Common Mistakes

HTML validators can verify the syntax of the HTML in your file, the thing that it can't do is apply a little common sense to make sure that no inadvertently mistakes have snuck into the HTML while we have worked on it. Here are some of the most common web design mistakes you may run into.

Custom Fonts
First off, there is the mistake of using a font that is not likely to be available by default in the browser of the people viewing your page. Some people say that if you use a font that not everyone has you can always post it on your web site as a download so that your visitors can install it and then view your site. The problem with this thinking is that hardly anyone will want to bother with downloading and installing a font. And for most browsers even if you install the font you will have to close the browser and go open the page again or even restart your computer.

This means your page will just end up being viewed in the default font of whatever browser is being used by the person viewing it, and your result will vary as to how much it messes up your design. If you have a font that you really think would be great to incorporate into your web design, you can use an image editing software to create a picture of the words you want to display using that font and use that instead of plain text in your HTML. Keep in mind though that even this method should be used sparingly, as search engines can only search text and not pictures of text. Internet users are also used to seeing the internet using the default web safe fonts, and a different font is more likely to drive web surfers away from your site rather than draw them to it.

Horizontal Scroll
Another big, big mistake that is classified as bad web design is having a web page that is too wide for a browser to view it. The reason this is considered bad is because internet users are willing to scroll down a web page, but almost none will ever scroll to the right or left. The result is that anything on the web page that is out of site past the left or right edge of the screen is also out of mind, and is basically just wasted space and content.

Often times, if an internet user see's that your page can scroll right he immediately thinks your page is broken, a big strike from the start against your web design and the content and information your site is trying to convey.

On the same note of page scrolling, it is also a good idea to keep your pages short so that if a user needs to scroll down they don't have to go too far. The internet is a big place, and if a person wandering into your page thinks that there is too much information there, he will just keep on surfing to find a page that will better meet with his attention span.


Non-Standard Hyperlinks
The next common web design mistake is using hyperlinks that do not look like hyperlinks, and if you feel the urge to make your links some non default color, just remember this: you can't educate people with your one site. For most everybody, links are blue when you can click them, and they are purple when you have already been to that page. You can modify these colors slightly, but if you push them to far no one will even realize that they are link and it won't even occur to them to click on it.

If you want to see what colors will work for your links, the best ways to find out is by checking the web sites of your favorite Fortune five-hundred companies and see what colors they use for links on their web sites. Those big companies have paid big money on focus groups to find our what colors an internet user wants to see when they visit their sites, so if you don't see the colors here, then you should really consider not using it.

Flash Overuse
Another thing to avoid is the overuse of Flash files on web pages. Flash files can be slow to download and slow to render. Even though Flash can create some cool animation and effects, you may want to use it judiciously.

And now you know some of the basic pitfalls when designing a great looking web page.