10 Web Design Fails and How to Overcome Them

Web designers are constantly making mistakes but this does not mean that they are not at all good. Even the most experienced professionals in any industry make mistakes, because to err is human, as the great saying goes. Making mistakes and learning from them is a great way to succeed in the future. Here are some of the common fails web designers go through and how you can overcome them to be the great designer you have always wanted to be:

1. Going live without testing

Testing is an important step in web design and this should be done before you launch your website. You need to test to see how your website looks and feels, as well as how it works. Another common mistake is not testing a website on all devices, especially now that all websites should be responsive in order to cater for multiple mobile platforms. Test to ensure that your website reveals optimized performance before you go live.

2. Bad use of color

Color plays a huge role in web design. Every designer should know color theory in order to be able to apply its rules for a perfect design outcome. If you want to get it right with contrast, you have to know how to match your colors well. Good thing is that there are so many online tools that can help you choose a perfect match of colors depending on your website theme and what you are dealing with.

3. Use of pop-up windows

They might look great but these will disorient your visitors and could lead to slow conversions. If you must use pop-up windows, ensure that only one is accessible at a time. You can also use light boxes in order to gray out all the distractions to ensure a better perception by your visitors. Make it easy for your users to close any pop-up in case it is not interesting them.

4. Content fails

If you use irrelevant content, content that is out of date or you have little or no content on your website, your website is bound to fail terribly. Content is very important in any website because this is what informs your visitors what you are dealing with. Ensure that your content is updated, it is of the best quality and it is presented in an easy to read and understand manner. Go through each content piece to ensure there are no mistakes, and provide as much information as necessary.

5. Poor legibility

Good readability is basic in web design as this is what will keep the visitors longer on your website, learning more about your business. The problem is that many designers pay attention to creativity at the expense of legibility and they end up with great looking websites that are not yielding any results. The right choice of font, font size and color is key in this case, so as to provide content that will be attractive to the eyes of onion shoppers.

6. Cluttered web pages

One of the things that will turn away your visitors even before they get to know about your business is a cluttered page. You need to leave enough white space to allow your content to breathe, which will make iteasy for your visitors to read through your content and find what they are looking for. Be as minimal as possible and at the same time provide enough information for your visitors.

7. Use of heavy images

Heavy images and flash based graphics and animations may look cool, but they will slow down your website, and this will frustrate and delay your visitors. The last thing you want is for your visitors to experience slow downloads especially on mobile devices. They may never get to see what you have on your website. You might also receive a lower ranking in the search engines, making it hard to be found by online shoppers. Do all you can to make your website light, and avoid flash as much as you can.

8. Poor navigation

Make work easy for your visitors so that they can always know where they are at any given moment. Navigation is the ability to make travelling through the website pages easy and swift. A poorly navigated website will frustrate online shoppers and even if you have the best products or services, many will not even know about it. There are many ways to improve on this, for instance through inclusion of pagination into design, use of one page layouts among other tricks.

9. Complicated registration forms

Filling forms sare extrememly necessary, though not always enjoyed by those who have to do so. A complicated registration form will work against your business. No one will be willing to go through the hassle of filling up a form especially if it has multiple fields. An easier way out is to have a simple and clear registration form. Only ask the most important questions, and keep them as minimal as possible.

10. An unorganized page layout

Web designers need to know that a messy page will always make it difficult for an online shopper to quickly scan through the page. This is what many do in order to learn quickly what the website is all about. To fix this, have a clear hierarchy in mind about how your design will look like. Do not at any given time make it hard for shoppers to know where to look first. Organize your content in a manner that you can guide their eyes through every page.

Mistakes in web design can easily hinder the success of your website, which is why it is important to avoid them as much as you can. In as much as making mistakes is human, there are those mistakes that will lead to failure. Knowing these mistakes will help you stay focused on creating some amazing web designs.