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If you're about to start making a website and are looking for easy website design advice, you should be aware of the traps that wait for the inexperienced web designer. There are a lot of elements out there that you may be tempted to put in, but these will make your site visually unappealing for visitors. And if your website doesn't look good, your potential site visitors may be less inclined to browse through.

1.GIF animations and scrolling text. In the 1990s, these were a novelty, but the appeal quickly wore off. If you want your new site to look professional, then get rid of all those GIF animations. Both animated GIFs and scrolling text serve as distractions, and makes your site looks uninspired and dated.

2.Excessively large fonts and bad font colors. Putting dark letters on a dark background, or light ones on a light background, hampers the readability of your page. Don't try to make up for it by putting huge letters, which, again, just serve as distractions. Just use contrasting, tasteful colors - stick to around 12 points of Arial or Verdana, as these fonts are the most easily recognized by all browsers.

3.Large file sizes for images. Users today expect their websites to load as fast as possible, so they can immediately see the site content. Slow-loading pages are a big turn-off for today's visitor""keeping them waiting for more than a few seconds make may them lose patience and just go to another, faster-loading site. Your page content, especially images, should be kept to as small a file size as possible. Compress all the pictures, and aim for file sizes for about 50kb for mid-sized photos. You should be able to find some graphics programs you can download for free, for easy website design.

4.Long blocks of text. Much of your site content will probably be text, but presenting them all at once will lower readability. Keep your text in columns, don't make your text stretch from one end of the window to the other. Columns are used by magazines and newspapers, too, because it makes it easier for readers to keep their place while reading. But don't make your columns too long, either. If your text goes a lot longer than one screen height (about 768 pixels on the majority of monitors), then put the rest of the content on another page.

These are just some things to avoid. Remember, there's always the rule for easy website design: Design for your Audience. Don't put animations because you think animated GIFs look cool. Remember to every now and then stop and examine your work, and ask yourself if it fills any of your future visitors' needs. Visitors prefer pages that load quickly, with organized presentation, easily-navigable, and visually-appealing. Because your average visitor has other pages to look at, you want him to stay a bit longer, look around, and hear what you want to say.