Hi peeps,

I can’t say that I’m a web developing guru but hey there are a couple of things that experience has told me not to do anymore. For all of you out there here’s my Top Don’ts on web design / web developing:

Don’t:

1. disable user’s ability to right-click on your pages: you might believe that by doing this you’ll keep prying eyes from viewing your pretty, hard worked HTML source code. You’re fooling yourself: that will stop only newbies, not semi-advanced/advanced web developers. You are also keeping people from bookmarking your site which I don’t believe is your intention at all, just to mention an example.
2. build your site using only Flash: I know, I know, Flash is cool and you can do tons of things with it but web crawlers can’t read them so your contents (nor your site) won’t be indexed. Maybe sometime in the future Google and the other SEs will develop spiders smart enough to navigate through Flash sites but until then don’t consider that an option unless you don’t really care if your contents are being indexed or not.
3. design/develop your site around just one web browser: I’ve seen many, many sites that look awesome on Firefox but they suck at Internet Explorer (and viceversa). Don’t tie yourself to a browser when building a site: your visitors might not like it/be using at all. Test your site on different browsers and correct any errors/bugs you find. Make it cross-browser.
4. use top-notch technology if you don’t have to: if it doesn’t improve user’s experience or it won’t help you sell more then it’s pointless to use it. A highly tuned Mustang won’t be useful on the sea.
5. use splash pages to open your main page: it’s pointless and it’s bad design.
6. rely on plug-ins: Flash and Shockwave can help you create outstanding visual effects but there’s also a chance that your visitors won’t have them installed into their browsers or their browsers are too old to support them. The same goes with Javascript. Offer an alternative for this audience or ever better: check for plugins first.
7. use dark backgrounds: it makes your contents less readable.
8. use a lot of images: remember that even now there are still a bunch of people that are not using high-speed Internet access so having too much images will slow down the page load and therefore drive your low-bandwith visitors away.
9. publish an “under construction” page: it’s a fact: people hate it. If it’s not ready to go live then keep it to yourself. Make it public only once it’s ready.
10. use too many fonts: having a typographical salad on your pages is a very bad idea. It looks awful. Having 3 or 4 different typefaces on your site is more than enough.
11. [BONUS] Don’t go overboard on the ads: “These past few weeks I have been reviewing peoples designs that have just gone overboard on the advertisements, and it almost makes the site unusable”. (Thanks Matthew!).
12. [BONUS] Don’t overuse bright and clashing colours: “Bright green and bright red, works well on a strawberry but not here. There are quite a few, makes me feel sick personally ^_^”. (Thanks Myriakitty from DigitalPoint!).

Hope you find these advices useful next time you design / build a site!

Oh, and if you found my entry helpful please don’t forget to Digg it!