Ten Things You Should Avoid Having on Your Website

By Amelia Foo.

Website layouts can actually show to the audience what type of person you are. If you come across a nice and simple website, it goes to show that you’re a neat and tidy person. It also let the audience feel comfortable to look at your site. A nice and simple layout is the way to go if you want to appear professional in your field.

However, I’ve came across MANY sites that literally caused my eyes to strain and thus, I closed the window almost immediately. Why almost immediately? Because I was taking down notes on what to avoid on the design of the website.

So, I’ve compiled the top ten stuffs that should NOT be on your site.

1. Neon colors

Neon colors are way too bright to be used on a website. It is too glaring to be look at a few minutes, especially so if you use neon colors as your background color. Imagine having a neon yellow color as your background. Wouldn’t it be too straining for you to look at? People will get turned off by such colors and thus, you will lose your audience in just 1 or 2 minutes time.

2. Black or dark background

Audiences usually associated a dark background website with a hacker’s website or sleazy website. So, the recommended color for a background is either a light color or white.

3. No paragraph spacing

This may sound basic to you, but I come across this mistake ALL the time! People post up articles to their sites without any paragraph spacing and this makes it extremely difficult for the readers to finish reading the whole article. If I come across such articles, I will close the window immediately as I dislike reading without any paragraph spacing.

Imagine having to read this entire article without any paragraph spacing. Are you able to finish reading it? I highly doubt so. Most likely you will read the first few sentences and switch your concentration to another thing.

4. Pop ups or pop under that cannot be closed

Many people resorted to using this method to force their customers to subscribe to their list. Is that necessary in the first place? I don’t think so. Yes, your number of subscribers on your list will increase tremendously BUT this goes the same for the number of unsubscribe too! Why so? Simply because you literally forced these people to subscribe to your site! That’s how simple and easy it is.

I have nothing against pop ups or pop under. Just avoid using pop ups or pop under that cannot be closed at all.

5. Own variation of English words

Use the standard spelling for English words. I have seen many people using words that have the same pronunciation but with a different spelling. Take for example, the word “you”. People spelled it as “euu”. What kind of language is that? No doubt others might know what you are trying to say but such usage of spelling reflects your professionalism and credibility in your field. Would people trust what you say? I doubt so.

6. No punctuation

Punctuations are invented for a purpose. That is, to allow the reader to know when to stop, when to continue and so on. I have come across many sites where the authors do not use any punctuation at all. This makes reading extremely tough. Can you imagine reading this whole article without any punctuation? You will not even know when I am asking a question!

So, please use punctuation in everything that you type. Also, do note that there is a correct way of using punctuation. Take this sentence for example. “You are, reading this article, now.” There are too many “commas” in this sentence. So, please use the right punctuation at the right place.

7. Messy layout

Have you come across a website where it is too messy to be viewed? What I mean by messy is that there are too many stuffs on the sites positioned without any order and overlapping items.

Site layout should make sense, period.

8. All caps

Text set in all caps make people think that you are shouting at them which is unnecessary. Therefore, only important words should be capped to let the readers know that this is the important point in the whole paragraph. Other than that, you should not use any text set in all caps in any part of the articles or posts.

9. Capped letter in any placement of the word

I have seen people typing like tHis in tHeir BlOg pOsT. You can type like this on MSN or social media sites with your friends BUT definitely not your professional website.

10. Spelling or grammatical error

Many people post their articles or blog posts without doing a spell check for spelling mistakes. Spelling errors are among the most common surface errors as well as the most easily corrected.

To correct spelling errors, use a spell-checker, regardless of your spelling skill, along with a dictionary to help you find the right alternative for a misspelled word.

Grammatical errors are also common on sites. People always misuse “it’s” and “its”. So, be sure that to correct the grammatical errors on your article before posting it to your site!

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Jadi jika ada buat perkara-perkara di atas tu sebelum ni, sila-sila la berubah demi kebaikan sejagat. Haha xD