Whether you are trying to design a great web design or are hunting for one online, there are some things to keep in mind when trying to differentiate between a good web design and a great one. Although there are countless styles of web design pages, there are certain characteristics that many professionals observe as they create their own web design pages.

The first tip for web design is to keep things small, usually recommended is 10 12 KB per image. Although there are becoming less and less dial up users, even when someone is on a T1 connection, the bottom line is that slow pages are really annoying, and giant images are one of the prime causes of slow pages. Be sure to optimize the images that go into your web design.

Speaking of images, you should always stick with graphics that fit the content of the web design. Just because you took a great picture of a sailboat on the lake with the sun setting perfectly behind it doesnt mean you should include it in your web design if it has nothing to do with the content of the page. Also, be careful using images that move, blink, rotate, or flash in your web design, because it has been studied and shown that flashing graphics are more annoying and distracting to people than they are cool.

In terms of the layout of your web design, keep to the standard layouts. Although pages with a bunch of frames on them or pages that have the reader scroll to the right instead of down might be fun for a change in web design, they are probably nothing but irritating to readers. A popular layout for web design that works incredibly well is the three column layout web design. Even though you might find it boring, stick with something simple for your readers.

A critical element in any web design has to do with fonts. Good tips for choosing which fonts to use in your web design begin with limiting the number of different fonts on your web design page. Changing the fonts repeatedly on a page is thought in the design world to be amateurish. Limiting your web design page to two, maybe three fonts is easy to read and it looks more professional. Use Serif for headlines, and Sans Serif for your text. Although this is different than recommendations for print design, keep in mind that this is not print design we are talking about; this is web design. Sans serif fonts are easy to read on a monitor, because the screen resolution is not as high. Using serif fonts for normal text may be asking for trouble, because the letters can blur together, making them hard to read. If you are making a printer friendly page available as part of your web design, switch the fonts: sans serif for text and serif for headlines.

Finally, you will want to test your web design in multiple browsers. Why create web design that will work only in the most used browser? You will have problems with people not being able to view your web design, so make sure all browsers work with your web design. The same holds true for operating systems. Dont just assume that your web design will work for Mac and Windows, try it! Following these steps will help you on your way to distinguishing a good web design from a great web design.