Nine Web Design bloopers
Backgrounds that swallow text
Many sites have the text of the page or the links set so that they are difficult to see against the page's background. Another annoying habit is for a designer to actually "hide" the followed links by making them the same colour as the page background.
You can avoid this by setting the colour of the default text by using the TEXT variable of the <bODY> tag. See the Colour Table for what colours you can use.
Another problem that pops up, and is fairly common in Emperor's Hammer sites is the use of the starfield graphic as a background. The problem emerges when the page is viewed with a non-graphical browser, or when a graphical browser is used with images off. In these situations, the background colour is visible. Unfortunately, the colour defaults to white, and the text on the page has been set to a light colour, like yellow, so it is visible against the starfield graphic. The end results is yellow (or light text) on a white background - not an easy page to read. This can be fixed by adding bGCOLOR=black to your <bODY> tag.
Just because you can
Just because you've found a cool animated graphic, or you have javascripts that can alter the background colour or because you can turn your page into one massive image map, doesn't meant that you should do any of these things.
While these things may look good, you have to ask yourself if you really need them. Also be away that they may slow down the loading of the page, a situation you should try to avoid.
Also be wary of the trade-offs of using multimedia add-ons or plug-ins, such as Shockwave. While the effects you create may complement the page, you could lose a portion of your viewers who don't have the time or the inclination to download the plugin. This rule also applies to using IE or Netscape specific HTML tags. While they may look cool, using one or the other effectively alienates half your audience. Try to write generically for all browsers.
Links that don't work
There's nothing more annoying than spending hours of going through search engines and sites to find the right one, only to find the link to the page you want doesn't work. When designing or writing a page, the last thing you should do before uploading it, or announcing it is to test all your links. Also, when you update, recheck your links.
Long download time
Time is one of the most important quantities when someone views a web page. If the page takes too long, the viewer starts to get bored and may even give up and look elsewhere. Here are two things you can do to speed up graphics:
No feedback or contact details
Say you visit a web page and you want to find more information. So you would email the web master or the relavent person, except, you can't seem to find their email address or any other contact details on the web site. Remember to put an email address or some form of contact so people can report problems, or so they can contact you for additional information.
Where am I?
Sometimes you're navigating a web site and you may get lost or confused about where you are, where you have been and where you are going. To avoid this, use a uniform layout, the same set of fonts and colours throughout the site, so the user recognises that they are still at your site. A uniform layout also makes it easier for you to update and maintain the site.
Under construction
All too often we see that little worker shovelling dirt, or the words "under construction". basically, unless the site is finished and ready for people to view it, it shouldn't be on the web.
Unreadable
Some web sites (this one included) are text heavy and are sometimes difficult to read. Many designers make the mistake of thinking that material written and prepared for a book or a newspaper will reproduce on a web site without review or alteration. Make sure the paragraphs are short - try for between three to seven lines. Add either an indent to the first line of each paragraph or a break between the paragraphs to give the reader a visual pause.
In general, a serif font such as Times New Roman is easier to read than a san serif font, such as Arial. If you have a text heavy page, don't try to squeeze it into a smaller area, rather spread it out with lots of white space and frequent paragraph breaks. Even at double length, you'll have a page that is more reader friendly and more likely to be read.