Basic Webdesign Rules | RadiantFXs Rules

Basic Webdesign Rules

This is a set of rules for web design that everyone should take in to consideration, may be useful for not only people who are new to webdesign, but more senior webdesigners too.

RadiantFXs Rules

1) Front pages should not be more than 30k max (Below 30k if possible), people are still using
56k connections. Most users will simply leave the page if it takes over 5-10 seconds to load.
Yes, 56k users generally do wait longer, but they arn't going to wait forever!

2) Keep your images small, people do not want to view 20 1mb images on a single page, either
have links to seperate images or use thumbnails.

3) No using the following unless absolutely necessairy: - Iframes - Frames - Your own fonts
(As the user probably won't have them installed so they will just show up as Times new
roman) - Marquees (Never used these and never will!) - Pure black background with white
or green text, just ewwww. - Random free java applets (They slow the page down and the
user's computer) - Flash intro's (Unless a) there is a skip intro button and b) you are really
good at flash) - Background sounds (These are either slow at loading or horrible midi files) -
Random plugins (User's never trust plugins they do not have, unlike Macromedia Flash
Player & Shockware player)

4) Do not have too much advertising. Yes, everyone knows you like to generate a nice sum of
money from your website, but the more you bombard users with adverts the less likely they
are to either return to your site in future or click the adverts (This is a lesson I have learnt from!)

5) Use complementary colours. Some people just don't seem to get how colours work, as
mentioned above, NO white on black, NO green on black, keep your site with a nice light
background if possible, and if using a dark colour then use a lighter version of it for the text.
Users like to read black text on white, which is why that is the default colours if you do not
specify any. I tend to stick to a 1 - 3 colour layout, with white or black. Good combinations
(With white background): - Light blue and bright orange - Red and light blue (But don't use
too much red) - Light blue and light redYou should never use too much red or yellow as they
cause users eyes to strain which means when they look away it will distort the other colours
they are looking at on your page.

I hope this helps in some way, please bear it in mind - happy web designing