Website Design Mistakes to Avoid in 2024 | Complete Guide

A website’s design affects its credibility by 75%. If there are many design errors, visitors may view the company as less trustworthy. Whether creating a new site or updating an existing one, avoiding these mistakes helps the company stand out online for the right reasons. Through this informative content tour, you can get to know the Web-page design Mistakes you can avoid.

1. Missing or inappropriate alt text

People who use screen readers need alt text to understand images. Without good alt text, these visitors miss out on important information. Alt text should describe what the image shows. Kelly says, “Images are part of your website’s content. Think of them like regular text. What information does the image provide? Make sure the alt text conveys the same meaning.”

Visual focus indicators help visitors fully experience your site. These indicators often appear as outlines around links and buttons. Kelly explains, “It’s critical to have clear visual cues that show where the focus is currently on the page. This helps users navigating with a keyboard know where they are on the page and what will happen when they interact with the focused element.

2. How to ensure the accessibility of names or labels | Website design

When a website uses visual elements to convey information, it is important to consider people who use assistive technologies. Kelly explains that any visual information should also be available through accessible labels.

For example, many websites use card components with a “Read More” button at the bottom of each card. The design shows which element each button corresponds to, but for people using screen readers, these buttons are difficult to distinguish if they don’t have accessible labels like “Read More on Marketing Hub.”

3. Ignoring the need for mobile-friendly design

“If our content looks bad on any of them, visitors will lose trust and click or tap away from the site,” shares Juan Manuel Devia Pinzón, Associate Director of Design at HubSpot. “The era of breakpoints has arrived!”

According to Sean Landry, Principal Product Designer at HubSpot, this problem occurs because websites are often built using desktop web browser tools. A common mistake is assuming that customers will view the site in desktop format and need to take mobile users into account.

4. Compromising user experience for the sake of aesthetics

A common mistake in Web-page design You’re focusing too much on appearance and need more on function. As more websites pop up, it’s important for yours to stand out. But this has led to using too many design elements and graphics that look good but don’t help the website’s purpose. Sergio Martinez, Design Experience Manager at HubSpot, explains that this can mean using design trends that weaken the brand message or adding too many animations and graphics that look good but could be more useful. The key is to find a balance where the design supports the website’s function.

5. Not investing in customization | Website design

Imagine walking through the city center and seeing two clothing stores. One has a creative and eye-catching window display with various clothes and a backstory. The other store has only a few mannequins with clothes on and nothing interesting.

Your website is like the online storefront of your shop. It should showcase your brand and be unique. A big mistake Web-page design It’s using a common template and not customizing it. For example, using the usual full-width image with text and a button below the navigation bar can be boring and not help your website stand out. Lindsay Derby, Senior Product Designer at HubSpot, highlights this problem and suggests that customization is key to making a website look special and aligned with your brand.

Final Notes on Website Design Mistakes:

Now that the most frequent Web-page design Some mistakes have been mentioned, it’s time to learn how to fix them. Don’t worry: being aware of these mistakes is a big step forward. Knowing what to avoid allows you to create a site that follows web design best practices.