5 Basic Rules of Website Development

[kimw1]

Hello.........
Here are 5 basic rules that every web developer should keep in mind while developing a new website.

1) Banner Adverts

Don't fill half of your page with advertisements; or Don't make your users scroll a couple of times to reach your main content. It's a big turn-off. Many web surfers are now 'ad-blind', ie, they just ignore your banners advertisement. So that's a wastage of space on your website. Work on clean and creative ad placements which should be eye catching but NOT too much distractive.


2) Splash Pages

Splash page is the first page you encounter when you visit a website. Usually such pages have a big image relevant to the niche (many a times irrelevant too) with text such as "Click Here to Enter Site", "Welcome to XYZ". So that's one extra click for the user (visitor) to reach your actual site content. This is bad and you can lose a substantial amount of traffic.


3) Navigation Menu

Design a navigation menu keeping in mind all of your visitors. Not everybody would know how to work through Flash, Animation or multi-level DHTML menus. (Flash based menus are not search-engine friendly too) Also not every user would have JavaScript enabled in their browser. So it's best to make a simple HTML navigation menu. Slick CSS (+ div / ul / li) based menus are the IN thing now.


4) Breadcrumbs

(in conjunction with the above mentioned point : Navigation Menu)

Make sure the visitors know where exactly they are, on your website. Don't let the visitors confuse or play the guessing game; it wouldn't take much time for those visitors to hit the X (close) button. A suitable breadcrumb, say... when a user is on an article page, would be like :

Home » Main Category 1 » Sub-Category » Article Name


5) Multimedia

One thing is clear : Rich media content like Audio and Video consumes a LOT of bandwidth. And not everybody has a broadband connection (especially in the 'developing' or 'underdeveloped' countries). So if you ever need to include multimedia content in your webpages, make sure that it don't start streaming automatically on the page load. Also don't forget to include the controls to change the volume and control the playback.

[devilbatista]

Good work kim! It will surely help to boost a particular website. Your rules includes most of thing required for a successful website.

[Fergal]

It's interesting that the tips you post would improve your site's SEO as well as making your site more user-friendly.

(Moving thread to Online Business forum)

[simplyjo]

Super tips. I have even thanked you for this awesome post. You have given the key mantras for making a great site :) Keep up the excellent work. Hoping to see more such helpful posts.

[pendelton]

I agree with the splash pages. The only time you really want to use them is to hinder people from getting in to a web site, think adult sites.

[webchalkboard]

You shouldn't forget SEO either. All web developers should consider this when building a site. I'm not talking about spammy techniques, just good quality writing and well formed pages, including robots.txt files, search engine friendly URLs, good title tags and site maps. Meta data doesn't hurt either.

[nichewitch]

Excellent points. I would add consistency to the list. The basic layout, navigation and other elements should be consistent throughout the site. I've been on some where the layout changes from page to page. I usually end up thinking I've accidentally clicked off the site and I exit only to find that it was the site.

Inconsistency only confuses the reader and confused readers don't stay long nor do they come back in a hurry.

[ShawnLim]

Definitely are great tips, do you have any tips if it is a blog?
Or maybe a lead capture page?

Thanks for sharing. Great work.

[Fergal]

Shawn you might find the Blogging Links in our Useful Online Business Resources (http://www.businessadviceforum.com/showthread.php?t=377) helpful.

[webchalkboard]

Lead capture pages should be clear with a real call to action. You shouldn't ask for too much information and you should give the user every reason to sign up. Testimonials perhaps and partner logos can make you seem more authoritative. Most of all I think you need to seem genuine and not spammy. There are SOOO many spammy looking sites out there I just close my browser immediately when I see one.