Bad Web Design Features

Below are features that can make a web design look dorky. These are not just my personal opinions, but are ideas I have collected from speaking to groups around the country. Examples of many of these features and more detailed explanations of the problems and solutions are in my book, The Non-Designer's Web Book, written with John Tollett.

Backgrounds

Default gray color

Color combinations of text and background that make the text hard to read

Busy, distracting backgrounds that make the text hard to read

Text

Text that is too small to read

Text crowding against the left edge

Text that stretches all the way across the page

Centered type over flush left body copy

Paragraphs of type in all caps

Paragraphs of type in bold

Paragraphs of type in italic

Paragraphs of type in all caps, bold, and italic all at once

Underlined text that is not a link

Links

Default blue links

Blue link borders around graphics

Links that are not clear about where they will take you

Links in body copy that distract readers and lead them off to remote, useless pages

Text links that are not underlined so you don't know they are links

..(If you're not going to underline your links, please make darned sure

..that each link is perfectly clearly a link! Don't make me wander around

..with my mouse checking to see if randomly colored text is a link!)

Dead links (links that don't work anymore)

Graphics

Large graphic files that take forever to load

Meaningless or useless graphics

Thumbnail images that are nearly as large as the full-sized images they link to

Graphics with no alt labels

Missing graphics, especially missing graphics with no alt labels

Graphics that don't fit on the screen (assuming a screen of 800 x 600 pixels)

Tables

Borders turned on in tables

Tables used as design elements, especially with extra large (dorky) borders

Blinking and animations

Anything that blinks, especially text

Multiple things that blink

Rainbow rules (lines)

Rainbow rules that blink or animate

"Under construction" signs, especially of little men working

Animated "under construction" signs

Animated pictures for email

Animations that never stop

Multiple animations that never stop

Junk

Counters on pages -- who cares

Junky advertising

Having to scroll sideways (800 x 600 pixels)

Too many little pictures of meaningless awards on the first page

Frame scroll bars in the middle of a page

Multiple frame scroll bars in the middle of a page

Navigation

Unclear navigation; over complex navigation

Complicated frames, too many frames, unnecessary scroll bars in frames

Orphan pages (no links back to where they came from, no identification)

Useless page titles that don't explain what the page is about

General Design

Entry page or home page that does not fit within standard browser window (800 x 600 pixels)

Frames that make you scroll sideways

No focal point on the page

Too many focal points on the page

Navigation buttons as the only visual interest, especially when they're large (and dorky)

Cluttered, not enough alignment of elements

Lack of contrast (in color, text, to create hierarchy of information, etc.)

Pages that look okay in one browser but not in another

Source : http://www.ratz.com/featuresbad.html

Also have a visit at Web Design Dubai

Infographic: Social Media Use During Emergencies

One of the major benefits of social media isn't the ability to tag a hurricane in a photograph. But if you guessed that, you're close.

According to new data from the American Red Cross, social networks are playing an increasingly larger role for informing the general public about disasters and disaster response–so much so, that a large majority of people would like organizations to monitor social media even more when coordinating their relief efforts.

"During the record-breaking 2011 spring storm season, people across America alerted the Red Cross to their needs via Facebook," said the Red Cross' Wendy Harman, director of social strategy for the organization, in a statement. "We also used Twitter to connect to thousands of people seeking comfort, and safety information to help get them through the darkest hours of storms."

The Red Cross surveyed around 2,050 individuals in a nearly equal mix of phone and online surveys, finding that people consider the Internet to be the third most popular method for gathering emergency information beyond television and radio announcements. And people also want their own requests for information and assistance processed in a timely manner: 39 percent of online respondents and 35 percent of telephone respondents would expect help within an hour's time if they asked for it via a social media platform.

"Traditional media such as television and radio are still important ways to reach people with emergency information but the social web offers a chance for emergency responders to understand in real time what their communities care about and need – and to become part of the fabric of the community," said Trevor Riggen, the Red Cross' senior director of disaster services, in a statement.

According to the organization, people mention the Red Cross around 3,000 times on average per day within the various social media properties the organization tracks: The number obviously begins to skyrocket during times of calamity. But it's not just requests for assistance that get fired the Red Cross' digital way. Oftentimes, supporters are trying to find more information about how they can financially assist those in need.

"As the numbers of people using these new technologies in disaster situations continue to increase, response agencies, including the Red Cross have a tremendous opportunity to engage the public where they are spending time," Harman said.

For more about how people use social media in emergencies, check out the infographic below:

Source : http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2391977,00.asp

Also visit : Web design Dubai

11 Must Use SEO Tips for Web Designers

Today most web designers do more than just design the look and feel of a web site. They often play a major part in writing the front end code. This means that a big part of the SEO or Search Engine Optimization responsibilities should fall on the designer. However, there is a large number of web designers that don’t understand this subject well enough to create a site that is fully optimized for search engines.

This article is here to provide some important tips that will aid the average and even above average web designer in improving their SEO skills.

1. Make the code prettier than the design

When building the front end of your site, make sure to use semantic code. By using descriptive tags to structure your pages, search engines will be able to read and have a better understanding of your content. This will also make the process of styling your site much easier and cleaner.

2. Use but don’t abuse your keywords

Keywords are the words that describe your content. It’s important to have them appear in strategic places throughout your page, such as: URL, title tag, and main heading tags. It’s also important to have it appear often in the body of the content, but not too often, which might cause your content to be penalized for keyword stuffing.

3. Avoid using Flash for navigation

As tempting as it is to whip out some nice looking drop down effects for your site’s navigation using flash, don’t do it. Search engines have trouble reading flash files, which means the links used in the navigation can’t be followed.

4. Use unique page titles

Each page on your web site should have a title attribute, and each title should be unique. If you use the same title for every page, search engines will think that every page on your site is about the same subject.

5. Don’t forget about images

Make use of the alt attribute of an image to properly describe it. As smart as search engines are, they can’t see what an image looks like. Failing to this can cost you substantial traffic from image searches.

6. Don’t use generic links

Search engines place a high importance on links. So when linking to relevant content, be sure to use a word that describes the content. For example, if you were giving your reader a link to learn more about Photosop, use something like “Learn more about Photoshop” as opposed to just “Learn More”.

7. Don’t use images to replace text

As designers, we always want to make things look as good as possible. This means sometimes replacing ugly browser rendered heading text with a nice smooth image. Try to avoid doing this. Again, search engines can’t see the contents of an image, and this is where you should be putting your keywords.

8. Use AJAX sparingly

Ajax is great for enhancing the user experience, but try not to over do it. Content generated with ajax can’t be linked to. A good rule of thumb is: if what you are loading with AJAX can be an individual page, then avoid using it.

9. Get indexed quickly

To get your site indexed in search engines in a timely manner, try getting it linked to by a popular site in a related niche. Submitting it to Google also works, but sometimes it can take several days if not weeks.

10. Build incoming links

The number and quality of incoming links plays a big role in the placement of your site in search results. Having quality and unique content is a good way to get people to link to your site. Another way is to be generous with your own links.

11. Use a consistent URL

When you build a site, decide from the beginning if you want to use or drop the “www”. Once you decide, stick with it. Search engines, for example, see www.webdesignledger and webdesignledger.com as two different sites and as duplicate content, which they do not like.

Source : http://webdesignledger.com/tips/11-must-use-seo-tips-for-web-designers

Also Visit: Web Design Dubai

What It Takes to Be a Successful Web Design Company

Ever since the internet became a sensation, most businesses saw opportunity. The net connected a particular business with the rest of the world. Hence the potential client base increased many times. To launch a business on the internet became a very mandatory factor soon. Now to launch a business on the internet, there has to be one thing that should be kept in mind. The most important factor is your website. You website will speak for your business and therefore you need to keep in mind that your website should stand out among the trillion other websites in the market today.

Now one of the biggest developments with so many people moving their business on the internet was with respect to the web development industry. These are the people who actually made the websites for the people who were looking to get online. On the onset of the internet, computer knowledge was limited and so was website development knowledge. Therefore for people to get on the get, they needed the help of people who could develop websites. It was this knowledge that made way for much such small business to expand tremendously. The best part was that there was no investment required for a website development company other than the knowledge required and a computer. Today, website development has become relatively simple. You don’t need to be excellently skilled to make a website with the available software you can very easily make a website of your own. So what value does the website development industry hold now?

The industry now has perhaps much more value than before. If you are surprised, it is precisely because of the development in the field of website creation that has made the competition stiffer. Any amateur can use good software to make a website but such software in the hands of a professional will truly create magic. If you own a website development firm, it is at this magic that you should be looking at. You should be looking to make your company ahead of the rest by making sure that you are using all the latest technology available and bringing out the best in you and your creativity.

The first thing that you should be looking to developing as a website development firm is your own website. In order to create brilliant websites for your client, you should first show them how good your website is. Think out of the box and put special attention to what you can do on your website.

The next thing you should remember is your portfolio. Put some of your best works in your port folio so that your clients are impressed with your talent. On our site you can see our best works in our portfolio that help us attract a lot of clients. The last thing that we believe to the secret of our success is the continuous support that we give to our client even after the work is done. This has helped us to become one of the bets web development companies in the world today.

Jessica Alex is a SEO copywriter for Web design Dubai, Web design uae and web development Saudi Arabia. For more information visit: http://www.stimuluswebdesign.com/

Source : http://www.mycontentbuilder.com/what-it-takes-to-be-a-successful-web-design-company/

Top Five Things To Look For in A Web Design Company in UAE

Web Design, it is the process of designing websites .A collection of online content including documents and applications that reside on web server/servers.

All together, the basic process of web design includes planning, post-production, research, advertising, and media control that is applied to the pages within the site by the designer or group of designers with a specific purpose. The website itself can be divided into main page, also known as the home page, which cites the main purpose and highlights the daily updates of the website; which also contains hyperlinks that functions to direct viewers to a designated page within the website's domain.

Please read below for what to look for in a design company

Portfolio

A good web designer will always have a portfolio of work to show you. As soon as looking at a portfolio you must be looking for not only how good each web page might look, but how different all of the designs look. You want your designer to be multitalented so they can work with you to really create what you want. And ask to see a webpage they designed online that is up and running so you can see the type of interactivity work the web designer is familiar with.

Originality

While looking at the portfolio, it is mandatory to look for the originality in the designs. If the web designer is using graphics that can be found on the web, you’re more contented copy and pasting together a webpage yourself. Aside from only the originality of graphics also pay attention to the originality of the layout. You can also buy a web design software so that you can use yourself that is complete with template layout pages, so you don’t want to pay any web designer to make a page look just like the all other company website.

Experience

Experience is not necessarily the most significant thing when it comes to hiring a web designer, but if you’re hoping for a large webpage complete with videos, interactive links and so on, experience will make a difference.

Price

Pricing depends totally on what kind of webpage you want like videos, interaction, graphics, etc. However, be conscious of how involved you want your web page to be in terms of features and length, and ask around different companies to ensure you get the best price. For a 10 to 15 page layout with standard features, you’re looking at a cost of about $500 to $2000 on average.

Timeline

A good web design company must have a basic webpage up for your company in about one week. If your web design is involved, the process can take up to one month. If a web design company tells you that it is going to take in excess of a month, ask them to go through with you what will take so long and it is possible that they’ve valid reasons, but if it is an availability issue you may be better off going with a different company.

Also visit: Web design UAE

Choosing a Right Web Design Company in Dubai

In recent years, Dubai has gained a prominent position on the world map. A number of manufacturing companies have offices in Dubai. That means that Dubai is a hub for many investors and entrepreneurs. In today's competitive market is available, it is important to have an internet presence. Do you have a small business or multinational company; you cannot deny having a site dedicated to your products and services.

In order to have a presence on the internet, you need a website designed especially for your offerings. This task will be made by a reputable web design company. A good web designing company in Dubai always gives the desired value for the money spent by you on your site. Designing a website simply doesn’t means putting pictures of your products. This involves a lot of efforts and devotion to building a website.

According to a recent study done on the internet-use in UAE, there is significant growth in the number of internet users in the past few years. As the population grows the number of customers grows too. To remain active in the domain of your company, it is really very important to have a website.

The first thing you need to look as you choose a web design Dubai is its reputation and goodwill in the marketplace. A company that is working dedicatedly to help its customers achieve its desired objectives will always have a strong reputation in the market. Always have a look at the portfolio of web application development company chose Dubai.

One more thing to keep in mind is the ability of the web design company in Dubai developing commercial web sites that provide attractive appearance as well as Dubai payment gateways. Last but not least is the service to the customer of the company is of paramount importance.

Web Design in Dubai by stimuluswebdesign

Looking for website development? You've come to the right page! Web design is our priority. Unlimited choice of colors at your beck and call; we will choose the right color combinations that we choose Web design Dubai in Dubai. We have specialists for all interested in the work of the team in unison to be knowledgeable about how to configure Web design Dubai for your marketing requirements in Dubai, a reference to extract before you design or redesign existing or preparing new website. One should minimize problems during check-out, designing a website for instant product comments and real time Delivery, planning and delivery on the fast track and collecting activity returns Web design Dubai.

Design or re-designing an existing a Web site is our specialty to serve you by stimuluswebdesign.com. Our expertise includes the structuring, design, implementation, management and maintenance of online segments on your website to support the increase in the turnover of the company. We ensure a high density of the keywords. We will select keywords for your Web Designing Dubai while designing a site that segments of this is the most important factor to consider when designing your web site/Web page. You can rely on our expertise in developing your Web Designing Dubai for you for the following reasons will ensure that we design your website that fits you and your market aptly and this will definitely increase the revenue Web Designing Dubai.

Designing a website to provide crucial details the return produced by the search engine optimizes about your website is our specialty. We are far from some of the new Web Designing in Dubai which is a much smaller pool. We have the possibilities of designing a website so it's well optimized for search engines. One of the common problems that most people face is the need to solve their intention of designing their website. This is most important because even before we begin the website design or structure so that the designs will be such needs.

There are several reasons for Why one must ensure that your site the best Web Design Dubai in order to achieve success in overwhelming. Plain words to design high-impact content rich Web site, which is not. One should not receive routine daily mechanical designing and maintaining Web sites. The web designer must take into account the broad use of online sales policy when you design your ecommerce Web site.

We know INs and OUTs of Web design in Dubai for many of our major clients in DUBAI and other countries worldwide. We recommend that one should avoid unrealistic graphics, slow loading time and spelling mistakes when designing your Web site. If you want to receive website developed for your business then visit www.stimuluswebdesign.com

The Role of Web Development in Your Business

The internet has transformed our lives. Ever since the 17th century and world took a turn towards industrial revolution, modernization has become the trend. It has largely influenced our ways of living and in many ways revolutionized mankind. Comfort is factor we all seek for. Modernization has influenced and made it possible in today's world. And now I wonder what more can we achieve and where are we heading in terms of making our lives even more comfortable.

As I say so, we have taken a turn towards artificial intelligence. Yes now it's possible to make machines think like human, behave like human and in fact rationalize like human. We depend heavily on these machines to do our work and thus in a way we have become slaves of our own creation. The technology of internet is one among it though it is not a physical entity like robots. The internet has made life impossible without it. It has established easier ways of communication towards the outside world. Yes now you can mail somebody within seconds. For businessmen it is now possible to advertise their products all across the world within seconds. This saves them a lot of time as marketing in the earlier day's involved door to door advertisement and covering the whole world in a single day was impossible.

Every organization is invariably profit oriented. Even the NGO's (Non profit Government Organizations) though their notion of profit is about spreading the message and creating awareness. Thus almost all companies require a decent website which is marketed well in the internet. By decent website I meant websites consisting of high quality gorgeous web pages with precise content matter that enables the readers and subscribers to understand about your companies services. Thus it involves factors such as type of your business, type of customers you are catering, demographics etc.

Usually profit oriented businesses which involve manufacture and selling of particular products, prefer e-commerce. E-commerce is an entity of the internet which showcases the products and provides precise crystal clear details about them. Besides they also allow people to order for these products online paying the price with the help of debit/credit cards. If you are offering services, your business website should be able to present and inform your prospective clients about the services you provide and company policies.

However creating a website for promoting your company in an essential manner, quality wise is not a joke. It's not like any tom, dick and harry can sit down and create websites as it involves a lot of technical difficulties. The person should have some technical background in order to create websites. Thus though you are business oriented and you do not have the expertise to create a decent website through which the requirements flow turbulent, and easy to use as well as maintainable, easy to read for readers etc, you need not sit and worry about it. You have lots of web development service providers to create beautiful websites for your organization. These people are experts in programming language who would give the complete backbone of technology for running your business in a simple smoother way. This helps the company to market their products or services better which in attracts many clients/customers satisfying company's potentials.

Kamran Khan is a SEO copywriter for Web Design Dubai, Web Development and Graphic Design. He has written many articles in various topics like web design Saudi Arabia, Web Designer Saudi Arabia and Stationary Design.

Article Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Role-of-Web-Development-in-Your-Business&id=6037952