Many people might think that once a website is up and running that it becomes easy for users to find it and keep returning. This cannot be farther from the truth than you can imagine. While it is true that anyone can find a website but to maintain engagement and return is a different ball game.

A website needs to maintain certain attributes for it to remain an attraction to users and this centers around how user-friendly it is. This whole experience is based on the users’ interface and how well they can enjoy their engagement irrespective of their platform of access. Effective creative design can minimize ambiguity in a brand and give it a more global outlook.

Here is an outline of common blunders that designers need to avoid:

Blunder #1: The Responsive Bogey

It is quite common to see a website that is fully accessible on a desktop but when you switch to your mobile gadget, it renders blurred or awkward images. This is almost unpardonable in this age and time when mobile access is fast becoming the norm.

If elements are poor to view or read and images become blurry then you need to consider a tweak.  Where links appear, they need to be clickable even if you use your phone. Consider Bootstrap and other options to make the needed amends.

Blunder #2: Blocking the Right click

What would browsing be if you are unable to right-click to highlight to copy and open images or links in new tabs? When a website is coded in such a way as to override the right-click mechanism then you have dampened the user experience,

Make sure that you do not introduce any custom code to override the click mechanism and if you did, have it undone.

Blunder #3:  Uncreative JavaScript Alert Box

Web developers sometimes sacrifice quality for ease of implementation and this is what happens with the good old JavaScript alert boxes. These are ugly and tell poorly on the aesthetic value of your website.

Utilizing new alert forms such as the jQueryUI is one way to get past this limitation.

Blunder #4: Disabled “Enter” Function

When forms are filled and submitted on a website with a strike of the enter key, then you are on queue for a rewarding user experience. However, this is not always the case as you might have to do the mouse click to submit on some websites.

The web design is what determines if such forms can be submitted with the “enter” key and the JavaScript needs to be tweaked with the right tags to make it work.

Blunder #5: Font Style Uniformity

A differentiation between elements can be made using different font styles so that they can be recognizable and distinct.

Taking out time to ensure that there are different fonts for your titles, body text and other elements portray better aesthetics and enhance user experience.

Blunder #6: Failure to Shut Out the Processing Pages

When users run searches on your website, it links them to internal pages from the search filter. When you have behind the scenes processing going on at any time, these filters are meant to be blocked so as to prevent bubbling requests.

Using plugins that block processing pages from user access will save your website from crashing.

Blunder #7: Numerous form fields

When there are numerous fields on a form, it gives such UI depreciation that you cannot probably imagine. Limit the number of fields on a form to the basics and no one should be hard pressed to fill up your forms as a result of the windy nature.

If you cannot avoid numerous fields, hide some of the tabs so that they only appear when that step is necessary

Blunder #8: Missing field values (forms, etc.)

It is a huge blunder to allow users fill up forms only to be confronted with missing values at the tail-end. This will result when there is failure of server side authentication.

Make sure that proper coding is done and use plugins to validate individual elements on these forms. It is worth the trouble rather than lose traffic from this blunder.

Blunder #9: User Alerts

Websites have intervals for maintenance or some internal processing such that user access can be limited. Failure to pop up such alerts can be a huge blunder that designers are wont to make.

You can put up a progress bar so that as users access your page or individual element, they can be notified of what’s going on. Just make sure not to be too technical.

Blunder #10: Poor Image Linking

If an image link gets clicked on only to load the same display size, then it is a complete waste of time.  Do not depreciate UI experience by such blunders.

Make sure to use a bigger image in the target destination of the link and if there is no bigger image, kindly leave it out.

Conclusion

If you realize how much the competition is for user engagement, then you will give a thought to all of these points above. Remember that the user is not your nurse and is sure to lose patience fast!