Web design is a tricky subject.
People have different opinions about what constitutes good web design and what doesn’t.
Some people think your site needs to be super sleek with an up-to-date, modern design in order to get attention. Others believe that web design doesn’t really matter all that much and you just need a site that works and lets people do what they want, like Craigslist.
Both answers are right depending on which industry or business you’re talking about. But, how do you figure out what’s right for you? And, how can you make sure you’re web designer knows what they’re talking about and won’t make mistakes?
This post presents seven deadly web design sins you don’t want to make on your site. The good news is that they’re all simple principles every website should follow. So, whether you get a slick design or not, you still need to know about these design principles and how they apply to your site.
Also, you can use these principles to make sure your web designer knows what they’re doing. Just because someone is a good designer doesn’t mean they know how to design for the web. And, just because someone designs websites doesn’t mean they know how to design a site that will convert. Pay close attention to the principles presented in this post, and use them if necessary to make sure your designer designs a site that’s optimized to get the results you need.
Mistake #1: Fonts That Are Too Small
The first mistake people make is creating a site with fonts that are too small.
The reason for this is that, back in the day, most websites had small fonts. The standard was somewhere around 12 px, and nearly everyone followed that standard.
But, over time, people started to realize that 12 px fonts are hard to read online. When a screen is 24 inches from someone’s face, small fonts make it difficult to read.
People also started to realize that you have only a limited amount of time to get visitors’ attention and let them know they’re in the right place. One study even states that the average attention span in 2013 was 8 seconds, one second less than the average attention span of a goldfish. The same study also states that people read only 28% of the words on an average web page.
