Personal or company websites are the best way to showcase products, services, and talents to the general public. Therefore, it is in your best interest to ensure that your website is made correctly. Avoiding outdated website design concepts shows competency and helps make a great impression on potential clients or customers.
Below is an overview of several outdated website design concepts that you should steer clear from.
Say no to splash pages
Instead of making your customer or potential client navigate through a splash page, consider allowing your website’s homepage be the first visual everyone sees upon entering your website. Splash pages can annoy people, and keep people from entering your website all together. While your intention is to draw visitors onto your website immediately, splash pages keep this from happening. Splash pages put an extra step in front of anyone visiting your website, and can take a long time to load. This wastes your visitors’ time and can distract from the original purpose of your website.
Only use a couple different font types
With the massive selection of fonts available, it can be tempting to use several different font types when designing your website. However, it is important to note that too many different font types will distract from the idea you are trying to convey to your website visitors. Using multiple font types can make your website seem childish and unprofessional. Instead, opt for a select few types of font. This will give your website the simplicity and readability that consumers crave.
Stay away from auto-playing media
Having a video or a recording automatically play when someone visits your website might seem like a great way to convey information, but this concept is out of date. Media outlets portraying a message can be extremely helpful for your website visitors, but make sure that they are allowed to choose to view it. When people visit a well-designed website, they should feel comfortable and relaxed; forcing a video or recording on them is not conducive these feelings.
Avoid flash and animations on your website
Animations and flash were a great addition to websites in the nineties due to their novelty, but in today’s day and age, they are just plain corny. With a select few exceptions, they generally distract from the intended message and they can take an extremely long time to load. Nobody wants to wait to navigate a website, especially when it is a shortcoming of the website designers.
Using these guidelines and avoiding these common mistakes can help your website stand out amongst others. Making sure that your website is clean, professional-looking, and easy to navigate will set you or your business apart. Splash pages, a plethora of different fonts, auto-playing media, and animations are a few mistakes you should avoid to create the great website you desire.
