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　　What are the key skills in website design? What are the traps? Here, the world's top website design experts let you share their secrets and tell you: the tricks to give the website interest, what should be avoided, what tools and software should be used, and the websites they like and dislike.

01 Clarify Content
　　If you want to be a website designer and are about to build a website, you should first consider the content of the website, including the website functions and what your users need. Your entire design should revolve around these aspects.


02 Capture Users
　　If users cannot quickly enter your website or the operation is not convenient, the website design is a failure. Don't let users be disappointed and turn to your competitors' websites.

03 Optimize Content
　　Content is the core. About two years ago, corporate websites were like an advertisement brochure. What's worse, the website used a large number of pictures, which seemed to take centuries to download.
　　The Chanels website (www.channels.co.uk) is successful in some aspects of design, but the content is too sparse, and it takes a long time to find what is needed, so it cannot be regarded as a successful website.

04 Fast Download
　　There is nothing worse than taking a long time to download a page. As an experience, a standard web page should be no larger than 60K and take 30 seconds to load through a 56K modem. Some designers say that the web page should load within 15 seconds.

05 Website Upgrade
　　Always pay attention to the operation status of the website. A high-performance host may run slowly as the number of visitors increases. But if you don't want to lose visitors, you must carefully plan your upgrade plan.

06 Stick to Basic Principles
　　Even if you don't understand HTML language, you can create a reasonably looking website by simply purchasing a WYSIWYG web design tool with a copyright, such as Adobe PageMill or Microsoft FrontPage Express. However, when designing, although these software packages don't require HTML, they slow down the website.
　　To successfully design a website, you must understand how HTML works. Most website designers suggest that web newbies should find answers from books about HTML and use Notepad to make web pages.

07 Learn HTML
　　Designing a website with HTML allows you to control the entire design process. But if you are just a novice in website design, you should find a software package that allows modifying HTML. HomeSite4 is a very good web design tool. During the design process, HomeSite4 can help you learn HTML. It also allows you to switch to WYSIWYG mode to preview your website before sending it to the Web.

08 Draw a Website Framework with a Pen
　　Sages say: The pen is mightier than the sword. Before using a computer, draw a website framework with a pen to show the mutual relationships of all web pages. Plan how your users can browse your website in the least time.

09 "You can never find a good solution on the computer." — Expert's Advice

10 Website Map
　　Many designers put their website map on the website, but this practice has more disadvantages than advantages. Most visitors go online to find some specific information, and they are not interested in how your website works. If you think your website needs a map, it is likely that you need to improve your navigation and toolbar.

11 "Keep your eyes open and pay attention to everything.
　　The observation of the most irrelevant things can get the best inspiration. Observe the structure and design of a site. Understand the key elements of the site structure to ensure that your design is centered on site browsing." — Expert's Advice

12 Click Rules
　　Have you heard of the 3-click rule? For small websites, there should be no information on the homepage that requires more than 3 clicks. For large websites, use navigation and toolbars to improve operation.

13 Application of Special Fonts
　　Although you can use special fonts in your HTML, you cannot predict what your visitors will see on their computers. A page that looks quite good on your computer may look very bad on another different platform. Some web designers like to use <font> to define features. Although this allows you to use special fonts, some workarounds are still needed to avoid that the font you choose cannot be displayed on the visitor's computer. Cascading Style Sheets CSS helps solve these problems, but only the latest versions of browsers support CSS.

14 "Use practical and simple naming rules." — Expert's Advice

15 Check for Misspellings
　　Good spelling is an important skill in life. But unfortunately, many designers lack this skill. Make sure you spell correctly and pay special attention to commonly misspelled words.

16 Avoid Long Text Pages
　　Having many text-only pages on a site is boring and also wastes the potential of the Web. If you have a large amount of text-based documents, they should be placed in Adobe Acrobat format so that your visitors can read them offline.

17 Don't Use Scroll Bars
　　People dislike using scroll bars on the Internet. The Trouble website (www.Trouble.co.uk) is a typical poorly designed website. It is based on a floating structure, and viewers have to use the scroll bar to read all the text.

18 Experts' Favorite Web Design Tools
　　1. Adobe Photoshop
　　2. Macromedia Flash
　　3. Adobe Illustrator
　　4. Adobe ImageRead
　　5. Dreamweaver
　　6. Macromedia Fireworks
　　7. Allaire Homesites
　　8. Microsoft Notepad
　　9. Macromedia Director
　　10. Lightwave
　　11. Macromedia Freehand
　　12. Others: Adobe Acrobat Exchange, Allaire ColdFusion, BBEdit, HTMLValidator, etc.

19 Website Introduction
　　You should have a very clear website introduction to tell visitors what your website can provide so that visitors can find what they want. But many designers don't do this. Effective navigation bars and search tools make it easy for people to find useful information, which is important for visitors. Let visitors know that what you provide is exactly the information they want.

20 "Once the website is published, the advantages and disadvantages of website design are all made public. There is no way to learn more than from your own mistakes, listening to others' suggestions, and user feedback." — Expert's Advice

21 Flashing is Headache-Inducing
　　Using <blink> can attract visitors' attention to special parts of your homepage, but it also makes your visitors headache. If you want visitors to visit your website again, use this method less.

22 Background Color
　　Background color can also cause some problems and may make the web page difficult to read. You should stick to a white background and black text, and also stick to common fonts.

23 Forward and Back Buttons
　　You should avoid forcing users to use forward and back buttons. Your design should enable users to quickly find what they want. Most good sites have the same navigation bar in the same position on each page, allowing viewers to access any part of the website from each page.

24 "Stick to your beliefs. Strictly abide by various rules. Avoid taking things for granted. Never stop learning" — Expert's Advice

25 Click Counter
　　Don't easily consider placing an eye-catching click counter on your website. You design the website to serve visitors, not to promote what you think is important. Most viewers think counters are meaningless, they are easy to be faked, and viewers don't want to see ads. If you want to show how popular your website is, it's better to provide a link to show the access log.

26 Don't Use Frames
　　Like counters, frames are becoming more and more popular on web pages. On most websites, there is a frame on the left side of the screen. But designers immediately find that many problems occur when using frames. It is almost impossible to display the entire website without a 17-inch display when using frames. Frames also make personal homepages in the website unable to be bookmarked. Perhaps more importantly, search engines are often confused by frames and thus cannot list your website.

27 Remove Images
　　Even if the image function is removed in the browser, ensure that visitors can get a satisfactory effect on your website. For visitors who use an ISDN connection and turn off the image function, they can also get good web page loading performance. You can meet visitors' needs by providing additional links at the bottom of the web page and using alternative text instead of images.

28 Reuse Images
　　Some websites miss the opportunity to use better skills because they use a large number of non-repeating images. When creating a logo, it is a good method to use the same image multiple times on the web page, and once they are loaded, they will be quickly reloaded later.

29 Avoid Using Too Large Images
　　Don't use images that span the entire screen. Avoid visitors having to scroll the screen to the right. A good suggestion is to occupy 75% of the screen width.

30 "Avoid using showy tricks." — Expert's Advice

31 Choose to Use Flash Animations
　　Many visitors using relatively slow computers find that animated icons are easy to consume system resources and make the operation of the website difficult, so users should be given an option to skip using Flash animations.

32 Use Flash Plugins as Little as Possible
　　Although many web designers think that Flash is very powerful and Netscape 5.0 will support Flash, and no additional plugins need to be downloaded when using it.
　　But it is best to give up the idea of using Flash for each interface.

33 Let Users Preview Small Images First
　　If you have to place large images on the website, it is best to use Thumbnails software to display the preview effect of the thumbnail version of the image, so that users don't have to waste money and time downloading large images that they don't want to see at all.

34 Animations Should Be Organically Combined with Content
　　Ensure that animations are related to content. They should be integrated with the web page, not dry. Animations are not just a simple accumulation of things made by Macromedia Director, etc.

35 Use Sound Cautiously
　　The use of sound should also be vigilant. Inline sound is another no-go area for web designers. Because using too much sound will make the download speed very slow, and at the same time, it doesn't bring much benefit to viewers. It may be interesting to hear the mouse sound for the first time, but it will definitely be annoying after many times. Before using sound, you should carefully consider what the sound will bring to you.

36 Use Java and AxtiveX Sparingly
　　Java and AxtiveX should be used sparingly on web pages. Because not every browser needs to use it, only those users of early versions of Netscape and Explorer need it. In addition, Mac has problems in handling Java, and excessive use of Java will make Mac crash.

37 Design Successful Websites
　　www.bmw.co.uk　　——Good content and relevance
　　www.yugop.com　　——Graphics download very fast
　　www.comicrelief.org.uk　　——Simple and clear design
　　www.dreamcast-europe.com　　www.newsunlimited.co.uk
　　www.newbeetle.com
　　www.swoon.com　　www.viaduct.co.uk

38 Use Plugins Cautiously
　　In web design, relying on some special plugins will reduce the attractiveness of the website. If visitors don't have the required plugin, they will have to download it from other sites, and then visitors may not return.

39 Use Famous Plugins
　　If there is sound or video on the website, ensure that users can hear or see through using a certain well-known plugin. Many sites use QuickTime, RealPlay, and Shockwave plugins. Because many visitors are not willing to waste a lot of time and money to download a plugin that may only be used once.

40 Use Advanced Technologies
　　Keep up with new technologies. The progress of web technologies will never stop, so spend some time researching new products and development technologies.

41 Create Your Own Images and Sounds
　　Use images and sounds that you create yourself or download from some commercial websites. When making a commercial website, you should spend enough money to create graphics to enhance the company's publicity. — Expert's Advice

43 Platform Compatibility
　　For the sake of users, you must test your website on at least one PC and one Mac to see how compatible it is.

44 Use Software Analysis Tools to Find Errors
　　Use software analysis tools to check HTML. The software analysis tool Doctor HTML can help check any problems in HTML. If you have many web pages to check, you can choose software analysis tools. At the website www.weblint.org/validation.html, you can find more effective HTML tools.

45 Avoid Broken Links
　　The website may have links with some other useful sites. But if there are links on your web page, you must often check them to ensure that the links are valid. There may be many linked websites, but don't link to websites that are irrelevant to your content.

46 Provide Mature Things to the Audience
　　Don't send the website to the Web if it is not completed. All good websites are released after being completed behind the scenes.

47 Register the Website on Search Engines
　　The chance for anyone to find your website is very small unless you register your website on major search engines.

48 Design a Message Board
　　Viewers are willing to spend time on a good website, so it is best to have a message book, which can motivate visitors to return to your website again and also help expand the website content.

49 Test the Website
　　Before the website is officially released, useful testing must be carried out. When designing the website, use the latest software, but don't forget that people don't use the latest browsers, so you should take into account previous browsers. When uploading the website, also test all links and navigation toolbars.

50 "Test the designed website as much as possible until you can't find anything new" — Expert's Advice

51 Demonstrate the Upcoming Website
　　Let people demonstrate it before the website正式runs. People in the demonstration will tell you whether the designed website is easy to use.

52 Animate Accentuation
　　There should be at most one animation on the web page.

53 "Slanted buttons don't look good, it's better not to use them." — Expert's Advice

54 Content Organization
　　Before starting to create a new web page, carefully consider the organization of the website content. Decide what content you want visitors to browse, and then design the navigation system.

55 "Long live white space"
　　Pay attention to leaving white space. Don't fill the web page with images, text, and unnecessary animated GIFs. Even if there is enough space, you should avoid using them when designing.

56 "Use white space to attract attention.
　　To attract the eye, web designers use various methods, such as flashing, rotating, etc., but using white space will attract more attention." — Expert's Advice

57 Image Compression
　　To keep images small, you can use a program like GIF Guide, which can automatically compress images. First, declare the size of the image
　　It is best to specify the image size attribute in detail before the image is displayed, and this attribute can be saved in the IMG tag. This can make the web page appear smooth because the browser can display the entire web page on the screen before the image is downloaded.

58 Poorly Designed Websites
　　www.boo.com
　　——It takes an hour to find a T-shirt on it;
　　——Promises too many services to customers but really realizes too few;
　　——Design level from two years ago, ignoring customers' needs;
　　www.miniheroes.co.uk
　　——Not attractive, the homepage is too similar
　　www.saturn.com
　　——Design is too bad
　　www.e13.com.
　　——No novelty
　　www.song.com.
　　——Navigation is confusing

59 Image Size Attribute
　　This attribute can be saved in the IMG tag. This can make the web page appear smooth because the browser can display the entire web page on the screen before the image is downloaded.

60 User Registration
　　If you can know who has browsed the website and how they browsed the website, you can get a lot of useful information. But asking visitors to register before browsing the website is risky because it will drive away a batch of people who are not willing to register. Another way to obtain information is to carry out prize quizzes or monetary rewards to make users take the initiative to fill in some information feedback forms.

61 Make the Website Interactive
　　Provide some tools to answer questions on the website so that visitors can get interactive information from the website.

62 Image Update
　　Change the images on the website as often as possible. People are more willing to click on images than text.

63 Provide Games on the Website
　　Games are very good interactive tools, and they are a good way to make visitors visit the website again.

64 Select Tool Software
　　Carefully select web design tools. Ensure that you use the software that you want most and feel best about.

65 Use the Latest Version of Software
　　Try to use the latest version of web design software, and it should also be authorized for free or cheap