Tips to designing your own website

[Michael Guilfoyle-m6.net]

As the rate of information technology increases, many small business owners and individuals are now aiming to increase their communication and business with the use of the Internet. Some of the benefits of the Internet is that people can frequently improve their knowledge, be critical, and analyze new concepts and developments. Not only does the Internet provide an opportunity for people to access new and foreign knowledge, but people are also given the opportunity to share knowledge through the use of creating their own websites or visiting chat rooms.
The concept of building a website may at first seem to be foreign to the less technologically inclined, but once the basics of website building are mastered, then the concept becomes routine and easy to handle, especially with updates. However, the building of a website does not only involve conquering technology, but also the design of your website will largely affect how many visitors will stay on your site and the amount of information that is consequently attained. For example, a website that is offensive in their use of language or ideologies, or even which has unsuitable colors will deter viewers from going to the site. Below are some tips that need to be taken into consideration when building your website.

TIPS:
1.   Make sure the color of the text on your website is not too bright and is suitable for the content of the website. For example, if you are designing a website to talk about the death penalty, a pink background with yellow text may not be the most appropriate format.

2.   The pictures or images that are presented on your website also need to be taken into consideration. A website incorporating cartoons and pictures of Barbie but which is aimed at mature age people in the content may not be as successful. Remember, when people go to a website the first thing  they will see will be the graphics, and just as easily as getting to the website, people can just as easily go to another website.

3.   Make sure the links that you put on your website are relevant to your content. Although advertising is permitted and incorporated into some websites, too much advertising and propaganda will act as a deterrent and may compete for the attention of the viewer. Also, although advertising may pay for the cost of maintaining your website, remember the initial purpose of designing the website and don’t let in-your-face advertising overtake your valuable content.

4.   Although most people feel that a website is made more interesting when there are graphics on the site, do not put in too many graphics and make the size of your website too large. Viewers can become frustrated if a website takes too long to download and will go to another website.

5.   Remember to reference everything that you have researched and include a bibliography or a list of references. Do not plagiarize. Plagiarism can have consequences if you are an academic, or you may be liable for court action if it is too serious. Remember to indent long quotes that you may have gotten from a person or from research. Acknowledge help and all your sources.

6.   Be mindful of different ideologies and cultures. Colors for backgrounds may have significance to the content. However, in another culture it may have a completely different meaning and may be misunderstood.

7.   Ensure that the content is concise and attractive to the viewer. The content of websites can be written in formal as well as informal language. This will depend on the target audience and what you want to promote. For example, a person who is aiming at a teenage market may want to use less formal language, however, if you are aimed at academics or mature age people, correct referencing and research as well as formal language will be better appreciated.

8.   Ensure that the links that are put on your website work and that your website is easy to navigate. For example, endless links that go nowhere can cause frustration and deter people from your website. Information that is not concise or inaccurate can cause misunderstandings. Hence, check all information before you put it on the website and check your links before you publish the website.

The building of your website can be a challenge at first, but the rewards are that many people will have the opportunity to share in your knowledge and communicate with you in relation to your ideas. For entrepreneurs, websites have the ability to promote your business and also ensure that consumers have the ability to gain better information about your goods and services.
By Bernice Ly
http:// www.m6.net
Bernice Ly is a technical writer working at M6.Net: ‘The web-hosting company for humans.’ M6.Net is working hard to help humanity experience the power and freedom to develop their own part of the Internet, to share their information and connect with anyone, anywhere, anytime.

[donecweb]

Very nice set of tips but I have trouble with # 6 as it is impossible to deal with the cultures of all your visitors.

Small edition:

I believe as time goes by we will find that the rule for dealing with other cultures visiting your web site or when you visit another web site will be just as it has been done in the non-Internet world. When in Rome do as the Romans do. In other words when you visit a site that is of a different culture the visitor needs to honor and work with the culture of the site.

[justjeni]

I agree about #6 -- we just studied this in my Web Dev classes and while they encourage multi-cultural content, they also say such an issue can be very cost prohibitive and should only be done by large companies that deal with other companies around the world.  A large, world-wide B2B site would be an example.  some people say here in the US web masters should consider adding Spanish, but I've yet to meet any webmasters who agree (me among that group!)  I think it's expecting an awful lot unless you know for a fact you're going to have visitor's from a specific culture/language.  Good tips though - - we covered all of it, actually and it's good stuff to lock in the 'ol brain cells!

[Andy]

Sorry I missed this post 1st time around. p.s. it's in the wrong area of the forum since it's about web design.

I think these tips are aimed more at an academic audience. My tips would start with...

When you are designing a website, the #1 consideration should be providing fresh original content that answers the visitor's questions in response to their search engine query and backing this up with relevant links to other web resources that can help them. A site adhering to these criteria built with common sense in terms of choice of colors and graphic images should work well for most visitors in my opinion.