Hence, using a website to promote your business or to promote your agenda is a necessity nowadays.  It is very hard to think of a business or an organization that can continue to function without having some sort of Internet component to it.  More and more people expect to relate to companies or organizations through their website and this is absolutely a necessity in the instances of global entities.  In many cases, your customers can be on the other side of the world and your company headquarters can be thousands of miles away.  However, with the use of a professionally designed website, you can easily make sure that your correspondence takes place on the Internet and thus locations lose their meaning.

But one trap that many designers fall into the trap of using very complex graphics, flashy animations and complex plug-ins to make their websites look more advanced and more flashy.  Many designers feel that in order to compete with the thousands of other websites out there, it is essential for them to do extravagant things; so that their visitors will be impressed and they will stay on the website instead of just moving on.

Perhaps this idea can be justified to a certain extent.  However, it must be remembered that although there are some people who feel this way on the Internet, there is a majority amount of people who can not use the Internet as proficiently as others.  You can see 9 year old kids on the Internet as well as 80 year old senior citizens and thus as a web designer you will need to exercise caution and restraint in your design process.

You have to make sure that these groups of people are represented in your designs as well.  It is very essential for you to design web pages for every one and not just for the select few.  Flashy graphics and complex animations may be interesting for entertainment, but for functional value they add very little to the essence of the website itself.  As a web designer, if you want to design web pages for everyone, it is important for you to focus on content and functionality instead of the aesthetic components.  Your website must be able to provide informative content and it must provide it in a functional and useful way.  Although you may end up losing few visitors who expect to be dazzled, as a gain you will be able to win over thousands of other visitors who are looking for content and functionality.

Peter Brittain
Perth Web Design

Since reading from a web page can be more difficult than that from a printed document, the background colour for the website must be such that the text is readable with minimum effort. While superimposing text on to graphics, the text should still be clearly visible.

Restrict the urge to put in the flashiest of graphics. Flash player is a tool that has been developed from a basic code that is well suited for web applications. But Flash on its own does not display well on many of the sites. Do not prompt the users to download the latest versions of plugins, since they might just move on to another site in disgust. Also, beware of using too many animated graphics to promote products which may be totally unrelated to the site, but whose endorsement you have been paid for. Viewers visit a website with a specific purpose and don’t like to be bombarded with unwanted information.

Using the generally accepted tabs like Home, About Us, Services, Products and Contact Us helps the user get more confident while navigating the site. Even at the risk of appearing to be predictable, structuring information under appropriate headings either alphabetically or otherwise makes searching easier. Incorporating a search box that can pick up keywords from all throughout the site is strongly recommended. Consider the official site of the USFDA – www.fda.gov. The search box throws up all possible information stored under the hundreds of tabs displayed on the site.

Users like to be lead accurately to the site when keywords are used. Hence making use of meta-tags, which should give a precise summary of the page, is always appreciated. Incorporate universally acceptable fonts and options to increase or decrease font size.

Majority of web users are those with less time at their disposal. Hence, try to minimize the loading time and computer memory required for web pages. If the subject matter is too vast, break it up into paragraphs and display on successive pages. All the major browsers must easily display the web pages.

Maintain a header or footer for each page displaying the navigation tool, to avoid the need to use the “Back” key repeatedly. The pages should clearly display the current position where the user has reached. As a generally accepted norm, the navigation buttons should appear on the top or left hand side.

Using similar backgrounds for all pages is advisable, so as to have a thread of commonality running through. This also creates an impression of a unique identity in terms of colour for the site.

The web is a media where users have the option to view what they choose and skip the others. This makes it in fact, easier for developers to gauge their prejudices and preferences, the only requirement being the use proper audience analysis.

Peter Brittain
Slinky Digital

Use these forms from another location to see that it is actually working at all times. Many a times an error message may pop up even when the user has provided the right information. This may be due to a bug in the system. Clearly specify the key to be used to move from one field to another, right at the beginning.

Use minimum number of pages and ask only relevant questions. Remember that the customer knows your product and hence is ready to buy. The form should not appear as though you are questioning their identity.
Make a form logical and do not provide long lists of irrelevant options for a field. Do not add all the countries and cities of the word under the locations field, since you would not be providing services at all locations.

Provide immediate explanations and examples below each field so that the customer understands them. Do not categorize irrelevant fields as mandatory ones. If the customer does not have a landline number, making such a field compulsory will only make him leave or enter a false number.
 
Ensure that the customer is assured of the security of his personal details. The standard “lock” sign should be prominently displayed. Do not make your clients repeat information they have already provided. For example, if you are asking for the mailing address, ask whether it is the same they entered earlier or not. If not they will have to enter it separately.

Incorporate a system that will save information filled in each field separately. This will allow the user to go back to something he thinks has to be changed without losing information. Anything incorrectly filled has to be identified there itself and not after the form is submitted.  If the form is pushed back over and over to be corrected the client will leave after some time.

Indicate when each page has been successfully completed. This will help the customer be confident of completing the rest. Giving the customer an option to pay though a trustworthy source is a good idea.

These include sites like PayPal and Escrow, which in turn are helpful in getting you the payment in a safe and assured way. Commercial firms doing electronic purchases have fixed payment sites that are thoroughly vetted by them. All purchases without such options are rejected outright. Hence, going in for the safest options are advisable.

Sending a prompt reply to customers will assure them of the receipt of the form. Recognise former customers ad make their current purchases to be processed faster. Some tend to use these forms for dual purposes, like purchase checkout and also a market surveillance study about their product. Do not ask your client to add good captions promoting the product. The client may not find any suitable words for your product.

The checkout form is a way the purchase procedure for the clients. They would not like spending more time filling the checkout form, than actually scrutinizing the product for its quality. In addition, remember that the whole purpose of online purchasing is it minimize time taken for transactions.

Peter Brittain
Digital Agency

Having said that, make sure that you use graphics in your website to spruce it up. You can add life to just about any website by adding images. Images play a major role in breaking the monotony of your text, though proper use of graphics is crucial. With graphics, you can greatly enhance the appeal of your web pages and thus impress your visitors. Outlined below are some quick web page design ideas to incorporate graphics effectively in your web design.

1. Use JavaScript to swap images – Swapping images is a simple but powerful technique that can be done using JavaScript. With this technique, you can swap graphics if the cursor passes over any web object. For instance, if you are into interior decorating business and you wish to include some of your latest designs in your website, this technique would be of great use to you. So, if your visitor passes over a button that says ‘living room’ while the current graphic is a bed room design, then a living room design would be displayed in place of the bedroom design until the cursor remains over the living room button.

2. Using Rollovers – Rollovers are pretty similar to swapping images. As such, a primary image changes into a secondary image the moment a user passes the cursor over the image link. As soon as the cursor is moved away from the link, the secondary image changes into the primary image. Like image swapping, rollovers can also be created by means of a simple JavaScript. As long as you don’t overdo rollovers, they can be very good for the look of your website. However, make sure that it does not take ages for the images to load or else your visitors will get bored and simply move on to a different website.

3. Add background images – Background images can enhance the appeal of your website and also convey your message to visitors more effectively. You can fill up suitable background images in rows or columns to make your web page look good without giving it a crammed look. For instance, if you are into gardening, you can include the image of a small plant at the bottom that is seen growing vertically towards the upper side of the web page.

4. Don’t forget to leave some white space – White space is nothing but the empty space between text and images and is often called as negative space. White space plays a dual role in web designing – it gives a squeaky clean look to your website and also makes content reading a more soothing experience for the eyes.

When designing your web page, don’t forget the rule: less is better. Use graphics sparingly only as complementary elements for your text.