So in designing your project it’s important to know what colors mean. You can now see why a black back ground with green type would be bad, beyond being nearly impossible to read, if your target market thinks that black represents mourning and green makes them sick. There are exceptions to every rule of course. So you may want to include some research in what colors mean to your target market. Colors that would get attention of a teen would probably annoy an older person and colors that appeal to older person wouldn’t get a second look from a young person. Color may be one of most overlooked aspects of design.

6.Long page downloads It’s amazing that this is still a problem. When I click on to a site and have to sit there waiting for it to appear in my browser, I start sweating, picking my teeth, tapping my toes, rolling my eyes and soon want to throw my computer through my office window. I’m obviously a little impatient, but again, I know there are other sites out there with same information that will download more quickly, so why wait? I’m gone.

7.“Me, me, me!” instead of “You, you, you” Generally speaking, no one cares about you, your company or your thoughts. What they do care about is what you can do for them. So sites that show pictures of company building or tout their deep philosophy on way business should be conducted really don’t bode well for keeping interest of site visitors. On other hand, sites that speak directly to potential customers about how they can solve their problems, make their lives easier, safer, richer or more comfortable have a much better chance of keeping eyeballs glued. 8.Non-explanatory buttons or links Here are some examples of buttons that leave me dazed and confused: A wedding site with a button called ‘Blanks’, a boating site with a button named ‘The Lighthouse’, a book site with a button called ‘The Inside Story’, or a Web design site with a button called ‘Tea Time’. They sound like Jeopardy categories. Imagine trying to find your way on a highway where its various signs read ‘Over Here’, ‘Moon Beams’, and ‘Lollypops’. Good luck navigating your way through. It’s same with navigating websites. Button and link names need to tell visitor where link leads to. Make it as easy as possible for a visitor to know where they’re going before they click. However, there are times when naming a link an ambiguous name may pique curiosity of a user and get them to click on it. But as a general rule, keep your links and buttons as descriptive as possible.

9.Inconsistent navigation Imagine sitting down at a restaurant and waiter comes over to you and hands you five different menus, one for appetizers, one for soups and salads, one for entrees, one for desserts, and one for drinks. Annoying. Now imagine if each menu had a different format, layout and method for listing items. Brutal. I really don’t want to work that hard at picking out my dinner, I’m hungry and I just want a meal. Don’t make your visitors work hard either by expecting them to re-learn your navigation system each time they enter another section of your site. They too are hungry; for useful information and they’re even more impatient.

10.Inconsistent look & feel When look & feel completely changes from one page to another in a website, I think I am visiting another site, another company, a partner or subsidiary. I get very confused. This screams poor planning and often results from tacking on new sections later after original site was built. This can lead to design-drift. It may be tempting to stray from original design; you may have a better design now. But wait till you do a complete next-generation re-design of entire site before introducing a new look & feel. If not, lots of visitors will be scratching their heads with one hand and possibly clicking away with other.

Finally, any site that employs a number of these notorious features is particularly painful to experience. When I click to a website that has five different fonts and colors, scrolls down to core of Earth, incorporates zinging words and big fat blocks of text, lists no phone number and has content written and dated in 1996, I scream and know deep down inside that pulling my fingernails out wouldn’t be as torturous as having to remain there a minute longer.

******************* Jason OConnor is President of Oak Web Works The synthesis of Web marketing, design, and technology Jason is an expert Web development expert, e-strategist, and e-marketer

http://www.oakwebworks.com