J David Macor

Alright, I know what you are thinking:

This guy is going to give me advice about web design?! He’s an idiot! He only has 11 9 readers! Plus, he’s just a novice himself!

Well, most of that is very true (along with the readers stat… I just checked feedburner…). I might argue about my being stoopid for a minute or two, but thats it. I am in fact a novice designer. But I would argue that that is precisely what makes this article all the more worth reading!

You see, I have actually been designing for almost 8 years and I am still a novice. You might call me the Master-Novice. Most people would have by now graduated into good or even at least decent designers, but my maintenance of this novice status proves my mastery. I know all of the hardships and pitfalls of being a crappy, start-up designer, but at the same time I have loads of experience and advice to give. Basically, what I am going to do is take all of the things I have done to remain a novice, and then give you the exact opposite advice. In that way, I figure that you will either find great success following my advice or otherwise fail miserably and quit before you find yourself in my position.

On to the advice:

• Start with a Good Host:

  This is a key mistake I have made. I have had this website for a little over a year, and I am currently stuck with goDaddy. While this was a very economical decision, it was not wise. In fact, I will be changing my host very soon, to midPhase. I understand that some other excellent candidates are Media Temple and Blue Gravity. This decision isn’t just important for your own personal site; do your client a favor, and make sure to pick a reliable host for them.

   

• Be Inspired:

  The best designs you will come up with will tend to be based off other good designs. Let’s face it. Right now, you are probably not experienced enough to be setting some design trends yourself, so just stick to copying, but within boundaries; always give credit to where it is due!

   

• Use Colors:

  I am telling you here and now that you should not be afraid of colors! When used properly, they are your best friends. When you are looking at a page, those with unique colors are also those that stick out in your mind. If you are color blind or don’t know what the word complement means, check out Color Schemer.

   

• Don’t Forget Typography:

  Pretty pictures and colors are all good, but we know that content is king; and when the king is dressed in peasant’s clothing, it does not leave a great impression. Make sure that you spend a good amount of time on what fonts look the best and the spacing and the readability and everything else in between. This is very important.

   

• Work From Big to Small:

  You should get the main elements of your page in place, before you start working on the little details. In other words, layout everything, put up a menu, add placeholders for elements and then start filling in the gaps. I find it useful to sketch out something first, then put it in digital form. Once I have a layout that I like (this is a long process itself), then I can start adding shiny reflections and apply my color scheme.

   

• Know When to Use Image Formats:

  There are 3 basic image formats for the web and those are gif, jpg and png. Png is the new, cool kid on the block, but it still can’t replace all of the functionality of the others. Certain situations call for certain formats. Fast loadtimes, details, animation capability; these are some things you have to consider. Check out this article for a summary of the different formats. But you should probably avoid animation anyways…

   

• Stick With Standards:

  I don’t have to tell you to use CSS and XHTML, because they are the coolest things around. But many people (myself included) do not follow the “rules” when it comes to standards. The truth is, you minimize your chances of having problems later on when you use the Web-God given standards; validate your site with the W3C Validation Service.

   

• Don’t Forget About IE:

  Ah, yes. The ever annoying IE hacks… But, given that at least 80% of browsers are using either 6 or 7, you really need to make your site look good in it. I still have not perfected this art, so you should really get busy or else be stuck with me in Novice-world. Check out Microsoft’s own resources for it, or just Google it.

   

I think that just about covers it. If you can think of other good pieces of advice, feel free to let me know about them. After all, I am still a novice.