Many websites suck, even the ones created by professional and highly-paid designers. It really pains us when we visit sites that are either badly organized, confusing, hard to navigate, cryptic, badly written, under-designed, over-designed, or simply do not live up to our expectations. Too often badly designed web pages leave us feeling either frustrated, let down, angry, or stupid.

So what must be considered when designing a website to avoid wasting the time, effort, and patience of visitors? This article gives some tips on designing a good and usable web page.

Use graphics that fit the content

When designing a web page, always use graphics that fit the content. Just because you have a cute photo of your feline friend does not mean you should use it on your website about the latest gadgets.

Since slow pages annoy many people, image size should be small, like 10KB or 12KB per image. Also, avoid using too much flashing, blinking, moving, or rotating images on your page. Use them sparingly. Flashing and moving graphics may distract and annoy visitors.

 Stick with standard layouts

Consider sticking with standard layouts. Web pages that use 6 frames on one page or those pages that require you to scroll to the right to read the entire content can be cute, but such layouts will make your visitors lose their heads. Instead, use the 3-column layout. You might say it is boring, but such layout works.

Choose simple fonts

It is recommended that you use Serif for your headlines and Sans-Serif fonts for the text. You can read Sans-Serif fonts on computer monitors much easier since screen resolution is lower than in print. Using Serif fonts for normal text is not advisable because these fonts can blur together on the computer screen.

You should also use standard font families such as Geneva, Verdana, Arial, and Helvetica. While sticking with these fonts may seem boring, your web page will look better. The designs will also appear correct on more browsers. Finally, avoid using different fonts as much as possible. Limiting your web page to 2 standard font families looks more professional and is much easier to read.

Don't be greedy in advertising

If you can control the number of advertisements on your website, you should know that your visitors do not come for the ads, they come for the content. Of course, it is very important to make money, but if the ads drive visitors away, you will eventually lose money. Keep your ads small and avoid using blinking or flashing ads.