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So you've decided to put up your first website- congratulations. Before you start doing some easy website design, though, you should be aware of the design no-nos. There are certain things that you should avoid, as a designer -- these elements may seem like a good idea to you at first, but they'll make your website unattractive. And if your website doesn't look good, your potential site visitors may be less inclined to browse through.

1. Animated GIFs and scrolling text. In the 1990s, these were a novelty, but the appeal quickly wore off. If you want to be taken seriously, maybe you should put down those dancing kitten animations and smileys from the header. Both animated GIFs and scrolling text serve as distractions, and makes your site looks uninspired and dated.

2.Excessively large fonts and bad font colors. Using bad color combinations for text and background (dark text on black backgrounds, for example) is a sure-fire way to turn your readers off. And don't attempt to compensate by making your fonts a lot bigger. Just use contrasting, tasteful colors - stick to around 12 points of Arial or Verdana, as these fonts are the most easily recognized by all browsers.

3.Very large image sizes. Your Internet-savvy visitors want your page to load quickly so they can start reading. Keeping your users waiting for more than a couple seconds while your images and other content load on their screens may cause them to move on to other websites. Make your file sizes smaller. Compress your images- around 50KB is the ideal size of a medium-sized image. There are many graphics programs available online for free download, to assist in easy website design.

4.Excessively lengthy blocks of text. There are many ways you can make your text unreadable by using the wrong layout. Text must be put in columns, and not all the way from the left to the right. Columns are used by magazines and newspapers, too, because it makes it easier for readers to keep their place while reading. But don't make your columns too long, either. Columns that go longer than one screens' worth of space (about 768 pixels on the majority of monitors today) should be divided, and the excess content moved to another page.

These are only a few of the design mistakes that inexperienced designers make. The rule of thumb for people who want easy website design is: design for your target market. Don't put animations because you think animated GIFs look cool. Remember to every now and then stop and examine your work, and ask yourself if it fills any of your future visitors' needs. Visitors prefer pages that load quickly, with organized presentation, easily-navigable, and visually-appealing. Your average user browses through dozens of pages in a day, and you want to make his online experience as comfortable as possible.

Because your average user has a short attention span, you want their first impression of your site to be a good one. When designing, avoid components that will only distract visitors, like GIF animations. Keep your text easy to read by using high-contrast colors, and keeping your font sizes consistent. Keep your image file sizes small, to improve loading times. Easy website design revolves around designing according to the visitor's needs, so you have to learn to appreciate your design like a potential visitor would.