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So you've decided to put up your first website- congratulations. Before you start doing some easy website design, though, you should be aware of the design no-nos. As a designer, it's your duty to avoid certain elements on your webpages, because they can make your site look cheap, uninteresting, or both. And if your design looks bad, then your visitors will be less inclined to stay long enough to see what your site is all about.

1.GIF animations and scrolling text. These were popular, when the Internet was young, and they seemed cool at the time. If you want your visitors to take you seriously, lose those GIFs. Along with scrolling text, they're distractions- they don't get any message across, other than: "Don't look at the content, look at ME!"

2.Ill-chosen font colors/Very large text. Putting dark letters on a dark background, or light ones on a light background, hampers the readability of your page. And don't try to increase readability by making your fonts larger. Use high-contrast colors and regular font sizes: 12 points for both Arial and Verdana, which are the most widely-recognized fonts on all web browser programs.

3.Very large image sizes. Users today expect their websites to load as fast as possible, so they can immediately see the site content. Most users now have a short attention span- if they have to wait for your page to load for more than a few seconds, then they'll start getting restless and may just move on to another page. Keep your image sizes small, and the page will load faster. Compress all the pictures, and aim for file sizes for about 50kb for mid-sized photos. There are many free graphics programs you can find online to help you with easy website design.

4.Long blocks of text. If you put in text blocks that are too big, they quickly become hard to read. Text must be put in columns, and not all the way from the left to the right. Columns make it easier for people to keep their place when reading a lot of text. But don't take that to mean that very long columns are acceptable. If your column is a lot longer than the height of most monitors (about 768 pixels), move the rest of the content to another page.

There are many more designs don'ts out there. The rule of thumb for people who want easy website design is: design for your target market. Don't put animations because you think animated GIFs look cool. Learn to look at your designs from a user's perspective. The page that attracts users is attractive, well thought-out in presentation, and fast-loading. Because your average visitor has other pages to look at, you want him to stay a bit longer, look around, and hear what you want to say.