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Using modern web development software, developing and deploying a web site is simpler and easier than ever. Many of the necessary tools are available online for free as advertising-supported or demo software. Web development software employing a simple, graphical, what-you-see-is-what-you-get interface has made it unnecessary to learn cryptic computer codes and languages. These programs have effectively democratized the publication of web sites because almost anyone can quickly learn to develop and deploy their own web site.

However, the availability of such powerful web design software can lead to the production of unusable, unreadable websites. Unfortunately, basic guidelines of good web site design are often disregarded by novice web designers flocking to these easy-to-use web development tools. For example, most of us have visited sites with a ornate, decorative backgrounds against which the text was very hard to read. Many web sites are difficult to navigate because there is no cohesive organization of the individual web pages.

In order to stay away from the general drawbacks of insensitive web design, the future web site publisher should spend at least an hour or two to evaluate web site design guiding principles, or employ one of the numerous graphic design firms to build up the web site.

It is easy to implement these simple web design guidelines. To cite an example, the text and its solid background must be in contrasting colors. If, say, the text is in black, the background should be in white or off-white. The regular text and the links should also be in colors that are conspicuously dissimilar. The web page must display the menu or the table of contents as a centerpiece. In case of a multi-page web site, the menu should be located at the main page.

A common mistake that people make is to put up a site that people are unable to find. It's worth taking some time for search engine marketing and optimization in order to increase the visibility of your site to search engines. If nobody can find your site, then it's not worth putting it up in the first place. You can place popular search terms and keywords into the page code so that they are visible to search engines, but not to users. This is a little extra effort, but it can have a significant effect on the site's ranking on popular search engines.

Even if you have never designed a web site before, you can make a really good one. All you need is excellent research, thoughtful planning and great software. Study and plan before you start and make sure you know what you are doing. You should then be able to design an excellent site in only a few hours. People everywhere will be able to view it.