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Web
Site Design Advice |
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Take
it from someone who knows... I've seen a lot of
really good web site designs out there, and also a lot of
bad web site designs. The good designs are usually
complex, and the bad ones are very amateur. |
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There
is a way to create a complex-looking website without
a great deal of web design knowledge. It just
takes a little attention to detail. |
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1.
Don't put too many graphics on any one page.
Break up things a bit, and create interest, and at
the same time, allow your audience to browse around
without having to wait forever to download
everything. |
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2.
Check for typos and grammar. This sounds very
simple, but many people forget to spell-check their
sites. It's easy to forget, and nobody's
perfect, but just make an effort to present your
best work. Your website is like a business
card. |
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3.
Use one standard template, and stick to it.
Keep the theme of your site consistent. This
includes the size of your table structure, images,
and text blocks. |
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4.
Don't use busy backgrounds or annoying music.
Stay away from annoying add-ons such as cursor
changers and animation. |
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5.
Use clean-looking fonts, but make sure they're from
the basic font families such as Arial and Times.
Not everyone has fancy fonts installed on their
system. If you must use something
non-standard, include it as a graphic. |
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6.
Don't use frames. Many sites from the 1990s
started out by using frames to organize their site
structures. They tend to confuse search engine
robots. Now, tables and CSS are a clean-looking way to
replace archaic frame structures. Tables are
also a great way to keep things consistent. |
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7.
Keep your navigation system simple. Include a
sitemap and archives if things get busy. |
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8.
Keep your content fresh and relevant. Metatags
aren't the only thing that search engine robots look
for. They are out there searching for sites
with current data. Keep the data relevant to
what you promote. For example, if you sell
cars, then include articles such as car reviews,
books related to cars, and car photography.
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