| A lot of businesses put a great deal of time and effort | | | | is organized in more or less the same way that most |
| into making sure that their website is properly search | | | | written languages are read - left to right, from the top |
| engine optimized. This is all well and good and is in fact | | | | of the page to the bottom. It's the way that our eyes |
| an essential part of making their site easier for | | | | are accustomed to reading. When you deviate from |
| potential customers to find through Google and other | | | | this design, it is at your own risk since this will almost |
| major search engines. By no means are we | | | | certainly annoy readers. |
| suggesting that anyone neglect SEO when building | | | | There is one huge web design problem which is a lot |
| their sites or trying to raise their profile on the web - | | | | less widespread than it used to be, though this is such |
| but often this emphasis on SEO comes at the | | | | an egregious error that it always bears mentioning: |
| expense of features which are appealing to their | | | | using Flash code in place of plain text on your website. |
| human readers. | | | | Flash is another one of those things whose novelty |
| The most important of these is of course the actual | | | | value has long since come and gone; now, it largely |
| design of the site. Your website's design | | | | annoys, rather than dazzles visitors (it's also terrible |
| encompasses many different factors, such as the | | | | SEO practice). Do not, repeat, do not use Flash as a |
| way your site actually looks in terms of the color | | | | replacement for ordinary text and HTML/XML code. |
| scheme and any graphics you've used. It also includes | | | | What it all comes down to really is keeping your design |
| the layout of the site - something which matters a | | | | simple. People prefer dark colored text on a light |
| great deal. There are a lot of different ways to lay out | | | | colored background, preferably black on white; and |
| a website, but you may have noticed that you see | | | | your text should be large enough and in a sans serif |
| less and less of the unconventional looking layouts than | | | | font to be easily readable. Color schemes should be |
| you used to. Horizontally oriented site layouts had a | | | | attractive, yet simple enough that they don't detract |
| certain novelty value several years ago, but they didn't | | | | from what your visitors are there for: content. |
| have a lasting appeal, since these layouts make it | | | | Search engines don't care about your design for the |
| more difficult to organize content in a way which is | | | | most part. Instead, they see your page in much the |
| intuitive to your readers. | | | | same way that someone using a text-only web |
| What you do see almost universally is a very simple, | | | | browser would: but it's something which is extremely |
| easy to read style of layout for web pages with | | | | important to human readers. It often takes an |
| content organized into two or three columns and a | | | | exceptionally talented designer to come up with |
| navigation bar either near the top of the page or at the | | | | something which is simple yet visually appealing, but it's |
| left hand side (in some cases, it's on the right hand side, | | | | something well worth paying for unless you have the |
| but this is less common). The reason this layout has | | | | requisite light touch to craft these elegantly simple |
| become the de facto standard in web design is that it | | | | designs which readers enjoy. |