Learn about the dos and don'ts in creating a website and why it is important to follow each of them.

The ever-changing digital landscape allowed website designers and developers to have access to new tools and innovations that may help them create better and more appealing websites. However, the art of website creation still largely depends on the classic dos and don'ts that covers the basic rules each web designer and developer should follow. Subscribing to these dos and don'ts will not only benefit the website owner but the audience as well. In this article, you will find the common things a web designer and developer should and should not do in creating a website.

Navigation is probably one of the most crucial aspects of website design. Not only will it make things easier for you as the owner or designer but it will also make your website user-friendly and motivate your website visitors to keep scrolling. Moreover, the information presented in your website especially those that they still need to discover in other webpages will all be easier to grasp and understand. Create and design your website as if you are the user and make it as user-friendly as possible. While simplicity is best, you can still make it professional and modern without sacrificing its usability.

One way to make navigation easier is by keeping the user interface consistent. Basically, you should observe consistency on the color schemes, theme, typefaces, and style.  Each format (mobile, tablet, and desktop) web page and post must complement one another and subscribe to the overall theme of your website. Doing so will improve its user-friendliness and make it more professional-looking. Moreover, a consistent interface will give your website and your brand a certain sense of "originality" that its look and style will stay in the minds of your audience. 

While design and interface is crucial, content should be your top priority. The very reason why your website visitors go to your website is for the value that you are offering them. It could be the information you write in you blog, the product you are selling, or the service you are offering. These things could only be sold to the audience if they are presented effectively and seem as valuable to the lives of the readers. Investing on quality content may require you to outsource content creators or graphic designers but it could also personally come from you. Yet, no matter if you create your content by yourself or not, you should always make sure that they are of quality.

Yes, marketing and advertising whether internal or external is necessary to promote your products and services or earn more from your website. They are not harmful as long as used in moderation. However, if you overdo your advertising strategies, they might actually do more harm than good. Being so blunt in selling products or offering services and putting too much ads all throughout your webpages may steal the spotlight from more valuable content that your audience is really looking for. There is a right way to manage your ads and promotions in a way that they would not compromise the quality of your content and even make engagement with your audience better.

Aside from using their  desktop or laptop, your web visitors can also use their mobile phones or tablets to view your website. Therefore, you should not forget to consider its mobile design and interface so it will still be easy to navigate, professional-looking, and user-friendly when viewed via mobile. Some website builders and content management systems allow you to design your web pages using a mobile view. In doing so, you can optimize images, text, and other components to suit the mobile view.

Following the principle of designing your website as if you were the audience, one thing you should not do is scroll hijacking. It is when the web designer manipulates the scrollbar and lets it behave differently according to how they want it to. Obviously, this is very inconvenient and irritable for a user which might lead them to leave your website and not visit it anymore. Scroll hijacking limits your users' ability to discover what they wanted to in your website. Instead of leading them mandatorily to the part of your website that you want them to go to, you might actually be leading them away from the website itself.

There are still a lot of things you should and should not do in terms of creating a website. Whether you are a beginner in web design and development or not, subscribing to these basic rules will help you create an effective website that is not only good for you but also for your viewers. After all, it is their feedback and response towards your content is what matter.