The first impression of a website can make or break a visitor's perception of a business. A slow-loading, poorly designed website can leave visitors frustrated and questioning the credibility of the business. This article will explore common mistakes in website design and how to avoid them.
One of the most common deterrents for website visitors is slow load time. Numerous surveys have shown that if a website takes too long to load, visitors are likely to abandon it and move on to another site. When designing a website, it's crucial to ensure that content appears on the screen within the first few seconds. Additional parts of the website can load over the next 20-60 seconds, but during this time, the visitor should already have something to read on the screen.
Remember, when designing a website locally, the content loads from the hard disk almost instantly. However, when a visitor accesses the website online, it may take significantly longer to load. Avoid overloading your website with unnecessary elements that can slow down load time. Companies like WebSource.com offer professional advice on optimizing website load times.
Another common mistake in website design is not considering different screen resolutions. When designing a website locally, it's easy to forget that what looks perfect on your screen may not look the same on a different screen with a different resolution.
Professional website designers will test their designs on various browsers and screen resolutions, and even on different operating systems. HTML code is not a "hard copy" - it's rendered differently by the browser each time, depending on the available space. To see this in action, try resizing your browser window while viewing an .htm file. You'll notice that the words and images move around, and if the window is too small, the context can be lost.
In conclusion, designing a website requires careful consideration of load times and screen resolutions. Avoiding these common pitfalls can result in a more professional and user-friendly website. For more information on website design, check out this guide from Smashing Magazine.
