A 21st century blunder

With so many web designers and so called web designing companies, we are now on the verge of "Designer Explosion" somewhat similar to our very own problem of the country, "Population Explosion". Anyway, it is also heartening to know that many young and old alike, responsible citizens of our country are now channelizing their energies into designing than just waiting to vote every year and see how that plays out until next.

Now with all sincerity, these freelancers have now got to also understand that by just sitting their for years doing the same thing over and over again is not only squashing their designing world's but also making them redundant and useless. There are certain things which one needs to be aware about regarding working in a dynamic environment, where change is bound to happen one point or the other. Now you either be a part of the change or say "ta da" to your so- called profession. Many designers and sometime people themselves commit certain common errors which diminishes their power to impress prospective clients. These errors are the biggest blunders, that could tarnish your own portfolios and profiles.

Some of the things a designer has to keep in mind all the time are:

1) You create a website to engage your viewers in the content and images on your website and not to squander their patience. The imagery and content has to be relevant to the central theme of the website, making the most of USABILITY, adding confusing language and images to impress God knows whom, our so called designers make the visitors impatient, resulting in them calling these designers a few names and saying goodbye. SO STOP THIS.

2) Flash based websites- It looks good when those images are moving in a particular manner on your website and then you have flash intros and flash headers which make your website look really "Exclusive" (Yes, that is what designers have told me,Exclusive), however, how much of good are you going to get out of that, if only you can pleasure yourself out of it and no one else even sees it. Grow up! it is time we used "latest technology" (which is available freely) and use them for these similar effects rather than conning your clients out of money promising them exclusivity.

3) Using images for text- For the vast majority of basement web designers doing this for the first time, it is extremely common to pitch a site with an unsupported font for a header or body content. Come development time you realize that you can’t put that font in real text and your client absolutely loved it! In fact it’s so unique they’d never seen a site do that before (for a reason), you’re a hero! We’ll guess what ::fail::… now you have to put all that great content in an image and none of the engines will ever get to read it.. Stay away from this mistake, learn the difference between a web safe font and a non-web safe font. D'oh!

4) Check your spelling and Grammar- When I have some time to waste, I indulge myself in reading letters and articles which have spelling mistakes, and there is no shame on laughing at these errors. When there are many ways of proof reading and making sure whether your statements are grammatically correct and your words are spelled correctly, people still commit these follies, and so do our "basement designers". You give websites marvelous designs and layouts but then throughout the website, if there is one spell error, you are done for! Those hate mails, disgusted looks among fraternity and taunts from customers and the woman walking her dog would be unbearable, confining you to your basement.

5) Set your design standards as high as possible- Never refrain from learning, don't go around saying, "Oh, I know everything", people who say that, normally, are the one's living in the Ice age, because in the 21st century, technology, criteria, mechanisms etc. are changing every day, in fact every hour. So get out there read books, blogs, articles related to latest trends and keep your webbed head up to date.

Saying so, I must warn each and every one of you designers out there, We have the Chinese, American and designers all over the world to compete with and not just "Basement buddies" Pull your socks up (if you wear any) and get your designs out there. Happy Eid and Ganesh Chaturthi to all.