The job of building a website can be vast and complex and in learning new things it is easy to forget the core principles which make a website effective. Maybe this isn’t quite a blueprint for the perfect website but if you follow these steps you wont go far wrong. Oh and if you feel there’s anything I’ve missed please feel free to post a comment. Such is the pace the web changes I’m sure these rules will change to but for now here are the first 5 things you must do in order to have a great website:

1. 404 page

An essential part of any professional site: the 404 page is found when a user types in a url which doesn’t exist; usually coming up with the title ‘this page does not exist. It is a simple page to feature, yet so many sites don’t bother to make this small effort. Make the 404 page interesting. Use it as an opportunity to drop some humour or experiment with some creativity, instead of boring the user even more within a page they don’t want to be anywhere near in the first place.

2. Good Typography

Typography on the web hasn’t matured as well as it’s older brother in print even though there have been marked improvements. All sites should get the basics right for legibility reasons. The first thing you need to do is make sure sufficient line height is given to content making it easier to read. Also make sure you have a hierarchy of different text sizes. Making a text size bigger doesn’t necessarily make it more distinguishable. A small font size within a hierarchy will speak louder than a large font size in a layout with no hierarchy.

3. Clickable logo link
Another standard point which is often forgotten is to make your sites logo a clickable link. It would be fair to say users now expect the logo to be clickable and take them back to the homepage; don’t disappoint them.

4. Engaging copy
Don’t sound like a robot. Show that there is a personality behind the copy writer. The internet is enough of an artificial place as it is therefore any chance to show a human voice should be taken. Also tests have shown that even if users are reading a confusing article; putting a humorous twist on it will make them feel more relaxed and likely to continue reading.

5. J-Query elements
Java script libraries like j-query are now providing an easy way to add interactivity to sites without using flash elements. J-query is essentially a lightweight Java script library which has minimal impact on loading times and is also S.E.O friendly. In my case j-query has usurped flash; although flash should still be used for what it was designed for i.e animations.

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