There are a lot of articles around about Flash and fancy and Web 2.0 and how the Internet is changing. Well, I hate to break it to you but the Internet has been in a state of constant change since its inception. Features, services, functions, and whole sections have come and gone as new ideas have dominated old ones and new and better ways have been found to do old and familiar things. Does anyone here remember Archie, Veronica, and Gopher? And I don’t mean comic book characters.
But there are some things that have not changed and, probably, will not ever change. They are those principles, the basics, the foundation upon which a good business — any business — is built. Here is a little more than half a dozen that apply to website design:
1. Your website should have pages which load in under five seconds. Longer, especially on the home page, and you will likely lose some visitors.
2. Your website should convey an understanding of its purpose within the first 3 to 4 seconds of viewing it. Get the message across and provide a call to action.
3. There should be traditional navigation links, preferably text based, that are easy to find and easy to follow. Visitors to your site should know where they are and easily find where they want to go.
4. All text should be easy to read in provided in standard fonts. Cartoon fonts and curles are great for titles and should be in graphic form. Information should be delivered in one of the standard universally available fonts. Arial, Times New Roman, and Georgia, are all good choices.
5. Provide content written simply to address your visitors concerns and answers the questions they are likely to have.
6. All forms and especially your checkout (on e-commerce sites) should be obvious, easy to fill out, and necessary. Don’t have a form just to have a form. Have, and state, a purpose.
7. Check your links regularly. You don’t want link rot (dead links) to set in. Especially verify that off-site links still go to active sites and that those sites are still what you expect them to be. Domain ownership changes and people change their minds about what they want their website to be.
Designing a website requires a little organization and planning. Owning a website requires a little work and responsibility. Doing it right will produce far better results.