23 Web Design Rules to Follow
1. Clean and simple design is best
2. Clean and simple does NOT have to equal boring
3. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel with your navigation
4. Avoid using splash pages
5. Limit your use of Flash
6. Eliminate distractions that pull visitors away from the main message
7. White space is your friend
8. Focus on improving website’s loading time
9. Use images to break up long passages of text
10. Use images to add to the message, not just for placeholders
11. Test your website in different browsers to ensure consistent appearance
12. Test your website on different monitors and resolutions as well
13. Use easy-to-read fonts
14. Ensure text color doesn’t clash with background
15. Black text on white background is still the standard for readability
16. Optimize your ALT tags
17. Don’t have auto-play sounds or video
18. Web layout and design should be consistent throughout the entire site
19. Make certain the website is easy to scan
20. Don’t abandon proven design principles for the sake of being “creative”
21. Check every piece of your website for errors before publishing
22. Never stop learning about web usability
23. Follow the rules of SEO
Which web design rules would you add to this list? Share your thoughts in the replies.
Check out other posts in the “23 Rules” series:
23 Copywriting Rules to Live By
