Here are some quick tips to keep in mind while designing a good user-friendly website:
1. Clean Layout & Easy navigation
A neat layout includes apt mix of images, colors and fonts. A white space on a website gives a clean and appealing look to a website. A readability of the content on a website is also important. Standard & readable fonts are necessary to make a good website. Similarly, navigation links can actually increase the page views and visits on the website. A web designer should always place the links at right pages, which are consistent and similar throughout the website. Usually Important links can be placed on the top of the page and other important links on the right side of the page to help users find what they are looking for.
2. Optimize images and Html tags
The images should be always optimized for the web. They must be in the png, gif or jpeg format. An optimized image loads faster than a normal image. Also while designing a website unwanted tags and broken links should be checked and modified. It also important to use less graphics, Flash and script as these are the major contributors in reducing the size of the web page.
3. Browser compatibility
The website must be compatible to Internet Explorer 8+, Mozilla Firefox 3.0, Opera 9.64 and Netscape Navigator 9.0.0.06 as they are widely used web browsers. Also check the resolution of the web pages as they must work at any resolution, from 800×600 to 1280×1024 and beyond.
4. SEO check
While designing a website a designer must use SEO code, Meta tags, URL, Alt tags and internal linking as these would boost website rank in search engines. Sitemap can also be added as it helps search engines to understand the website structure and increases indexing.
5. Track W3C standard validity
It is important to create an error- free website to increase its credibility and visitors. A regular check on load time, W3C code and CSS validity can help in creating an excellent website.
