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Every home page should have a brand or logo that is near the top of the page. This catches the person coming onto the site. An elaborate graphic opening (sometimes called splash screen) will do the opposite. After waiting for the graphic to load, only to find a pretty picture, the customer may immediately “click-out” in frustration. Opportunity lost!
Use compressed graphics when possible to speed the process
The time taken to load Home page is crucial. After about 10 seconds (according to web researchers) the potential customer leaves the site, if it has not finished loading. Put large graphic files onto a sub-page. By then the patience is improving, because they are getting an image that they wanted to wait for.
Avoid unusual fonts
Not all computers and other web devices have a long list of available fonts. You may spend hours choosing “just the right look” only to find out later that your customers have NEVER seen the site with that font displayed. The local browser will often choose an “acceptable” substitute.
Bad color combinations and backgrounds
Do not use Black background at all. There are almost no fonts that are good against black backgrounds and the printing of that page can be illegible. Most printers are B/W only.
Choose color combinations of high contrast and a readable type size
Because you know NOTHING about the screen used to view your site, you must assume the worst case in size and resolution.
Graphics in the background must be limited to “watermark” graphics
Most backgrounds are NOT printed when the page is printed.
Poor or confusing layout
Layout must “flow” smoothly. Text should scroll only vertically, and then only when necessary. Text that must be scrolled horizontally to read each line will drive customers from the site.
Avoid “Jumpy” layouts
Avoid techniques that require frequent use of the mouse, arrow keys, or scroll bar to complete a concept on a page. If desired, use sub-pages to collect similar thoughts and text onto one page.
Every site has an objective!
Your site objective must be clear in it's design and every text and graphical element should be designed to move the customer to that objective.
“Are we there yet?”