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If this is your first time to put up a website, and you're thinking of getting into some easy website design, there are some things that you should know. There are a lot of elements out there that you may be tempted to put in, but these will make your site visually unappealing for visitors. 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. Animated GIFs and scrolling text. In the 1990s, these were a novelty, but the appeal quickly wore off. If you want to be taken seriously, maybe you should put down those dancing kitten animations and smileys from the header. Along with scrolling text, these animations make your site look old and clunky, and will only serve to distract users.

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. Just use contrasting, tasteful colors - stick to around 12 points of Arial or Verdana, as these fonts are the most easily recognized by all browsers.

3.Large file sizes for images. Your Internet-savvy visitors want your page to load quickly so they can start reading. Keeping your users waiting for more than a couple seconds while your images and other content load on their screens may cause them to move on to other websites. Make your file sizes smaller. Keep your image file size to about 50KB per photo for medium-sized images. There are many free graphics programs you can find online to help you with easy website design.

4.Excessively lengthy 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 are used by magazines and newspapers, too, because it makes it easier for readers to keep their place while reading. But don't make your columns too long, either. If your text goes a lot longer than one screen height (about 768 pixels on the majority of monitors), then put the rest of the content on another page.

These are just some things to avoid. Remember, there's always the rule for easy website design: Design for your Audience. Don't put in colors that you like, put in the colors that you think your audience will prefer. Remember to every now and then stop and examine your work, and ask yourself if it fills any of your future visitors' needs. You want pages to load fast, to present the information in an orderly fashion, and to be easy on the eyes. 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.