should be well formated and should be as concise as possible.

  5. Fixed Font Size

    6. Everyone is different. If I want to see a lot of words on the page so I can reduce scrolling I need the font to be small. Others may have a hard time seeing the small font. Due to poor eye sight or just preference users may want to enlarge the font. This should be an option.

  6. Page Titles With Low Search Engine Visibility

    7. Search is a powerful tool for users to find a web sight and to work their way around the sight. the main page of a sight should have a good title that reduces words like the or welcome so that when alphebetized it doesn't fall towards the end.

  7. Anything That Looks Like an Advertisement

    8. A web sight that looks like an advertizement gets ignored. We've all seen them and are tired of them. Don't get your sight looking like this. Avoing banners and animations that take teh eyes off of what you really want users to see.

  8. Violating Design Conventions

    9. I hate getting lost in a web sight. I like knowing right where I am and how to get to and from my locations. Sights need design conventions to help users to understand what they see and to understand the layout of the web sight.

  9. Opening New Browser Windows

    10. A lot of sight managers make it so that when you click on a new link a new browser opens so that their page stays there. Unfortunately this is against the user-hostile message impliesd in taking over someones machine. In addition most people don't notice and therefore get confused with the dimed out back button. Therefor creating a new web browser can actually backfire. It doesn't allow the user to go back to the sight that they were just at.

  10. Not Answering Users' Questions

    11. It drives me crazy when I get on a sight and cannot find what I am looking for. I assume that it is there but for some reason I just keep going from one link to another without finding it. Sights need to be well written to allow users to work their way around the sight easily and be able to find what they want. This may be a great reason why search properties can be so great.

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January 28, 2008 1:55 PM

Date has been changed because I got back in to add the link at the top and to add the Day and Time. Otherwise this alert box was submitted on time.