Keep your Website Simple

All too often websites have problems - big problems. Whether it's distracting designs hiding important content, fancy programming that eliminates most users from ever seeing it, or slow loading times, all of these things take away from the fun of surfing the internet. Solving these problems are challenging, but can mostly be done. Website design is not as simple as many people think. Yes it's true that even young children can create websites, but how many people can build websites well? Today's website designer wears many hats including project manager, computer programmer, sales representative, customer service representative, and graphic designer. It's not an easy job, but some simple tips can get them to create the website that you know will work.

1. Organize information logically and efficiently. There's nothing worse than a homepage with a million links. Most people won't take the time to read through everything, and will simply leave. Just as bad are too few links - you don't want users clicking through your website without ever finding what they're looking for. Categorize logically: cats, dogs, and rabbits should go under "pets". Under dogs, the subcategories of different breeds should be listed. This makes sense, and avoids frustration.
   
   

2. Extravagant designs rarely work. Many websites go overboard with fancy graphics, struggling for the site to look "cool". On the quest for coolness, many websites don't take into consideration some key points - graphic heavy designs take longer to load, they can be difficult to read, and it can be harder to find information. It is more crucial for a website to look nice and have users be able to find things problem free then it is to have a "cool" website where nothing can be found, even after waiting 30 seconds for it to load.
   
   
3. Fancy programming is great…if it works. Fancy scripts don't always work across different browsing situations. Simply having JavaScript turned off in a browser might make your website impossible to navigate for these users. Keep it simple. If you do decide to use neat programming, make sure that it's compatible at least two versions back from the most current browser (mainly with Internet Explorer and Netscape). Also ensure that for users who cannot view your fancy features from the programming, the website is still navigational.
   
   
4. Browsing situations vary. Not everyone has a high-speed connection, is running the latest browser, and is doing so at a high resolution. For these reasons, websites should load relatively quickly (regardless of the speed), should work on a minimum of both Internet Explorer and Netscape, and should fit on an 800x600 resolution.
   
   

Overcoming these challenges can be difficult, but for the most part, can be done. Is it possible to create the perfect website that looks fantastic, has the latest functions, and works across all browsing situations? No, but the closer a website comes to this ideal, the more your users will appreciate it.

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