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Bad_Web_Design_Mistakes_With_Text
| Bad Web Design: Mistakes With Text
Even in today's world of Flash animation, animated GIFs, sound
files, VRML and other dazzling special effects, the basic reason
why people surf the web is to read. Yes, the pictures are great,
and yes the animations are wonderful, but what people really
care about is what you've got to say.
That being said, it's so very important that you don't destroy
your message by presenting your text in ways that discourage
people from reading.
One of the most classic mistakes is to make your text very
small. After all, you've got a lot to say and you want it to fit
on one screen, right? So why not make it as small as you can?
There are times when you want to make the text small. A link at
the bottom of your page to your privacy notice is a good
example. If someone wants to see this they will find it.
Otherwise, it's just something that you have to put there.
Another mistake is to TYPE IN ALL UPPER CASE. This, fortunately,
is generally restricted to the newest of the newbies. People
soon learn that all caps does not mean "give me your attention"
on the web - it means shout in your face. It's also a good way
to get people to hit the back key.
On the other hand, a very common problem is to make your text a
similar color to your background. If I run into a page with
everything like this I hit the back button fast.
Thank god most people understand that blinking characters are
not cool (and not supported by Internet Explorer, which is a
good thing).
Something which I see all of the time is sites which use
non-standard fonts. I know that the special font which you paid
a hundred dollars for is awesome, but believe me I'm not going
to pay a hundred dollars just to see your web site display
correctly.
You can get away with this, if you include a button to download
the font and complete instructions for installing it. Be sure to
include an alternate, more common font in your font list though,
for those people who do not want to download the correct one.
You can use downloadable fonts, but be aware that browser
support and standards are spotty at best. Even if you do include
downloadable fonts, be sure and specify alternates in your
tags just in case the browser did not do the download.
To sum it up, what I do is simple. I write my document, then sit
back from the screen about 4 feet. If I can still read the text
without trouble, then I ask my wife to do the same thing. If we
can both read it, then the document is fine. Otherwise,
something has to change.
About the author:
Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets.
This website includes over 1,000 free articles to improve your
internet profits, enjoyment and knowledge. Web Site Address:
http://www.internet-tips.net Weekly newsletter:
http://www.internet-tips.net/joinlist.htm Daily Tips:
mailto:internet-tips@GetResponse.com
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