Web Design Pointers for Smash Flashers
You may be building a business website and you may be working on a spunky music website design. Any design for the web, particularly when using free Flash templates, should be undertaken while keeping a few principles of action in mind.
1. Choose a template that is closest to what you had in mind to begin with.
Don’t pay attention to the color scheme, those types of details can be easily changed. Take heed of the page layout, the navigation and general website structure. By choosing a design that is closest to the final result you're aiming at you are shortening the design process and making your life much, much easier.
2. Make sure your website is idiot proof.
Don't expect your visitors to have any internet savvy. Imagine this is the first time you've ever surfed the net and build your website for that first time user. By keeping this principle in mind you're minimizing the chances that visitors will lose their bearing around your site and raising the chances that your message will get through and your content viewed.
3. Start with a minimal approach and build from there.
It's easier to get a message through when there aren't many people yelling in the background. This is also true visually. You may want a colorful and full design, but make sure that underneath and above it all, your message is getting noticed. Start with a minimal approach and add on to that if you want, while making sure that your primary message isn't getting lost.
4. As an appendage to the previous point, leave empty spaces on your page.
You don’t have to fill every corner of the page, in fact, its better if you don't. It will leave breathing room for your visitor's eyes and they will repay you by staying longer and seeing more of your website.
5. Make sure your message is perfectly clear.
Each page should include the five "w's" in some form or way, either visually or through texts. Each page should have an agenda and this agenda should be clear. What's the point of keeping us guessing unless you're building a quiz.
6. Remember to add a call for action to your website.
Invite people to read more, invite people to purchase your product, to visit other pages of your website. Don't be afraid to be assertive. If you're building a business website this is even more important. Call for action sentences should be short and clear to avoid any type of confusion. Read this tutorial! Visit our picture gallery! Buy ten boxes of tissue paper a day! This is the kind of authority you should be deploying.
7. Pay attention to the details.
Many people today feel they are too busy to notice details but god is in the details as they say. A professional finish to your website says professionalism to the website's visitors. Show your website to at least 10 different people who will survey it for mistakes and brainstorm with you for ways to improve it. Don't be afraid of criticism and change. The crankiest of your friends represents thousands of similar people in the real world so he's really doing you a favor.
8. Don’t overload the texts.
Today's world is a visual world, full of picture commercials, films and music clips. Make sure your website is visually appealing and that it takes advantage of the full power of an image. An image is a particularly good way of making texts more legible.
9. Check out what others are doing. Don't try to reinvent the wheel.
There are millions of websites already out there, some of them work better, some worse but it's always a good idea to familiarize yourself with the things that don't work just as much as the things that do. If you're creating a business website take the time to browse competitor websites, if you're creating a musician website or a photography website, check out your colleagues work. You can save yourself a lot of painstaking efforts correction mistakes others have done and you may also find inspiration!
Good Luck!