My Website Design Check List For New Sites
Posted In Helpful Tools & Resources, Search Engine Optimization, Web DesignHere are a few bullet points on what you should do before you start building a website. Before I start building I like to draw the entire design on a piece of paper and build it from there. That way you can you can save time instead of editing in the computer. Here is a simple checklist I follow when building a website.
Layout
-Consistent navigation bar and main logo.
-Page footer that includes copyright information and a contact email address.
-Remember that most people use an 800 x 600 resolution so you should design your pages to be no less than 750 pixels wide.
-Make sure the text on the page is easy to read. If you use a black background it is best to use white text so that people can read it.
-Grab attention with the homepage. Put as much relevant information on the main page as you can
-Check Browser Compatibility
Navigation
-If you are using buttons as your text, add links to the bottom of your page. Some people use text browsers and search bots only look at text not pictures.
-Make sure the homepage is under 50 kb for fast loading
-Navigation should be big and simple and easy to find
-Check Links to ensure they are not broken
Search Engine Optimization
-Make sure your meta tags are defined (title, keywords, description)
-Make sure all your alt tags are filled in
-Make sure there are plenty of links and they are not broken
-Preview you pages in a text browsers
3 Responses
It’s not true that most people use 800 x 600, the average these days 1024 x 768. However, depending on traffic it is still an important to consider the smaller monitored folk. For more modern niches (like this site) I think you could get by with expanding the layout somewhat.
Or you could use fluid-width designs.
@Glenn You’re right, poor choice of words in a phrase. Most people DO NOT use 800×600 but I always design that way for the people that do. The ones with bad vision.
Why do you persist using, and advising people to be sure to use, the keywords meta tag. The keywords meta tag has been useless since at least late 2002.
http://www.marcfuller.com/2008/08/meta-keywords-tag-will-not-help-a-flash-website/