Worst Web Design Myths that May Ruin Your Career As a Web Designer
Today we will be sharing some very important observations in web designing that we often fall prey to. These are some of the most believed upon and often put forward as concerns but things that certainly waste our time. If you are a web designer and you have clients who appreciate your work then you must not let these myths affect your work. At the other hand, if you are a newbie or a person who uses the Internet just for fun, you must read this post too. Stay creative and be as random in your designing as you can. To follow are some of the worst web design myths that you must keep your eyes closed to. Hope you get to learn something interesting from each one of them. Enjoy!
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Myth 1: Adding a Blog to Your Website is not Beneficial
This is a common belief shared by many people and is a myth spread by these same people. This myth is hanging on to our heads almost all the time and is largely because most people either don’t know how to integrate a blog into their website or they just don’t want to be bothered with maintaining a blog for their business. The fact is that a large portion of companies all over the world maintain a blog together with their website and it does greatly help them in their marketing strategies. A blog can help generate additional visibility and is something that consumers do like to use as it helps decrease the gap between the company and the client.
Myth 2: A Website’s Aesthetic Features are the Most Important
Many web developers may enjoy working with features such as flash, playing around with layers and adding shadows and in order to be able to incorporate their favorite toys in to their work this myth has been made up. But the fact is quite on the contrary, users do not like visual appeal as much as they do enjoy ease of use. If a website is very attractive visually but has below than average functionality and makes it impossible for users to find what they are looking for, users are unlikely to visit that website again.
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Myth 3: A Mobile Version of the Website is Critical
It is indeed true that since the introduction of smart phones and tablet devices there is a radical increase in the number of mobile devices which access the Internet. Though in reality this largely depends on your target market and whether or not users from your target market will really be accessing your website from mobile devices. For instance, if your business largely caters to the again population it is highly unlikely that you will receive much traffic from mobile users. Therefore it is vital to analyze what kind of consumers you are focusing on and then develop your website to accommodate their needs and requirements.
Myth 4: Users Don’t like to Scroll
Back in the day when search engines were not that efficient this myth may have been a crucial fact. Today, however things have changed and search engines are very smart in finding out exactly what you need. More so, websites themselves have also become optimized to show up in relevant searches. It is still important to grab the user’s attention with the area of the website which is visible, though if the user knows they have come across a relevant search result they are sure to scroll. Not to forget that web surfing is much more common and using the internet is part of anyone’s standard routine, scrolling is not major issue and visitors will scan an entire website if they enjoy it.
Well, I do love scrolling!
Myth 5: A Web Designer must COMPLY with Client’s Requirements
In most professions it could cost a lot of money and your own reputation if you don’t comply with what the client wants, though web designing is an exception to this. Due to the fact that clients themselves are not web designers they are not aware about what exactly is needed in order to make the website successful. The designer must consider their needs and requirements though if the needs and requirements clash with one another, you will be creating a non functional site. So do what the client wants but also educate them a bit on how a site is built.
Myth 6: Traffic is Everything
Contrary to popular belief traffic is not everything; there are some exceptional cases such as where the main aim is to get as much traffic as possible in order to get money from adverts. But for other businesses and companies in general which are trying to sell their goods and services, traffic is only but a small component. Rather traffic includes people who have accidentally stumbled upon your site, those who have visited but did not like any products and others who are simply browsing, much like window shopping. What needs to be focused on is the ratio of traffic to sales or customers.
Considering all these myths and analyzing one’s own approach towards these myths is what shows us where which group we lie in as a web designer. Make the best use of your skills and try to avoid these myths as much as possible.
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Very good, I’d be interested to know also if Link building and things like Facebook likes being useful are infact myth also?
Hi LeahG, thanks for your comment. As far as Link Building is concerned, Google has out so many restrictions on building them that time after time one has to run after getting their links removed from websites. About Facebook likes, I think that is quite a myth that people fall prey to… Just getting likes or followers does not mean you will get an equally good response from those followers when you post something…
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with scrolling but I absolutely hate sites that require horizontal scrolling.