75% of judgments about a company’s credibility are based on website design. It is therefore imperative to optimize the design of your web pages, and this starts with avoiding these mistakes in web design…
Did you say “good” web design?
The user experience, if it is bad, can slow down 68% of Internet users! So it is better to think about having an attractive and user-friendly website.
Of course, there are no universal standards to define what good web design is. On the other hand, web designers have agreed on certain points that make a web design part of the standards:
- A simple interface;
- The highlighting of each element of the site;
- Support for any screen size ;
- Utilisation facility.
Poor readability
Regardless of the type of website you have, the fonts must remain as legible and clear as possible to facilitate reading for users, especially those with visual impairments.
And did you know that users only take 5.59 seconds on average to read a text of a website? So avoid long paragraphs: each must therefore be easy to analyze so that Internet users can quickly understand what it is about and whether what they are reading really contains the information they are looking for.
To go even further:
- Divide the page into subsections and assign each part a clearly visible subtitle;
- Select shades of colors that are pleasing to the eye for the visual comfort of users;
- Opt for “Sans Serif” typefaces if possible. This type of font has been shown to be easier to read than others, especially for people with dyslexia.
Not knowing how to balance aesthetics and functionality
As a web designer, you want to demonstrate all your creativity by developing magnificent designs, perhaps too magnificent and sophisticated… Some even had to be abandoned, because they were ultimately too complex.
Or on the contrary, you have also carried out hyper-functional projects whose aesthetics left a little to be desired (even downright ugly…).
This is the very essence of the designer’s job: finding the right balance between ergonomic use and pleasing aesthetics. The success of any project will depend on this balance. So, it’s up to you to set it up!
Bad navigation
Good navigation is an important criterion for the interactivity of an interface. For 94% of users, it is even the most essential functionality of a website!
In general, navigation is simple and intuitive if users do not have to search to find the content they are looking for. However, this is not the case when the menus are placed in unusual places, contain broken links or when its components are messy.
Difficult navigation can frustrate users and cause them to quickly leave your site. In this case, expect an increase in the bounce rate (the percentage of Internet users who leave your site after visiting a single page) and relatively lower conversions.
So be sure to make navigation as easy and smooth as possible!
- Make sure the menu is easily accessible;
- Avoid drop-down menus, hamburger menus, and context menus unless you have a mobile version of your site;
- Keep in mind the fact that Internet users must be able to easily decipher the destination and the content provided by each link.
Ignore SEO
Focusing only on graphics is ignoring the rules of natural referencing. However, we must not forget that SEO is essential for a brand! Without search engine visibility, website traffic remains low, as do conversion rates and revenue.
When it comes to SEO, aesthetics are not a key factor, but editorial content is. Indeed, search engines analyze all the texts of the website and check their relevance. The better they are, the better the page will rank in Google’s search results. So, as a web designer, also think about optimizing the SEO in your images.
Neglecting responsive design
Another common mistake: focusing only on desktop users. In effect, 60% of web traffic comes from mobile interfaces, compared to only 39% from PCs. The proof that users now prefer mobile phones to computers to carry out their research online.
Work on the ergonomics of your site so that it automatically adapts to all screen sizes (mobile, tablet, etc.). By doing so, the SEO of your web pages will be more easily optimized, because Google now favors “responsive” sites as part of its “mobile-first” indexing introduced since July 1, 2019.
Overload the site with images and animations
Images and animations are essential for the aesthetics and usability of a page, but overdoing them could be detrimental to your site.
Indeed, overloading a page with visuals is not only cumbersome for your site, it can also slow down the loading speed of pages. From a user experience perspective, loading time is very important. Waiting more than 3 seconds can cause 53% of users to leave the page. SEO-wise, Google is also not a big fan of overloaded or too slow pages… So avoid excessive imagery.
Also choose your images carefully so as not to distract Internet users. The goal is to discover content or offers through visuals, not to be distracted by tons of images.
Finally in terms of animation, opt for rather discreet animations instead of full-page animations.
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