One of the biggest limitations is that while what you see is what you get, what others see might not be the same. How a webpage is rendered depends on the kind of computer the end user has, the browser they use, and the settings that the user has on his or her computer.

One of the biggest mistakes is to choose a font that is not standard. It might look great on your machine but on my machine, it can look really bad. It might even show up as odd characters and not as letters at all. This can be disaster for you because not only can the person not read your message, your web site will look dreadful. One of the best fonts for the internet is Verdana and Georgia. These fonts that are considered optimal for internet readability.

Choosing colors is another challenge and some colors that look great together on paper may not look so good on the internet. Just to see what I mean, take a look at a site on your computer and then take a look at that same site on four other computers. You will likely notice a difference in the colors. This is not so obvious in a workplace situation where the computers are likely similar and the monitors are likely similar. However if you look at your friend's computer and your brother's computer and the next door neighbor's computer, the same page may very well look different on each one.

Coming up with the very basics like font and color scheme are easy compared with the other choices. There are decisions to make about whether to use a premade template, to design your own, to use php, css, or tables. What about fancy effects like flash and video and sound?

If you are totally new to internet web site design, then your first step should be to look at sites that are popular and see what you like about them and what makes them well-liked. You will find that the look of the site and the purpose of the site are usually related. The basic Google page, for instance, is no-frills. People who go there are looking for something else and don't want to spend time admiring Google. They want a nice simple entry into their search.