website advice
Background Colours
This is so important. I can't tell you how much this can decide whether a visit stays to look around or shuts the browser to avoid hurting their eyes!
Never use bright bright colours, always go for something more pastel like.
Examples;
Bright colours hurt eyes so much when trying to read you'll find visitors won't stay long or come back.
This is much softer. You can go for the colour you want still but instead of picking the brightest, most viberate of that colour, go for something a little
more mixed with white for a black font, or mixed with black for a white font.
Text
Also really avoid coloured text, especially bright coloured text.
And large fonts are unattractive also, try to keep font under size 10.
Any bigger and it's ugly!
Lastly the way you write can be off putting. Avoid writing in SMS text style.. wotsup, wlcom 2 me site and writing like that is horrible to read,
especially for those who don't use English as their first language. Another big mistake writing is caps. SoMeTiMeS SiLLy PeOpLe WrItE LiKe ThIS and that's just really horrible!
Lastly swearing is something that will send most visitors running. Always try to be polite. If I see a rude comment on a website it won't matter what they are
offering I'll probably leave.
Hosting
I know it's hard for everyone to afford really hosting, even though it's getting cheaper now. But website builders like Geocities, AngelFire and Freewebs
are horrible to visit. They have popups and never allow a nice layout and design. If you are serious about having a nice website it's worth learning to
code and using FTP to upload a full and clean design.
Navigation
So you've got visitors to your site, and they like the style of your layout, now they are probably going to want to look around. Make this easy for them.
Clear navigation is a must. Too many times I visit sites and spent ages staring at the graphics trying to see the menu in them, or moving my mouse around
waiting for it to show it's over a link. It's very annoying. If you don't want a text menu then make sure your graphic navigation is visible at a glance and
still shows what section clicking it will take you to.
Music
Personally I hate background music, mostly because when I'm surfing I'm listening to my own music and then all of a sudden I've two tracks going on at
the same time! I will close the site instantly. I'm not a fan of having a webmasters personal taste forced on me. By all means have a link maybe 'listen
while you browse' so visitors can have the option.
Theft
This is the biggest no no. So many sites offer layouts, wallpapers, banners, icons etc for download so please don't steal them. Always credit anything from
another site, after getting permission if needed. Also always credit the resources you use in making anything. Theft never goes unnoticed no matter how
small your site is. Just imagine it was your work someone had stolen.