Top 3 Mistakes of Rookie Web Designers
by Kevin Henney, filed under:Everyone makes mistakes, and web designers are no exception. However, there some web design goofs that are frequently made by designers who are just starting out - so consistently that most web designers will admit to committing some or all of these at some point early in our careers.
We aren't talking about the real amateur problems, like cheesy animated GIFs, loud backgrounds, and horrible font choices. Here we're looking at mistakes that you might see from professionals who get paid good money for their work. And it often looks good. But even a site that looks great to the untrained eye can conceal problems beneath the surface (and invisible to the client).
1) Insufficient Browser Compatibility Testing
Everyone in the world doesn't use the same combination of web browser and operating system as you do. Rookie web designers might check their design in one or two browsers, but few do any extensive testing on the full range of browsers and even fewer test on multiple operating systems.
Those who haven't experienced the differences in platforms may be surprised to learn that Internet Explorer for Windows behaves very differently from IE Mac (fortunately the latter is nearly dead).
Professional web designers learn to support as many browsers as possible, even if the extra effort often goes unnoticed by clients. A web site may get only a handful of visitors using Camino, but if one of that small group is looking to make a million-dollar purchase, you want be sure your site looks great to them.
2) Lack of Plain Text
Have you ever seen a search result like this? "Copyright 2005" isn't a very good description of any site, so what's going on here? Usually you'll see this when a page has virtually no plain text content (including ALT attributes and META descriptions).
New designers often succumb to the temptation to lock their text within image files, where they're able to use a wide range of fonts and render them with pixel-perfect precision. Unfortunately, while the end result may look great on screen, it takes longer to load, can't be easily resized, and it's unreadable to machines (including screen readers for the blind).
The internet may have changed a lot since it's early days, but at it's heart it has always been about text, and it still is. As good as computers have become at displaying multimedia content, they're still not very good at understanding it.
Plain text is still the most reliable way of representing information in a way that's understandable to both people and machines, and it's the web designer's challenge to present that text in an appealing way, without resorting to images and other methods which are less accessible.
Multimedia has it's place, of course, but plain text should not be neglected.
3) No Call to Action
Almost every web site is created for a reason. Online stores, obviously, exist to sell products, but many small business sites don't actually incorporate ecommerce features. These "brochure sites" don't just exist to provide information; they are created in the hopes of eliciting a specific reaction from the visitor. It may be a phone call for more information, or generating a lead by filling out an online form. Often, new designers focus so much on things like graphics and page layout that they forget to tell the site's visitors what they want them to do.
It's important that a web designer understand the goals of the web site, and structure the site in a way that encourages visitors to take that action.
Sites built to generate sales calls should feature the company phone number prominently on every page, not just buried on a contact page. If the goal is to have visitors fill out a form, then the link to that form should be the most "clickable" element on the page.
Visitors are more likely to do what you want if you give them some direction, and web site owners are much happier when their web site generates real leads and sales - not just page views.
Still Looking Good
Again, a web site can have all of the problems above, yet still look fantastic. That's why these mistakes can go unnoticed by clients and newer professionals. They may not be apparent until the site has been live for some time, and clients begin to complain about poor search engine performance, or lack of conversions, or an important customer who can't view the site properly.
Fortunately, they can all be fixed (some more easily than others) and as designers gain experience we learn to avoid these pitfalls - and discover new ones :)
Designers: What other mistakes did you make when you were just starting out? Or what mistakes do you see newbies making again and again?
*This post was written as part of the Three Blog Project.
Comments
I've made every one of these mistakes, but I think young designers mostly make mistakes in their relationships with customers, which is even worst.
That's an excellent point, Mirko. I was focusing on the technical aspects, but certainly client relationships are one of the biggest challenges most new designers face.
I also think relationship building is key. Especially if you are running a blog. You want to actively participate in the comments with your readers, etc.
Defining a relationship from the word go is of paramount importance, otherwise you'll end up coming short in the long run. The sweetest initial contact could hide a raging beast that comes to the fore at the first hint of trouble...beware!
I am guilty of not doing enough cross browser testing. I figured this out when I was looking at one of my sites I have been hosting for 10 years on my sister's computer last night and realized my menu was not working correctly. In my case, it looks like a case of my coding not working with newer versions of the IE browser. *sigh*
I'm a huge fan of designing a site to be as fully test based as possible. This came years ago as a personal reaction to the graphics heavy sites that were dominating the net.
It can be tough to keep older sites up to date as new browsers are released. 10 years is an eternity in internet time :)
Still though the key is to keep it simple. The more complex the code, the more likely problems may occur.
10 Years is an eternity indeed! Things can change dramatically within a couple of months. It makes good sense to rather be W3C compliant, and be visible to the search engines, than trying to flog an old horse that really isn't competitive any more.
Thanks for the great info. I had somewhat neglected one of these areas.
That call to action is really important. Well, all the things you listed are pretty important but if you're site isn't converting then your client won't be making any money and you'll either be fired or not receive any future business. It's so important as a designer to understand the role of the website. As web designers our goal is to communicate the clients message clearly so prospects will respond how the client wants them to, not just make sites that look pretty. Anywho, good post.
Great post! I'm fairly new to all this and in the very beginning I kept on forgetting to check different browsers to ensure that everything was pulling in correctly. From time to time I change things and still forget to check. Thanks!
I'm new to the whole multi-platform testing arena. How would you recommend testing a site in different platforms: is there a tool to do this or do you just have to use each of them yourself? Nice Site by the way.
There are tools that allow you to see how your website will look in other browsers and operating systems. My favorite these days is Browsercam, it's a pay service, but they do have a free 1-day trial if you want to try it out.
Great article Kevin! You write: "they can all be fixed (some more easily than others) and as designers gain experience we learn to avoid these pitfalls - and discover new ones "
Great way to end the post; we have to learn from our mistakes and try not to commit them again.
I have actually just learned several things from you that I consider to be really important to me and my development as a designer. I happen to be a rookie and I have seen now where I have been making some big mistakes and also where I have had some major triumphs, so this has been an enlightening post for me. I don’t know about everyone else. I will confess to making the #1 Rookie mistake: insufficient browser compatibility. I have not tested on every OS and I have not tested on every browser. But I certainly will from now on. I can actually say that I have triumphed on the #2: Lack of plain text field. I don’t have that problem which makes me very proud of myself. I work very hard to make sure that I have the plain text necessary to make my web site a success. I’m very encouraged by the things you have said because I know that I can use all of your comments to make myself a better designer. Got anymore tips?
well, a common mistake usually is that you make about 3 blogs, and you dont have time to post at everyone. its better have only 1blog, where you have all your posts in categories, etc.
There are even differences on IE6 and IE7 for windows, I got an email about it asking for help on a theme I designed.
And what was your recommendation? Cos I have a similar problem?
We've all made every one of these mistakes. Understanding the goals of a website is very important, I agree, it's too easy to get sidetracked in a million different ways. Making three websites before one is even established is a biggie.
Nearly 50% of my clients are people who are learning a bit about SEO, and realized that their website composed completely through image files doesn't stand a chance. Those are the best gigs: simple, quick, and profitable.
DevDad
2) Lack of Plain Text. I think way to many people fall for this. If you don't have any text google can't index you properly with keywords and such. Also the title of the blog shouldn't be an image either....It should be in the < title> < /title> tags
I agree, I'm not a big fan on lots of images, flash, animations, etc. It's better to have just text, the bots read that stuff up and love it.
I just ran across a pretty cool affiliate program, It has to do with news, I can't think of the name right at the moment, however, I own a few news blog sites, so instead of google type blogs on the side or up where the nav menu should be or something, I can put these news videos (actual news like abc or whatever) into a post, the problem is there are also 'new articles' available.
All images, all readily written.. Can u imagine the future 'news blogs'.. all with NO content ;)
In addition to #2, we have had to do some online marketing for sites that were created for our clients entirely in Flash, which is usually a bad idea.
In some cases there isn't any indexable text content, the site wastes a ton of bandwidth, and they aren't very user-friendly.
Thank you for these tips. I came over from cre8buzz in search of a copy and drop template.
I personally use Browsershots.org and they are free. I've had great results with them.
Good post guys!
Thanks for giving a quick breakdown of common pitfalls that new webmasters may face.
I especially like comment #3 about the call to action. I've seen a LOT of sites which have GREAT content, but don't do anything to tell it's visitors what to do. As a result, they wonder why they're not making much money.
In Internet Explorer, the spacing is different for the unordered list (menu) - I-can't-seem-to-find-a-solution!!
Argh!
Thanks for the great info. I had somewhat neglected one of these areas.
What other mistakes did you make when you were just starting out? Or what mistakes do you see newbies making again and again?
All images, all readily written.. Can u imagine the future 'news blogs'.. all with NO content ;)
Good points. I use a pc with Firefox and IE at work, and at home I'm on a mac. I test at home with Camino, Firefox, Omniweb, Safari and Opera. My site works fine in all, with ocaissional glitches in mac Firefox. What I don't understand is that Camino and Firefox are both Mozilla, but mac Firefox is a little wonky.
That is quite a cross section of available browsers and operating systems, excluding Chrome of course! Diversity is great, but making your web pages work in all of these browsers is a great challenge indeed! If you want to launch a new web browser, you have to make sure that your offering will be compatible, rather than relying on designers to try and match your code. This could well be the difference between your offering getting adopted by the masses or not.
where ya been?.. been awhile
Is this blog still among living? It would shame to put a stop to it, there were useful posts for me here ( and for others as I can see).
Great tips. I'd love to read more posts like this from you. Personally, I'm someone who approaches design from a SEO perspective, so if Google can't see it, it doesn't really matter how appealing it is to people.
3) No Call to Action
Yesterday I have received the link to one site from myfriend, minutes 5 have lead on a site, but and i dont understood for what is intended?
tip: say to your visitor with h1 tag "I DO SMTH IT'S GOOD BECAUSE *** " =)
Yep, call to action is a big issue to many websites. If you know what you are doing, it doesn't mean everyone else know. You just got to tell them.
Also, customer relationship is a big issue for a web designer. His talent is elsewhere, not in a communication skills.
I think the "no call to action" mistake is among the most egregious. Another one that I would add to your list, though, is consistency between all the the different webpages within a single site (consistent colors, format, etc.).
Argh!! I hate it when people don't cross-browser test.
The main mistake of designers is shortage of experience.
I think I know some people who are guilty of item number 3 in your list. That is why during our last meeting, we made sure that even links already are made into something that has this property.
Great article, I've made many of those mistakes especially regarding browser compatibility. One of the worst mistakes and one that will drive me away from a site for good is the use of white font on a black background. It's horrible on the eyes.
Browser compatibility is indeed something that if you miss testing extensively, your client may turn back complaining about your work.
@ Jalaj
Definitely, anyone who had experience with that will never forget it. You learn what are the priorities in business.
This was such a great article! I took out pen and paper because there were points I wanted to refer to easily as I am analyzing sites. Thanks for the great content!
Wonderful post. I'll bookmark this page for some more good advices like this one.
I would also add that adding music to the webpage background is a bad mistake too.
This is a sore subject with me. There are so many people out there calling their self web designers and they don't know the basics of web design and the do's and dont's of web design. Self starting music is my biggest pet peeve. I mean, I have a freakin' iPod and I'll listen to my own music! Chances are that I'll hate your music and it'll turn me off and I'll leave!
I made the same mistakes before. This is very useful article for the beginers!
You've noticed the main mistakes, however the most important one is that beginners consider themselves professionals and don't want to learn
A lack of call to action is one I see very often.
Although these seem like simple mistakes it amazes me how many people fail to take them into consideration.
The mnumber of times I've visited a site to see the title bar display 'untitled-1.htm' is so many I've lost count. How do you expect to rank for anything when you can't even get the title right!
Saying that..I've done it before my mistake on number of occasion...
Oh my God! Safari using more peoples than Opera? 6 months ago Opera was the competitor to IE =)
thats stat from my counter
Mozilla 39.91%
MSIE 30.25%
Netscape 16.18%
Opera 6.95%
Unknow 6.47%
KDE 0.23%
Lynx 0.00%
Safari is a pain to test for and checking my sites, hardly anyone uses it.
thanks for sharing, good article
Great tips, I was guilty of some of those too when I first started.
@vids - Your stats have Mozilla on top!... My stats always show IE above all, though I myself have given way to firefox few months back and use IE only as an additional browser to enable two browser accessing two different gmail accounts
Opera is dead a long ago. I actually wonder how they survived for so long...
For me, IE has most visitors. I guess not enough people heard for Firefox yet.
Those are some weird stats vids. Mozilla users 39 percent. LOL
I'm glad more people are finally using Safari.
Good points! For me, I prefer text contents, so I won't have the first two problems. But calling action is a challenging task that I need to practice more.
I wish people wouldn't use Safari, I'd like there to be only 1 browser availble.
Took time out from watching American Idol to stop by and say "HI". Love to see you at my blog some time.
Asia'h Epperson
Arrhhh... Very good points. These are so crucial to any website which is paying top dollar to have a profesiionally built and designed website. SEO, Structure, Appearance and Scripting are getting tougher to implement especially with other browsers. If you cant build to spec (professional) forget it.
Ahh, some good points here. But I think Firefox is gonna eat them all out, its just a matter of time.
And then there is the recent trend of making a template out of one huge image and the trying to fix the text on top of it.
The most common mistake that I have met on blogs is the insufficient browser compatibility testing.
Must test browsers!
A lot of people miss the no call to action part!
A very short list but you’ve actually said it all. As a client who most of the time outsource web design projects, I always end up spending lots of time discussing these and those to service providers only to find out that the whole output is useless. How I wish all other web designers would read your post and learn their lessons.
Even being simple mistakes, If we done design with those things, that will give major cause. Nice Resource
FF has overtaken IE ages ago for webmaster related sites especially.
I agree, I'm not a big fan on lots of images, flash, animations, etc. It's better to have just text, the bots read that stuff up and love it.
meow, woof, bark, gibber gibber
ROARRR!
Great Info!
Yup, I made exactly these mistakes but now I learned something so I am doing it different
These are the common mistakes that we are likely to make, only experience can make better work.
I'm guilty of making one of these mistakes. Personally I always check my sites only on Firefox and IE, and totally neglect other browsers. Yup, I do.
blah blah blah!
I've made plenty of mistakes too. Something you said I really needed to hear today.
I stumbled onto your blog searching for blog redesign ideas. The biggest problem with this blog I'm redesigning is that no one, and I do mean no one comments.
#1 is it advertised? probably not enough but with the redesign I'll have to address that as well with the customer.
#2 is it interesting enough, oh heck ya.
#3 I think all sites need welcomes, if nothing else in this case but to BEG for comments and interaction.
It's a gov site so I'm not spilling lots of beans just yet. Will reveal once it's "ready" for prime time.
Good ststa you have there
The most care;ess mistake is usually made during testing browser compatibility, most designers just don't test their site across all browsers, and this could have a negative impact on the site if it can't be viewed properly by a user using a different browser.
Use only Opera, and smtimes FireFox. THink they are the best.
good post
Simple is still the best
Not providing the reader with a call-to-action does a fair amount to have them not returning to your site. They will have a mindset that the site has no further goal than that which was presented at first, and that would mean that it would probably not need to be returned to. This mindset that is created is not helpful to cause repeat viewership.
Thanks but browser compatibility is indeed something that if you miss testing extensively, your client may turn back complaining about your work.
Only really build for IE and Firefox.
great post i really like that.
interesting site it learns me a lot.
I think that insufficient browser compatibly is the most common mistake for blogers.
Learning about web standards would help also. At least awareness of standards is higher than it was five or so years ago.
Happy New year! I hope we'll be receiving a lot of posts from you this year.
LOL this article reminds me of when I started building pages! so many mistakes I made, but you live and learn right? thanks for the post!
Is this blog still among living? It would shame to put a stop to it, there were useful posts for me here ( and for others as I can see).
anyone seeing IE8 yet?
The two questions people ask themselves when they arrive at a site is: Am I at the right place? And then: What do I do now?
I just checked and nearly 2% of users to my site are using Chrome, which I've not actually tested! So I think I need to review my browser compatibility too!
about first item: im freelancer for 7 years and i prefer to test my works in 4 browsers only, cause it takes to much time if i would test it on too much count of browsers. I recommend you to test it on Firefox 2 and 3, on IE 5-6-7-8, Safari and Opera. thanks
about first item: im freelancer for 7 years and i prefer to test my works in 4 browsers only, cause it takes to much time if i would test it on too much count of browsers. I recommend you to test it on Firefox 2 and 3, on IE 5-6-7-8, Safari and Opera. thanks
Good stuff, I'd negletced some of the points you have made in the past.
A atrong call of asction is needed, especially in selling.
Hi there! I was just checking back to see if there were any fresh updates to your blog. Sadly I am disappointed, but do hope that here will be some new and interesting stuff to disseminate and discuss next time round!
You see number 2 and 3 quite often.
Thanks for the Tips. I am still practicing in Web design and will try out some of your recommondations. But at first, Content is King :)
Hallo again! I just dropped by to see if anything fresh was happening on the blog. It has been a long time with no posts, what's happening?
Catch you later - Jacques
Hallo again! I just dropped by to see if anything fresh was happening on the blog. It has been a long time with no posts, what's happening?
Catch you later - Jacques
Browser compatibility and Call To Action most important things, it can not be ignored.
"feature the company phone number prominently on every page, not just buried on a contact page" - Isn't it strange that web designers still bury the phone number? If you're a real business and pay huge money for print advertising, wouldn't you also want people to call if they found you on the web? From personal experience, I would say that one out of 20 fill out a form in the home services sector. So yes, phone numbers need to be promptly displayed.
I did a few mystakes myself in the past in my web designer carrier, bu i think this is something normal if you want to make progreses and have an ascendent evolution!
These are the bread and butter of good web design. Absolute musts, or what's the point?
Hiya Dude! You've been very scarce, when can we expect some fresh blog posts? If you need some guest posting done please drop me an email!
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