The Three Most Common Web Design Mistakes
There are three common web design mistakes I see over and over and over. And they are made on sites big and small, by top designers and by amateurs.
The most common web design mistakes stem from the web designer’s inability to see the web as a medium that is much more in the control of the viewer than it is of the web designer. Designing websites in a way that will allow them to function well despite different choices than the norm on the part of a viewer is what separates out a good webdesigner from an average one.
There are so many different ways that people viewing the web can change their viewing environment, and we, as web designers, have to anticipate those changes and design the website to withstand whatever gets thrown at it and still give the viewer a good and usable experience. Three of the most common ways viewing environments can differ are:
- Default Font Size
- Screen Resolution
- Default Background Color
The most glaring error in Web Design is Font Sizing. Default font sizes can be changed, and for good reason. People who have vision issues often change the default font size in their browser or on their operating system so that they can read the text. But many, if not most, web designers do not take this into account, leaving the person viewing their websites with a broken and barely usable experience. Or, even worse, they set them in pixel sizes, which don’t allow fonts to be rescaled in IE, forcing those with vision problems to squint at text that is too small for them to read. Even web designers who should know better make this mistake. And this is not solely an “amateur” mistake. Websites of recognizable brand names are broken in this way. An example of this problem on a website for a top US Retail Chain– http://www.circuitcity.com. This website makes a further mistake in not being cross browser compatible, and only looking acceptable in IE. But regardless of which browser you use, if you kick the font size up even ONE notch, the website either breaks badly (everything but IE) OR the fonts don’t scale (IE). I find it interesting that http://www.target.com still has issues with this, even after being sued for a less than accessible website.
The second most common problem Web Designers make is assuming everyone has their background color set to the standard default color of white. In looking at websites I’ve designed on the machines that belong to friends and family, I can assure you that though it is rare for someone to change this setting, it is occasionally done. Out of approximately twenty machines I’ve tested on besides my own, I’ve found two that had this setting changed, which is 10% of my admittedly small sample. When the default background color setting is changed, then the website that does not have a background color set in the code is guaranteed to look awful. If you don’t believe me, set your default background color to something garish, such as fuscia. Then look at http://www.ebay.com or http://www.qvc.com. Pretty awful, huh? And if someone sets their default background to the same color as the website’s text, it’s even worse . . .
The third most common problem is a problem I call trying to stuff ten pounds of manure in a five pound bag. Whether it results in side scrolling for those who use smaller resolutions such as 800 x 600, or it results in such a busy layout with so much flashing and so many colors pulling the eye in too many directions at once, and/or there is so little whitespace in the layout that it’s hard for the eye to land on any one item, these websites are very difficult to read, especially if the individual viewing the site uses a non standard resolution or window size.
The most well designed websites take a viewer’s computer environment into account. The most well designed websites adjust gracefully in all browsers to different default font sizes, to various resolution and window sizes, and will set both background colors and font colors to assure good contrast and easy viewing for everyone, no matter what choices they’ve made in their default environment.
Technorati Tags: Web Design Mistakes, Website Design, Font Size, Resolution, Background Color
June 5th, 2008 at 2:00 am
Good advice. I do usability tests all the time for sites, and the first two items you listed would definitely make the top five. Another one of my favorites is lack of introduction message found on other sites. They either are way too long, or not there at all.
June 5th, 2008 at 5:31 am
Well…not many people will try changing their default background color, but it’s good to know. So that I can be aware of this mistake. Thanks
June 13th, 2008 at 10:27 am
So many people get so hooked into the “look” of their web site that they forget about what people will want to see there - the content!
I’d recommend that anybody who is working on a business website spends a bit of time reading some of the great books on marketing (hey, a business website is marketing, yes?.
A good place to start is “the bible” of advertising, Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples. While it doesn’t talk about website design, it will give you the mindset that if you don’t get business from it, it needs changing!
Lee Duncan
“People don’t go into business just to survive, but that’s what most of them end up doing”
June 13th, 2008 at 10:37 am
Web Design is “the look” and usability. SEO and SEM is “the content”. Time for another article.
June 18th, 2008 at 5:15 am
Great example of the background colors in Internet Explorer. Sites about news and current affairs seem to be obsessed with flashing different kinds of articles on the screen which is more confusing than appealing to the viewer.