The most common web design mistakes emerge from the web designer’s failure to see the web as a medium that is much more in the control of the viewer than it is of the web designer. Designing websites using an approach that will allow them to function well despite different choices on the part of a viewer is what separates out a good designer from an average one.

People viewing the web  have so many different ways that can change their viewing environment, and we, as web designers, have to foresee those changes and design the website to withstand whatever gets thrown at it and still provide the viewer with a good and usable experience.

The most obvious error in Web Design is Font Sizing. Default font sizes can be altered, and for good reason. People who have vision problems often change the default font size in their browser or on their operating system so that they can read the text. But most web designers don’t think about this, leaving the person viewing their websites with a broken and barely usable experience. Or, even worse, they set them in pixel sizes, which don’t allow fonts to be rescaled in IE, forcing those with vision problems to squint at text that is too small for them to read. Even web designers who should know better make this mistake. And this is not solely an “amateur” mistake. Websites of recognizable brand names are broken in this way.

Another common problem Web Designers make is believing everyone has their background color set to the standard default color of white. In looking at websites I’ve designed on the machines that belong to friends and family, I can guarantee you that though it is rare for someone to change this setting, it does occur. When the default background color setting is modified, then the website that does not have a background color set in the code is guaranteed to look terrible.

Finally, there’s the problem I call trying to stuff ten pounds of manure in a five pound bag. This refers to side scrolling for those who use smaller resolutions such as 800 x 600, or such a busy layout with so much flashing and so many colors that it’s pulling the eye in too many directions at once. Or maybe there is so little whitespace in the layout that it’s hard for the eye to land on any one item. These websites are very tricky to read, especially if the individual viewing the site uses a non standard resolution or window size.

A well designed website takes a viewer’s computer environment into account. The most well designed websites adjust seamlessly in all browsers to different default font sizes, to various resolution and window sizes, and will set both background colors and font colors to assure good contrast and easy viewing for everyone.