What Makes A Good Website

I have been offering a web site design service for some years now and I made the decision to to back my experience with formal qualifications in web applications design and development.

I have also been reviewing web site designs on various forums for years and I am finding that for many reasons, more and more people are chosing to design/develop in house.

To this end, I have compiled, what I see, as some basic points to observe when setting about launching your very own website and hopefully, these will help you develop a good website design of your own.

I hope you find this useful and it is by no means exhaustive. I am sure that there are many fellow members whom are professional who will also add to any points they deem I have missed. But this is a list of the FIRST CONSIDERATIONS I look at when writing a critique for a client.

If you need to discuss your needs or find out more about my web site design service at anytime, please feel free to contact me and I will be happy to help.

This list is in no order of prominence as I deem them all IMPORTANT.

• Clean and definable layout. 1 col, 2 col, 3 col options, using a colour scheme to define page areas
• Accessibility. A vital element. Alt tags to images, anchor text, access keys, text vs bg contrast
• Site/business purpose. By landing on a page, you should know very quickly what it is they do/sell
• Text size (ties into pt 2). Big enough to read and give the user an option to increase/decrease the size
• Contact points. Telephone, email, B&M should all be visible
• Extra costings should be clear. (If selling) Shipping, VAT etc. before we have to add to cart!
• Colour scheme. Must be appealing and easy to view
• Navigation needs to be consistent throughout the site and easy to find/use
• Images need to be clear and optimised
• Fast loading pages. Try and get all pages up under 5 seconds
• Links must use the standard format. Underlined and act upon hover
• NEVER UNDERLINE BODY TEXT
• Avoid frames AT ALL COSTS
• Keep your design within the scope of the screen resolution with key points ABOVE THE PAGE FOLD
• NEVER make the website viewer scroll horizontal
• Do not overcram text onto one page. Split it if need be
• Have a sitemap for both search engines and website visitors
• Use your meta tags effectively. Especially TITLE. Do NOT just put your company name first.
• Avoid bells and whistles in your design UNLESS THEY ADD TO/PROMOTE your services/products
• Use bold text sparingly
• ALWAYS keep your viewers in focus. Never write/design for SEO alone.

Thats my list. You will note that I have not added too much about the design aspect as this is mainly subjective. An excellent design to one, may be awful to another.

Key principles and good practise are constant.

Now you have read about what format and best practise your website needs to follow, it is time to move onto Step 2. What will I need to build my website. This topic will cover static websites and database driven websites.

All seems a bit much? Not got time to develop your own website? No problem. I can help. View my current work rates now or contact me for more details.

When you use me for your web site design service, you can be certain, I will deliver!