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Website design checklist

By James Middleton - 29th of January 2007

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If you are new to website design, then the following checklist will no-doubt help you on your way.

Website design checklist:

1. Research your competition

Before you start your project, find out the level of competition. If you are not experienced at Search Engine Optimization, then try to steer clear from website design projects that have massive competition. You can also learn a lot from your competitors such as what systems work and keywords and phrases.

2. HTML and CSS

Take time to learn about HTML and CSS - there are plenty of tutorials on the internet and these two very common languages are very easy and quick to learn. The more you rely on HTML and CSS and less you rely on your WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) software, the better.

3. Avoid cheap gimmicks

Adding lots of 'bells and whistles' to your website design will not only annoy people, it is really unprofessional. Keep animations, clip art, sounds, music and exotic fonts to an absolute minimal. Also, try not to use too much in the way of Javascript, as doing so might lead to accessibility issues.

4. Avoid Flash for content

If you are going to use Flash animation within your website design, use it only on small adverts. Using Flash to deliver textual content is an extremely bad idea. It is very difficult for the major search engines to track your textual content if it is stored within a Flash Shockwave file. Also, many people these days have abandoned the shockwave plugin and will not be able to see your content. Flash animation and sounds can also be very irritating and slow to load, so keep things as simple and as clean as possible.

5. Use CSS for appearance

I know I have already mentioned CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), but it is a very useful language. It can be used to universally control fonts, images, layouts, etc. without having to use repetitive HTML coding.

6. Externalise your scripts

If you are using CSS or Javascript within your website design, then externalise the codes. This can be done by putting the code within a separate file and then let the server load it into each page. For Javascript use something like '<script type="text/javascript" src="/scripts/myjavascript.js"></script>' and for CSS use '<link href="/scripts/vacak.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all">'. Doing this will not only keep you code tidy, but will be more appealing for the search engine spiders.

7. Title and other meta-tags

Choose about 3 keywords or phrases for your website design. Make use of the Title tag on each page. Don't fill it with generic information like 'My site'. Include the keywords that you have optimized that individual page for example: "UK Holiday Accommodations - Hotels - Cottages". Note: I have tried to avoiding using 'stop words' such as 'and, 'the', 'a/as/an', etc. Stop words are ignored by the major search engines and may waste valuable selling space. Fill your description meta tag with good readable copy and don't forget to use your keywords. Using the 'keywords' meta-tag is not so important these days, but there is certainly no harm in incorporating them into a page. I personally find them very useful for keeping track of the specific words and terms that I have optimized a page for.

Conclusion

Although the above list is by know means comprehensive, it should guide in developing your website design and developing a project that make result in a retirement fund.

About this Article
Author: James Middleton

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