Forty principles for Website Design

Source: Internet
Author: User
1. the user must know what the website does in a few seconds. Attention is the most valuable currency on the Internet. If a visitor cannot know the direction of your website within a few seconds, he may switch to another website. You must quickly tell visitors why they are spending time on your website.
2. Make the website easy to read quickly. The Internet is not a book, so it is not necessary to use a large text segment. Maybe when I access your website, I am busy with other jobs and I have to read everything quickly. Project symbols, titles, subtitles, and lists can help readers quickly find what they want.

3. Do not use fancy fonts that are difficult to read. Of course, some fonts can make the website brilliant. But are they easy to read? If your main purpose is to pass information and make readers read it, you should make the reading process more comfortable.

4. Do not use small fonts. As described in the previous article, you have to make readers feel comfortable reading. Although Firefox has the zoom-in function, I will never access a website again if I have to zoom in to see it.

5. Do not open a new browser window. I used to do this on my first website.
The reason is simple. Open an external link in a new window and you don't have to leave my website. Error! Let the user decide how to open the link, otherwise there is no need for the big back button on the browser.
Don't worry about users leaving your website. They will return when necessary.

6. Do not change the size of your browser window. You have the right to control your browser. If you change the window size, you will lose credit in front of them.

7. Do not enable user registration when necessary. To put it bluntly, I access the Internet to obtain information, not for anything else. Do not force me to register and leave my email and other information unless necessary (for example, the messages you can provide are very valuable ).

8. Do not subscribe to e-magazines for visitors without their consent. Do not automatically subscribe to e-magazines when visitors register. It is not a good way to make friends if you don't ask for your own emails.

9. Do not use flash too much. Flash not only increases the reading time of the website, excessive use may even make visitors feel unhappy. Flash is used only when the static page cannot express your intent.

10. Do not play music. Earlier in the year, Web developers liked to integrate music into their websites. As a result, they failed. Remember, never use music.

11. Ask the user to start the sound when you must use it. Sometimes you have to use a sound file, such as sending a speech to a user, or your tutorial contains a sound. This is okay, but we need to allow users to control it, so that users can click the "play" button and do not play the sound instantly when opening the webpage.

12. Do not confuse your website with the logo. Social networks andCommunityThe logo will make your website look very unprofessional. Even the medals and honors should be placed on the "About Us" page.

13. Do not click to enter the page. The fewer steps the user can access the content, the better.

14. Be sure to leave the contact information. The worst thing is that the website has no contact information left. It is not only unfriendly to visitors, but also not good for you. You will miss valuable feedback.

15. do not affect the action of the "back" button. This is the most basic concept of website availability. Under no circumstances can the "back" button be affected. For example, opening a new window will damage it, and some javas pipeline links will damage it.

16. Do not use Flashing Text. Unless your visitor is from 1996, do not use Flashing Text.

17. Avoid complicated URL structures. A simple keyword-based URL structure not only improves your search engine ranking, but also allows visitors to understand the webpage content before accessing the website.

18. Use CSS layout instead of tables. HTML tables were used for page layout, but there is no need to stick to them, especially after the birth of CSS. CSS is faster and more stable, and provides more features.

19. Make sure that you can search the entire website. The reason why search engines bring about the Internet revolution is that it makes information search very easy. Do not reverse tune your website.

20. Avoid using the drop-down menu. Users should intuitively see all navigation options. The drop-down menu may cause confusion and hide the information that visitors actually want.

21. Use text as the navigation bar. Text navigation is fast and stable. For example, some users disable images when surfing the Internet.

22. If you need to link to the PDF document, make sure to indicate it. After you click the link, the browser will wait for acrobat as if it were dead.
Reader is started, just to open a PDF file (which you don't want to see? This is not a small problem, so you must note it next to the link to the PDF so that you can take appropriate measures.

23. Do not confuse visitors with multiple versions. What bandwidth do you want to use? 56 kbps? 128 Kbps? Flash or HTML? Hi, I just want to see the content soon!

24. Do not mix ads in the content. Hybrid advertisements (such as AdSense) in the content may increase the ad click rate in the short term, but in the long run, this will reduce the popularity of the website. Angry users will leave.

25. Use a simple navigation structure. Too late. This rule usually applies to people and choices. Make sure that the navigation structure of your website is simple and concise. You don't want users to have trouble searching for information, do you?

26. Avoid content Introduction. Do not force users to read something before accessing the real content. This is very angry. Unless the information you provide is required by the user, he will not wait.

27. Do not use FrontPage. This also applies to other cheap HTML editors. They make the page design more convenient, but their output results will be very low-level, incompatible with different browsers, and contain errors.

28. Ensure that your website is compatible with most browsers. Browsers are not exactly the same, and the methods for interpreting CSS and other languages are also quite different. Whether you are willing or not, you should make your website compatible with common browsers on the market. Otherwise, you will lose some readers forever.

29. ensure that meaningful text is added to the link. I used to make this mistake. It is easy to tell people to click here, but it does not work. Make sure that the link text is meaningful. It allows visitors to know what will happen after clicking a link, and can also bring Seo effects to external sites that the link points.

30. Do not hide links in the status bar. You must also be able to see where the link points in the status bar. If you hide the Link (even for other reasons), you will lose credibility.

31. Make the link visible. Visitors should be able to easily identify the clicks and failures. Make sure that the link color is strongly compared (Standard Blue is usually the best ). If possible, you 'd better underline it.

32. Do not add underscores or colors to plain text. Do not underline common text unless otherwise required. Just as users need to identify which words can be clicked, they should not mistakenly think of words that cannot be clicked.

33. change the color of the accessed link. This is important for improving website availability. Changing the color of the accessed link helps users locate the link on the website and ensure that they do not inadvertently access the same page twice.

34. Do not use dynamic GIF. Do not use dynamic GIF unless you have an advertisement that requires animation. It will make the website look amateur and distract visitors.

35. Add ALT and title attributes to the image. ALT and title not only bring Seo results, but also help blind people.

36. Do not use unpleasant colors. If you have a headache after reading for 10 minutes, you 'd better choose another color scheme. Design Based on your purpose (for example, create an atmosphere that allows users to focus on the content of the website, and so on ).

37. Do not bring up a window. This involves a pop-up window of any type. The pop-up window is not suitable even if you require it because it is blocked by the pop-up window Interception Function.

38. Do not use javas pipeline for links. It is often troublesome for users to execute a short javas pipeline link after clicking it.

39. Place meaningful links at the bottom of the page. Visitors often scroll to the bottom of the page when they cannot find the required information. As a final means, you should put a link to the "Contact Us" page at the bottom of the page.

40. Avoid excessive webpage length. If a user always needs to scroll to see the content, he will usually skip them. If this happens to your website, you should shorten the content and optimize the navigation structure.

41. horizontal scroll bars are not allowed. Although the vertical scroll bar is acceptable, the horizontal scroll bar is far from the same. The current popular resolution is 1024x768. Make sure that the website can accommodate it.

42. Spelling or syntax errors are prohibited. This is not a website design error, but it is an important factor affecting the overall quality of the website. Make sure there are no spelling or syntax errors in the link and text.

43. If you use image authentication, ensure that you can read the characters clearly. Some websites use image authentication as a way to combat spam comments, or use it on the registry list. One problem is that users often need to ask the whole family to discuss what letters are on the pictures.

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