What Type of Web Sites Work Well and Why:

There is no reason to reinvent the wheel when creating a web site. It's important to go and look at other web pages that are similar in content as the one you are about to build. By no means do I mean copy the site but find out what you like and dislike.

Before you start to embark on the journey of building your own web page you should spend time cataloging sites that you like and sites that you dislike. A good way to determine if a web site is receiving visitors is by using Alexa (see side note on Alexa). Study these sites and make note of things that work well and things that don't. If you like the color scheme, the type, or a button design then write it down.

What I do is create two folders under my favorites in my browser. One folder titled "Design I like" and the other is "Design that sucks" ( hey I'm honest). Both are very important. The "Design I like" folder is there to give me inspiration. Every time I get stuck and need to be creative I look through that folder with all the nicely designed web sites. I have hundreds of sites that I like. On the other hand there are so many web site that really need to be redone or just forgotten and taken off the web.

I just picked a few dozen to put into my "Designs that suck" folder. When I'm designing a web page and think this page is not going well, I look in my wonderful folder of bad web sites. Usually I feel better about my web page right away. Besides that, sometimes looking at bad design helps us to make good design.

If you know what you don't like then you don't do it. It's a simple as that. A good idea is to surround yourself with things that inspire you. Don't just rely on the Internet for design ideas. Many rules of design that you find in art, magazines and advertising carry over into the web. Pick up a magazine, go for a walk, you will be surprised where ideas come from.

(next subtopic - What is the purpose of my web site? )

Web site design tips provided by scott@designmore.com visit his site at designmore.com

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