The number 1 design rule
The golden rule for good web design is simply:
Don’t annoy users. They will leave.
A lot of big, beautiful, and expensive web sites commit cardinal sins that result in higher bounce rates and lower sales.
Most annoying behaviors are easy to avoid. These sins include:
- Splash pages
- Sound or music when the page loads
- A delay before users can do anything, such as with Flash-only designs that use animated navigation
- Poor or non-existent navigation
- Missing a “home” link
- Resizing the user’s browser window
- Slowly animated drop-down menus
- Small or otherwise hard to read text
- Lack of meaningful content
- “Company-speak”: Talk like your customers do
- Lack of easy-to-find contact information
Many sites would be dramatically improved if these were taken to heart, and your site will perform better if they avoid these sins altogether.
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