Designing a web site, can be a challenge on a number of fronts, based on the variety and richness of not only the current design techniques & styles, but also the browser capabilities.

This article sets out in simple terms the factors we need to consider when designing a web site, and applies to all types of web sites, from small holding pages, through corporate web sites through to more complex eCommerce and eBusiness applications.

For example Google Analytics automatically tracks a number of statistics about the browser capabilities of visitors to your site:

• Browser type. eg IE, Firefox, Safari..
• Operating system. eg PC, Mac
• Browser-operating system combined ratios. PC/IE, Mac/Safari
• Screen Colours. 16 bit, 32 bit
• Screen Resolution. 1024×768, 1280×1024
• Flash Versions. eg 9.0, 10..
• Java Support. yes/no

The information below is based on actual google analytics reporting.

Browser Type.

Currently around 65% of browsers are Internet Explorer, 19% Firefox and 13% Safari. Chrome, Opera etc make up the balance.

Operating Systems.

Windows Leads the way currently, with 87% domination, MAC is around 11%.. with the iPhone and others making up the balance of 1%.

Browser-operating system combined ratios.

This is where it gets interesting, and a little harder to explain.

65% of visitors use Internet Explorer and Windows.
16% of visitors use Firefox and Windows.
9% use Safari & Mac.

All Internet Explorer visitors use Windows. [as there are no IE versions available to MAC users].  About 87% of Firefox visitors use Windows, 11% on Mac. and the rest on Linux.

About 75% of Safari users are Mac based versus 15% on Windows.  The rest are iPhone based.
Screen Colours.

Over 86% of all browsers are 32bit colour, 11% are 24bit with 16bit and under covering the rest.

Screen Resolutions
This is probably the most complex area of browser capabilities.  As a design agency we need to really focus our designs on the end user or the most popular end user profile.

There are a vast array of screen resolutions now, with different devices on the market.  The following outlines the top sixbrowsers by screen resolution.

1280 x 800 covers 37%
1024 x 768 covers 21%
1440 x 768 covers 9%
1280 x 1024 cover 9%
1366 x 768 cover 6%
1860 x 1050 cover 4%

The six above cover 89% which means there are a lot of other random sizes covering the last 11%. Interestingly less than 1% of browsers are 800 x 600, which five or six years ago was the norm.

The question is where do we design for, intial response would be 1280 x 800 a nice wide screen.. but no we need to focus on the 1024 x 768 browser as this is the narrowist width (1024) of the top six.  Especially if we are looking at a fixed width web site, then this will be set to just under 1000, so that the scroll bars do not effect the design.  With fluid or “percentage” based design then this will be ok as long as we again keep the lowest common theme to 90% of 1024 we will be ok.

Flash Versions.
Over 82% are version Flash Version 10, which shows the update mechanism is working , with version 9 taking up the majority of the rest. There are very few Flash version 8 and below browsers.

Java Support
Very simply, 93% of browsers support Java and 7% do not.

When doing business on the Internet, there are many ways in which you can make a website successful. Although the look of your website is important, fancy websites don’t make sales. There is much more to creating a quality website. To make a website successful, you must create a website that will be of interest to your target market and make them want to visit your website over and over again. In addition, your website should lead your visitors to take the action you desire, such as joining your mailing list, or making a purchase.

Selecting a Website’s Niche

The first step toward how to make a website successful, will be to target your website for one specific niche. For example, if you are designing a website about wine, everything within your website should relate to wine.

Selecting a Website’s Keyword Phrase

You must also select the most relevant keyword phrase for each webpage. A keyword phrase is two or more words that best describe your webpage. For example, if your webpage is about ‘making wine,’ your best keyword phrase would be ‘wine making.’ You should use your keyword phrase a few times within your webpage, as this will enable the search engines to determine what the website is about. This is a very important step to make a website successful.

Using HTML Heading Tags

When you begin writing your content, it is very important that you use the HTML H1 heading tag with your main title at the top of your webpage. In addition, use the HTML H2 tags for your sub-titles. This is very important, as some search engines place relevance on the text displayed with heading tags.

As the default text for the H1 heading tag is very large, you may want to use CSS style sheets to display the heading tags in the font style and size you prefer.

Using META Tags Within a Webpage

Another step to help make a website successful is to include META tags between the HEAD tags of your webpage. META tags help the search engines to know what keywords are relevant to the webpage. They are also used to tell the search engines what the webpage is about. Many search engines will display this description within the search results.

Backgrounds and Text

It is always best to display a webpage with a white background and black text, as this will make the text easy to read. Distracting backgrounds will make the text hard to read. A good rule of thumb is to just use common sense and keep your website simple. This alone is a great way to help make a website successful.

Animated Graphics

If you’re using animated graphics, it is important that you use them sparingly. Graphics that continually flash are VERY annoying and may prevent your visitors from returning to your website in the future.

Navigational Links

It is very important to include good navigational links on every page. They should be displayed at the top, bottom, left or right side of your webpage. In addition, your visitors should be able to get to any webpage within your website within four clicks.

Webpage Layout

Always be consistent with your webpage design. This is a very important step to help make a website successful. The layout for your website should be the same on each page. If you make it different, your visitors will become confused. In addition, it will make your website appear to be unprofessional. Your website design should include the same layout, logo, and navigation setup on each page.

Spelling and Grammar

Always make sure you proof read and spell check your webpages for errors. It is also very important that your webpage doesn’t have any broken images or links.

Important Webpages

When you launch your website, it is very important that you include the following webpages:

About – The ‘About’ page is used to tell your visitors about you and/or your company.

Privacy – The ‘Privacy’ page is used to let your visitors know what you do with their personal information, such as their email address.

Terms and Conditions – The ‘Terms and Conditions’ page should be displayed on your website for your protection.

Site Map – A ‘Site Map’ is used to help the search engines index your website more easily.

You can learn more about all of these pages by doing a search through your favorite search engine. They are very important and will help make a website successful.

Website Interactivity

Another way to make a website successful is to make the website interactive. This can be done by including a targeted forum that complements your website, a form in which they can subscribe to an ezine, a feedback form to enable them to give their opinion, or an informative blog in which visitors can comment.

Web Browsers and Screen Resolutions

When you begin designing your webpage, it is HIGHLY recommended that you install the most popular web browsers on your computer. This will enable you to see how your website will display in different browsers. You will find that your website may look great in one browser and terrible in another. It would be wise to design your website to display properly in Firefox and then it should display properly in Internet Explorer, Opera, etc.

It is also important that you view your website through different screen resolutions. You can either open your webpage in your browser and then change your computer’s screen resolution, or there are website’s online that you can visit, such as Any Browser, to test your website.

If you follow these simple guidelines, you can begin to make a website successful in no time.

By Shelley Lowery (c) 2009 / SiteProNews

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User friendliness

It is vital for your shop to be welcoming and user-friendly. Just as in a ‘bricks and mortar’ establishment, you should make every effort to provide an online shop that is inviting and gives your visitors a pleasant experience.

Contact details

Make sure your contact information (including phone numbers, email address and postal address) are readily available. They should either be part of every page or reached by means of a prominent link on each page.

Don’t hide the door to your shop

Make sure your design shows clearly how to enter your shop, to avoid confusion visitors. The shop entrance should not be obscured with advertisements or too much information. Home pages that are too busy may prevent the customer from locating your shop and the goods or services on offer there.

Use easy navigation

To prevent your visitors from wandering aimlessly around your shop, make sure your navigation system easily allows them to find what they came for.

Let your visitors browse freely

Be careful not to hassle customers for personal information until they are ready to buy. This is the equivalent of a pushy sales assistant and could result in customers going elsewhere.

Layout

Make your shop layout and categories meaningful for customers. Items should be divided into appropriate categories, making it as easy as possible for people to find what they are looking for. Avoid ambiguity in the categories and if necessary use text descriptions to explain what is in a category.

Search facility

A search facility should always appear prominently on the web site. A quick and easy means of ‘finding what you are looking for’ is particularly important, given that browsing through a large online shop can be a difficult and slow process. Make sure that the search facility accepts appropriate terms, including multiple words. This will make the whole searching process work well for customers.

Accessibility

Make sure your online shop can be operated by and is accessible to all customers. ‘Accessibility’ means ‘making the content accessible’, so that everyone can navigate and read what is there, regardless of their location, experience, disability, or type of technology they use. As well as being required by law, good web site accessibility will bring you many more potential customers.

Keep your products list up to date

The shop items need to be kept up to date with correct information. There is no point in advertising items that you no longer stock or that are wrongly priced. Web site users will come back if they know the content is updated regularly. But if you disappoint a customer by not providing an advertised product, you will get ‘poor press’ as the customer relays their experience to others.

The shopping cart

The shopping cart should be both easy to use and to navigate. Shop items should have clear and informative labels to describe them and to show if they are in stock. The customer likes to see what they are buying, so you should include images of items to help identify them. This is particularly important for the more expensive purchases or fashion items. The ‘add to cart’ link should be positioned next to each item listed, with the ‘view cart’ link viewable at all times.

As the customer makes their order, each step of the shopping cart process needs to be explained, from adding an item to paying. Orders should be placed and processed with as few clicks as possible, and customers should have to provide as little information as possible. There should be provision for the customer to recover easily from any mistakes.

Payment options

Be as flexible as possible and allow your customers a variety of payment methods, including:

• credit card
• debit card
• payment processor (for example, WorldPay and PayPal)
• multi-currency
• cheque with order

User testing

Use a sample group of people of different ages, backgrounds and Internet experience to find and buy a product. Use their feedback to fine-tune how your online shop works.

Customer account management options

Registered web site users can log into an account management section with their email address and password to manage the following areas:

• ‘My profile’ – allows users to keep their contact and account information such as payment method and delivery address.
• Account history – where users can view all orders made through the web site, checking each order and its details in full at any time.
• Order tracking – once an order has been placed, users can log into their account management section and view the progress of their order (for example, has it been dispatched?).

Wish lists

Wish lists drawn up by the customer of items they desire can be used as the ideal shopping list for their friends and family choosing the perfect gift.

• The wedding gift list is a good example of the wish list. The bride and groom register with your wedding gift list service online, then browse through the online shop and add whichever items they want to their wedding gift list. Once they have completed the list, they will receive a URL (web site address), username and password to give to guests, who can then go online and log into that list. The guests can view which items have been bought and which are still available to buy.

Customer details and mailing lists

You can ask customers when they register with your online shop if they would like to be added to your email mailing list. Then you can divide this into two types of email mailing lists – HTML (the language of the Internet) and text only. You can use the mailing lists to inform customers of sales, special offers and other initiatives.

Value added experience

You should promote the value of online shopping at your web site. If you can offer benefits over high street shopping, customers may be tempted to buy online. Your promotion will depend on the kind of items you sell, but useful features could include product reviews.