Did you realize that the design of your website accounts for 75% of its credibility? If there are numerous website design errors, visitors might think less of your business. Your company will be able to stand out online for the correct reasons if you can avoid making these mistakes when creating a new website or updating an old one.
8 Common Web Design Mistakes
- Not making accessibility a top priority.
- Disregarding responsive design’s significance.
- Sacrificing usability in the name of beauty.
- Not making a customisation investment.
- Using non-converting characteristics.
- Not following a hierarchy.
- Navigating incoherently.
- Not articulating your company’s mission clearly enough.
1. Not prioritizing accessibility.
The worst error in website design is to treat accessibility as an afterthought.
- Inadequate contrast between colors
- Inadequate or absent alternate text for pictures or graphics
- Insufficient or absent visual focus markers
- Ignoring names or labels that are easily available
Let’s dive deeper into each of these.
Insufficient Color Contrast
Color contrast is an often overlooked accessibility error. Frequently, this mistake occurs because companies make websites that feature their brand color palette — which isn’t usually created with accessible design in mind.
According to Kelly, “text and icons can be difficult to perceive when a color combination utilized on a website lacks sufficient color contrast between the background and foreground colors, especially for persons with visual impairments like color blindness.” As per the 2022 WebAIM Million annual study, more than 80% of homepages have problems with color contrast!
Missing or Inappropriate Alt Text
Image alt text is used by screen reader users to explain the meaning of an image or graphic. You are excluding readers who require it in order to browse your website if it is absent or insufficiently describes the image.
Since images are a component of the content on your website, it is critical to approach them in the same manner as you would traditional website copy: Why is the graphic on your page conveying any particular message? Make sure the alternative text you choose expresses the same idea, advises Kelly.
Insufficient or Missing Visual Focus Indicators
Visitors will not be able to fully utilize your website without visual focus indications. According to Kelly, “focus indicators typically take the form of outlines surrounding interactive elements like buttons and links.” “In order for users who are using a keyboard to navigate and can see the screen to know exactly where they are on the page and what to expect when they interact with the active element, it is imperative that there be a clear visual indicator of what element on the page has the current focus.”
Overlooking Accessible Names or Labels
Take into consideration users of assistive technologies if your website uses visuals to deliver information. “The same information should be given using accessible labels for assistive technology when creating pages and components where it is conveyed visually,” advises Kelly.
2. Forgetting the importance of responsive design.
More than ever, users are accessing websites from a variety of devices, including TVs, laptops, tablets, and phones. Visitors would lose faith and click or tap away from the website if our content appears poorly on any of them.
Websites are frequently created with the aid of desktop web browser technologies. One typical error is to overlook mobile consumers while assuming your clients will be seeing your website in desktop format.
3. Compromising user experience for aesthetics.
A common mistake in website design that has become more prevalent in recent years is putting aesthetics before functionality. With the years seeing a significant expansion in new media and design, success has become almost necessary due to the saturation of the internet with more and more content.
Martinez claims that this manifests itself in a number of ways. “…from design trends that weaken the value proposition of the businesses to the overuse of animation, content, and large visuals that improve the look but have little practical function. This does not imply that a minimalist or nouveau-brutalism aesthetic should be used; rather, it emphasizes balance and how form serves function.
4. Not investing in customization.
You pass a clothes store with an eye-catching, imaginative window display while strolling around the downtown area. It weaves a story with a backdrop and catchy wording while showcasing a selection of clothing on sale. Then nothing draws your attention when you pass a store with only a few articles of apparel displayed on mannequins in the window.
Consider your website to be the online storefront for your company. It should feel specific to your business and represent your branding. Selecting a cookie-cutter template and not personalizing it is one of the biggest mistakes people make when designing websites.
“The image is cleverly cropped to make the writing readable, or it is extremely light, dark, or both. I believe there are several reasons why this is such a mistake. First, it is so commonplace that it is grown monotonous and formulaic. What was once a striking design choice has become boring.
5. Using features that don’t convert.
Using ineffective features is another frequent mistake. Whatever an element may look like, keep in mind that the effectiveness of your website comes first. Derby says, “Relying on rotating carousels to feature many pieces of material at the same level is another common mistake.”
“Innumerable studies have demonstrated that people seldom engage with carousels, especially when using mobile devices where the cost of interaction is elevated.”
6. Having a lack of hierarchy.
Have you ever visited a website and found yourself unsure where to focus your attention? If so, you likely landed on a site that featured a lack of hierarchy. “Just like how a newspaper uses headlines and subheads to denote significance, so should your website’s typography,” says Landry.
Having order on your website has an aesthetic appeal, but it’s also functional. “Organization of website elements… give your site a cohesive structure that drives users to complete clear actions, achieves the primary goal, and, subsequently, creates a seamless experience,” says Martinez.
Resolving this is not easy, particularly if your business caters to a diverse clientele with varying objectives. Martinez, however, says that since this problem has the potential to significantly affect how consumers interact with your website, it would be ideal if you took action. He says, “Users are misled and prevented from accomplishing their goals by the lack of hierarchy.”
7. Having unclear navigation.
This is why unclear navigation is such a problem: proper navigation can lessen the friction visitors feel when they land on your site. Devia Pinzon says, “Having a clear navigation and consistency throughout your many touchpoints and user journeys will ensure a smooth transition from first visitor to advocate.” As more and more businesses enter the digital realm, the content on websites becomes more crowded and complex.
8. Not effectively communicating your business purpose.
Visitors to your website ought to be able to quickly and easily understand what your business does. What if that image is even a tad fuzzy? You guessed it: users might stop visiting your website.
According to Landry, “a website visitor’s initial action upon loading your site is to ascertain whether they are at the intended location.” Does your website make it obvious what kind of goods or services it provides above the fold?
Your website ought to increase your company’s legitimacy. Redesigning your website is probably necessary if it does not confirm to visitors that they are in the appropriate place and communicate your company’s mission.
How to Fix Common Website Design Mistakes
After going over the most common errors in website design, let us talk about how to remedy them. Not to worry, half the battle is awareness. You can start building a website that adheres to best practices for website design now that you are aware of what to avoid.
1. Make accessibility your top priority.
Web accessibility, according to Kelly, is “making websites and the content on them accessible to everyone,” so it is imperative to get it right when creating a website. “We create usability obstacles for the millions of individuals living with disabilities when we commit these typical accessibility blunders in website designs. Your website is not reaching its full potential to satisfy your objectives and commercial demands, even if it appears fantastic, if some actions or content are inaccessible to a portion of users.
Here are a few doable solutions to address the accessibility problems in design.
Create User Personas to Fit Various User Needs
ensuring that the design of your website incorporates accessibility and that your personas are inclusive. “Consider accessibility frequently and early. Making “personas” of users is a common first step in website design, as it helps guarantee that the site will satisfy a range of user wants, according to Kelly. One approach to ensure that accessibility will be taken into account at every level of the project is to ensure that your personas include a range of abilities.
Educate Yourself on Accessibility Best Practices
To ensure that accessibility best practices are top of mind when working on your projects, learn more about them. Kelly says there are a ton of tools, guidelines, and checklists available to help with designing, developing, and testing websites for accessibility. Start by reviewing our list of requirements for building an accessible website.
2. Ensure your website features responsive design.
You can be confident that users will have a seamless experience on your site regardless of how they reach it thanks to responsive web design. Fortunately, creating a flexible website is not as hard as it might appear. In fact, if you use a content management system like Content Hub, you can even choose themes that are fully optimized for mobile devices.
Devia Pinzon advises, “Consider the most crucial information you want your visitors to learn from the website, and then take into account how it will appear on the largest and smallest screen feasible.” “You want to make sure that visitors will understand your material the same way on any device.”
You are not quite done with your work once you have developed the mobile edition of your website. Landry encourages us to “always test your site on your phone.” By testing the website, you could discover bugs that were previously missed.
3. Balance aesthetic appeal with seamless user experience.
We are aware of the consequences when a website prioritizes appearance over functionality. It is feasible to combine a smooth user experience that makes it easy for users to browse through the pages and locate what they are looking for with an eye-catching design on a successful website.
Martinez states that good team alignment and communication are key to achieving this. Martinez says, “Design teams should stick to the plan, making sure the design meets users’ primary objectives and there is a solid alignment with the Development, Content, and SEO teams.”
4. Be intentional about site design, and don’t be afraid to get creative.
It is not necessary for your website to have the same style or layout as anything else you see online. Derby says of the space beneath the navigation, “Give some genuine conscious thought to what should be placed in this incredibly valuable region.”
Another useful technique to figure out what would work best in the area is to ask yourself questions about your intentions for it. Is the imagery functional or only ornamental? Does the layout aim to motivate the user to read or do an action? Is there anything intriguing that could keep their interest for a short while?
Users are beginning to go right over these enormous hero parts in favor of attempting to dive into the actual significant information below, much like the effect of banner blindness with adverts. For web designers and marketers, who frequently position their most important calls to action under the hero banner, this is a lost opportunity.
As an alternative, you might choose to completely redesign your website’s style to remove the picture from beneath the navigation. Do something that no one else in your sector is doing—more than 70% of companies invest in design to help set themselves apart from rivals. So, do not be scared to take risks.
5. Don’t bury information on features that don’t convert.
Make sure you do not exclude any important information if you know a feature does not convert or that users ignore it. (Or, even better, do away with it completely.) Make sure you take best practices into account if your company’s website has a carousel.
Derby suggests that there are a few aspects of the carousel experience that might be enhanced, including the use of highly visible controls, minimizing the amount of slides, and prioritizing the most crucial information. “If the user chooses not to engage with the component, they will still receive a complete experience, thus nothing crucial should be hidden beyond the first slide.”
6. Make sure your site has a hierarchy.
Your website is overwhelming, unclear, and hard to navigate without a hierarchy. On the other hand, a hierarchy makes it obvious to visitors where to look and what to read. Luckily, adding a hierarchy to your website only takes a few simple steps. You should look into website design companies that specialize in hierarchical architecture in contemporary web design to obtain some inspiration.
“Make sure you convey to your users the relative importance of each line of text by using the HTML header tags and widths of each,” advises Landry.
7. Ensure your site’s navigation is intuitive.
Your website’s bounce rate may indicate that your navigation is not working properly. Consider effective navigation to be essential to a flawless user experience.
Teams should specify the levels of navigation (preferably limited to three) and the ways in which pages on various levels connect to their parent level in order to ensure this. Additionally, ensure that the navigation functions properly on various screen sizes by verifying that it is labeled correctly to make it easy for users to comprehend, as different screen sizes may act differently.
8. Make sure you convey your business purpose through design and copy.
To do this, you will use eye-catching copy and graphic components. Consider the goal of your website before you start. Are you building an online store where customers may buy products from your business? Or does your website’s main objective serve to enlighten visitors about the services your team offers? Determine the purpose of your website with clarity. Each feature and wording you add to the website should support that goal. To get the most out of your audience, your company might need to use IT services.
Avoid Common Website Design Mistakes to Boost Site Credibility
Avoiding typical website design blunders will increase the legitimacy of your website and provide users with an engaging experience that will entice them to return.
Martinez claims that web design is a team sport that necessitates a circular approach to guarantee strong alignment between teams, stakeholders, and user knowledge. “To make sure your website is heading in the right direction, there is no better way than testing and iterating, including user research and usability testing.”