Good website design inculcates in it a lot of common sense and a lot of the things that need to be understood from a user’s point of view. Just because one thing looks good to the web developer does not mean that thing will translate into good user response. As such, there are some web design mistakes that are made frequently that should be avoided if you want the best performance out of your website. Since these are frequently overlooked, we’ll be discussing these five mistakes in detail and how by ensuring your website does not have these errors, you will get excellent performance and feedback from it.
Let’s get started.
Five common website design mistakes to avoid
Here is a breakdown of five common website design mistakes that are made and how they can be avoided to ensure optimal website performance.
Slow loading pages
Do you know what makes people rage on the internet? Slow connections. You know what infuriates people even more? When they discover their connection is fine, but the website is acting up. That is right: slow loading pages are the worst thing you can have on your website, and not only will it look and ring bad with the people, Google and other search engines will also start demoting your website since no user will be able to stick around your website for long. To kill off a website for good, slow loading pages are a surefire way. Since we’re talking about website design, it is important to note here that design does affect load times, and it is good design that minimizes load times to the point where the experience is almost seamless and page loading is prompt and quick. Start off by designing pages that are light and are not too reliant on excessive use of elements. Make it snappy, and ensure that a bulk of your attention and resources go towards making the load speeds fast. Design will dictate the speed, and as such, keep the design minimal and add only the necessary elements to keep load speeds up. Once you do that, you have a good website on your hands.
Poor navigation and site structure
When a user accesses your website, they will proceed to navigate around the website until they find out what they are looking for. This is where two elements come in that can either make or break a website: navigational elements and the structure of the website. You see, your website will have information that the user needs access to. Your information needs to be segmentized in an orderly manner; it needs to follow a structure that is consistent and uniform across the website. Similarly, in order to access said information, the user will navigate around the website using different elements that you will have. You need to focus on them too. Poor navigation and a site structure that is all over the place will turn off a user quickly and you can wave goodbye to a potential customer. Recalling the principles of good design, you have a hierarchy that ranks the highest. In order to ensure a homogeneous structure, always start with a hierarchy that dictates how the site structure goes. Once you have that, include good and prominent navigation that eases the user’s way around your website, and you will again, have a website on your hands that users would feel at home with.
Overcomplicated layout and cluttered content
Okay, now here are two things that are like a visual red flag: once you see them, you want to turn back and flee the website. The first one is an overcomplicated layout, and this is probably one of the biggest turn-offs for users on the internet. Access should be easy and convenient, and should not require advanced understanding of computer systems just to work your way around a website. Not all of us have doctorates in computer sciences, and your website should reflect that. Again, keeping in line with the principle of hierarchy in website design, the layout should also follow a specific hierarchy which should be present throughout the site, not just for specific pages. That is good website design. But what is more common as a mistake in website design is the organization of content on the website, which also needs hierarchy and a layout that is not overly complicated as well. Content is king, and content is what brings users to the website. If they get to the website only to find out that the content is all over the place and the layout does not make any sense at all, trust us on this, they will turn around and will not come back. There’s no revisiting a website that has no simplicity in layout and no organization in content. So, ensure you have a simple, easy layout and content that is hierarchical and organized and you and your website can bask in the success.
Non-responsive design
Fun fact: more than half of the global web traffic, at 57 per cent, consists of smartphone users, NOT computer users or laptop enthusiasts. So, what does that mean? It means one simple thing: your website design needs to be responsive. Responsive means that the website is optimized for all the devices that the user might use; that the website adapts to the device being used to access it, and is not stuck in one single specification for all device types. Having a non-responsive design will mean that if you have optimized your website for widescreen personal computers, the same will be shown for mobile and tablet device users, and it will irk them. Trust us: there is nothing worse than having to constantly scroll up and down the website, interacting with pint-sized elements on the website because it isn’t optimized for mobile screens. It will send a user packing, never to visit your website again. Instead, do this: optimise your website to cater to a host of devices, and for some added pro-level user functionality, also add in display support for tablets, since they constitute a decent amount of user traffic as well. Once you have that done, and your website runs and looks absolutely fine on both mobile devices and computers, your website is ready to rock out with the people.
Inconsistent branding and design elements
The final website design mistake to avoid is really an aesthetic one, but one that can seriously hurt your brand and your brand recognition and perception on your website. It’s related to branding and design elements that you use across your website. Again, consistency is key here. Good design language includes homogeneity and a familiar usage of elements throughout the website. Bad design will have a website switching design language, elements and branding logos throughout the site, and it will not only look out of place but will also not make for good website aesthetics. Design language should be consistent throughout the website: it adds to the holistic aspect of a website as a complete, self-contained digital entity. Design elements should be related or connected to the language and should be consistent too: corporate elements that use minimalistic design cues on one page and ornate design elements on another will look bad for the website as a whole, and as such, consistency across branding and design elements will give your website a great visual boost.
Leave it to Purpose Path to knock web design out of the ballpark
You can’t talk about good design and then have a website that looks like you got it off Wish.com, right? So, how to get a website design that not only avoids the aforementioned five no-no’s of web design, but turns an ordinary website into something truly unique and beautiful? Here’s a hack: trust the experts to do it for you, while you kick back, relax and watch the results come in. Like Purpose Path.
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