There is a lot more to web design than just creating pretty pages.

There are centuries of accumulated knowledge on design for print, but no-one has been designing web pages for more than 7 years!

Firstly you have to make sure your web site is easy for people to find.

This means ensuring the Web Search Engines will offer your site high up their lists when a potential user is looking for your product or service! If your site is not in the first 10 'hits' then the chances are no-one will ever find it unless they know your web URL.

However, your search engine rating is only a small part of the story. You need to publicise your site by all the traditional means - on your brochures, letterheads etc. and through radio and TV advertising to create a really busy site. Mutual links with other sites can also bring many visitors to your site.

Secondly, you have to keep them there

Once they have found your site, you have to keep them there. If that first page does not appear quickly, then most people won't even wait for it to download. If it takes more than 30 seconds they will be off elsewhere! Just how long it takes depends upon how busy the system is at the time, whether your internet service provider has sufficient bandwidth, if they have a good internet connection, but most importantly the page content!

Once they have seen your first page, they must be able to see quickly exactly what services and/or products you offer, and they must be able to navigate quickly and efficiently around your site. Nothing is more frustrating than having to wait for page after page to download before you can get to the page you are looking for! Most people will give up very quickly if finding what they want is not very obvious.

What constitutes a 'Good' web site?

It must be one that people visit and then return to. So what makes them do that? First and foremost, it has to contain information they are looking for, and present it in an attractive and accessible form. An accountant looking for a new accounts package doesn't want to wait for a page full of 'bells and whistles' to download - he wants to know what it can do for him.

On the other hand, a site selling computer games has to show what the game looks like, and some animation (and sound) is probably required to do that.

In other words, the design has to be tailored to the product.

The information has to be easily readable on screen

A page full of tightly-packed text can be very difficult to read on a monitor, as can many text and background colour combinations. Text needs to be in short paragraphs but not with so many graphics that the visitor can't find the information they are looking for. Background images and textures can also make text difficult to read.