Webupon

Bad Search

Some search engines cannot handle typos, plurals, hyphens, and other variants. This offense makes such search engines very difficult to use, especially if the user is elderly. Otherwise, it hurts all users. When a search engine prioritizes search results based on how many query terms are in the content, it undermines the user’s quest for an important document.

When navigation fails, search is the user’s last hope. A simple search works better than advanced search, so make your site simple to use, add a little box for the user’s search.

PDF Files Interrupts Free Browsing

Do you know that many users hate to encounter PDF files while browsing? Reason -it breaks their flow. The simplest commands like save or print, and other standard browser commands do not work here. Worst still, PDF files are hard to navigate, layouts rarely match the user’s browser window, thereby calling for smaller fonts. I pity the elderly! Please, designers, convert any information meant for reading on the screen to normal web pages.

Read more in Web Design

« How to Build a Website

Create a Web 2.0 Style Logo in Photoshop »

Not Changing Color Of Past Navigated Links

Any web designer that does not help the user keep track of past and present visits is the web designer’s worst offense on the user. Changing colors lets the user know already seen pages and keeps him away from unintentionally going back there all over again. When visited links do not change colors, it is an offense on the user because it keeps him disorientated.

Non-Perusable Text

This is another web designer’s worst offense on the user. A page made entirely of only text is deadly for interaction with the reader, intimidating, boring and painful to read.

To make it easy for users to peruse text pages, use simple formats:

• Subheads

• bullets,

• Highlight Keywords

• short paragraphs

• simple writing style

• inverted pyramid

Compulsory Font Size

CSS style sheets allow websites and web designers to disable a user’s “change font size” button, thus giving him a compulsory or fixed font size. Most of the time, the size is tiny, making readability difficult especially for the elderly. Please let the user resize text, respect his needs. Specify font sizes in relative terms, not as an absolute number of pixels.

Unfriendly Page Titling

Tag used as a clickable headline for listings on Search Engines Results Pages (SERP). Unfriendly page titling is one worst offense on the user. Search is the user’s best friend, so a humble page title attracts new visitors from search listings. While a complex page title accounts for low search engine visibility. Remember that search engines show the first 66 characters of the title, and is contained within the HTML

Unfriendly Advertisements

Web users are in the habit of not paying attention to ads that interrupt their important navigation. Therefore, selective attention is powerful in this regard. Worst still, users ignore legitimate design elements that look like adverts.

Violating Design Conventions

One of the basic design rules is consistency. Users are not worried if things stay the same. Do not go out the way trying to impress users.

Too Many Browser Windows

Many Web designers open new browser windows, keeping the old ones, not minding the size of the user’s monitor where such windows fill up the screen. This act disables the “back” button, but users love to use it.

Failure To Answer Users’ Questions

The worst crime web designers commit is the failure of their site to provide users with the information they seek. Even when a user is about buying a product, you may lose that sale because of a simple specific not addressed.