1. Be Creative and Original
When designing a website, you want it to stand out not look like everything else. Look up the competition and see how your site can differ, in a positive way. Being creative however doesn’t mean re-inventing the wheel.
2. Use style sheets
Style sheets ensure that the pages will look the same. Apart from keeping the same look across the site, it is easier to avoid syntax mistakes. Using external style sheets is better than using inline styles or embedded styles. External style sheets will save time because you only have to create a style one time.
3. Use Web Safe Colors & Fonts
If you design a site outside of web-safe colors and fonts, you’ve FAILED. Your site may look different across different browsers and operating systems.
Background colors and font colors should always be web safe, and font styles should be as well. Just because it looks good on your computer doesn’t mean it will look the same on others.
4. Use Alt tags
Alt tags provide two things:
One, a way to improve your SEO, since search engines can’t scan photos, but they can scan and process alt tags.
Two, if for some reason your image doesn’t load, at least the visitor knows what the image should be and doesn’t see an empty space.
5. Design for all browsers
This is an absolute must. If you design a site without previewing it on multiple browsers, you’re an amateur. You can design a stunning website but what’s the use if you find out, months later, that your site looks like crap (because of default differences) on another browser.
ALWAYS preview your site on all the major web browsers.
6. Create a sitemap
If you have over 10 pages, a sitemap is a good idea. For one, it helps with SEO and search engines. Also, it gives the visitor a chance to see all your pages, especially if they can’t find something in particular.
7. Have text links
Image buttons or links are great, they enhance navigation. However, they suck for SEO. If you have an image-based navigation, you should have those same links, somewhere on the page, in text format.
8. Use photos…good ones
Can you design a site without any photos? Sure, but that’s like flipping through a brochure without any pictures, anywhere. It does the job but it looks plain, is easily forgettable, and fails to impress. You should always use high quality photos, pixilated photos or faded photos just degrade the site, you’d be better off not using any photos.
9. Validate your pages
Little errors can add up to a lot. Depending on the browser, you may not be able to tell there are syntax errors. That doesn’t mean someone else, on another browser, will not see them.
10. Section your site
Do not have long pages, period. If you have a lot of content, then create multiple pages. It’s equivalent to reading through a manual for a new entertainment system, without any chapters or sections. Also, section your pages by creating headings and sub-headings. Heading tags are also good for SEO.
(also see “10 Things NOT to do When Designing a Website“)
