10 Deadly Web Site Sins

I'm not saying you should design for browsers so old they can only read hieroglyphics, but don't go to the opposite end of the spectrum and design only for people who upgrade their browsers every night before bed.

Along the same lines, don't design for a specific color setting. While your images may look great at 16 or 32 bit color, at 256 color they might look as if they have been beat with an ugly stick.

Last, but not least, in this category is my personal pet peeve. Don't design for a specific screen resolution.

Not all of us have a monitor that would dwarf a small barn. If you design for over 800x600, I would venture a guess that visitors have often fantasized about the untimely demise of your site.

In my experience, the large majority of people have their screen res at 800x600. That's not from any poll or study, that is based on the visitors to my sites. But, again in my experience, there are a significant number of people who still run 640x480. I, myself, am among them. Sure, I could go higher, but with my bat-like vision I prefer to use that setting.

Do you know why you shouldn't design specifically for the larger screen res settings? It creates a horizontal scrollbar for those of us who have the lower setting selected.

My friend, if you've never experienced a horizontal scrollbar, thank your lucky stars. There is nothing more infuriating than having to read, scroll a little to the right, read, scroll down, read, scroll a little to the right, read, scroll down....you get the picture, don't you?

WEB SITE SIN #10: Spelling and HTML Mistakes

Few things will convey a more unprofessional image than spelling or HTML errors.

Building trust is an absolute must online. If your page is riddled with spelling and grammatical errors, what kind of message do you think that sends potential clients?

"There is no more qualified company to handle all you're busines needs"...think again, kid.

HTML goofs are another way to quickly evaporate any faith the visitor might have had in your ability. This seems painfully obvious, but you should realize this is especially true if you are offering web site design services.

If you've left out your ending "/B" tag and 3/4 of your page is in BOLD text, it's really looking bad for you from the get-go.

The strange thing is that these types of mistakes are relatively easy to avoid.

One obvious step to take would be to proofread your pages before uploading them. You should also perform spell checking on them or get a friend to proofread them if that's not your specialty.

I hope this article has helped trigger some ideas for ways to improve your site. If you are a die hard advocate of some of these techniques, please don't take offense; these are only my opinions.

Good luck with your site!