A few months ago cxpartners published a guideline summarizing an eye tracking summary of website forms. They studied the manner in which the eyes of those filling out registration forms online wandered over the form.  The study was based on research of signup forms for 4 major websites, hotmail, Yahoo!, eBay and of course Gmail. While the findings of this study may not stand up in a court of law, these guidelines describe a certain method of conceiving web design that relates to general web design and may serve as good reference as you design your own free Flash templates. Here is a taste of the guidelines:

1. Using simple and prevalent vertical layouts and label the different sections clearly, preferably above.
2. To emphasize the labels even more, make them bold. It is also recommended to align them to the left as much as possible.
3. If you include more than one set of information on a page area, make sure the design is unified. It should look like one piece of information to avoid overloading the eyes.
4. Section headings should be emphasized using colors, shading, spacing etc. This is assuming you want people to read them.
5. Try to think of each page as a single message and avoid including unnecessary information. Minimalism is the best way of controlling the information delivered.
6. Use a single field for numerical inputs, such as postal codes, phone numbers etc.
7. Make sure the instructions are clear and the important information stands out and grabs the visitor’s eyes. This is particularly relevant to general web design as well as web form design.
8. Label clearly. If you have a button make sure the instructions are clearly labeled.

Consider this information as delineating some of the differences between regular graphic design and web design. The process of making your web designs both attractive and improving its functionality while considering your website’s visitor’s needs and habits. This does not mean you cannot stray and be creative, but it’s always good to know and understand the rules before you break them.

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Reasons to Fire Your Webmaster

Blog entries on web design tend to share ideas on what to do, so I thought it might be a good idea to impart a few tips on what NOT to do.  This is a short compilation of basic rules that all webmasters should respect when working on a website that needs to actually earn money – real money that is – not virtual. Let’s go…

1. Please don’t resize the users’ browser. I know it’s cool. I know you can, but you just have to keep it to yourself. If your webmaster is using a bunch of Java nonsense on your page to resize your window – fire him. Usually that person will be someone from the art/video/photography industry who happens to design websites.
2. If your webmaster has built a website that loads the home page and only then launches your real site in a pop up – fire him now! People get agitated in seconds. If they have to wait twice for your website to load they need to be really excited about what they’re about to see. Wait… if they haven’t seen it yet, how’s that going to happen?  AKA – YOU LOSE.
3. Trust your forefathers – don’t reinvent website navigation. Put the menu on the top of the page, on the left or even on the right if you must, but don’t get creative on the navigation. If your webmaster is trying to sell you complex digital interfaces for a website that is supposed to sell a product or service and actually needs to earn money – fire him.
4. If you don’t have enough real text on your home page and to a lesser extent, on the rest of your website – fire your webmaster and hire a copywriter. Never underestimate the importance of online marketing. If you don’t have texts (and by texts I don’t mean pictures for those smart asses out there), the search engines won’t index you properly or at all, you won’t reach potential customers and your entire website and all the hard work you put into the web design will be worth zilch.
5. If your website does not work in Firefox you really, really need to fire your webmaster. It’s true, I know, that in most markets Firefox only has a 10%-15% market share, but some sites enjoy much higher ratings from Firefox. You have to make your website accessible for all. Unless of course, you think Firefox users aren’t good enough for your product.
6. If you have a music player on your website, be sure to place a ‘stop’ button so visitors to your site aren’t forced to listen against their will. Please don’t let the music start automatically as the site loads. I’m sure your music is absolutely heavenly, but what about those who don’t like it? Don’t you want them to spend money on your site? Don’t be a music fascist.
7. Sub Sections are better than ‘drop downs’. If you’re using drop down menus, get your webmaster to make a better site map for you, or better yet – fire him. Or her.  Simply, drop down menus often don’t work properly, and usually mean someone was just too lazy to think up a better site structure. Hey, if you’re running the Apple site or Wikipedia and you simply must use drop downs, you probably aren’t reading this anyway.
8. If your site needs a search engine for users to find  information – fire the webmaster. It’s not that people don’t enjoy searching for things. It’s just that they love finding things easily even more. If you present a logical browse option, 2 out of 3 times, they’ll choose the browser link instead of using the search option. That says something.
9. The website’s loading time is still a major factor. No matter how great your web design may be, if it takes most people ages to load the page, they won’t return to your website. You’ll be lucky if the stick around the first time around. Tell your webmaster you want light and breezy pages every one can enjoy in true egalitarian style. If he complains – fire him.
10. Here’s a scenario for you to consider: Your webmaster (a 30 year old geek) is using these nifty scripts that won’t let people ‘back’ out of your website using the browser’s ‘back’ button. Cool? No it isn’t. Have you ever tried locking someone inside your store (a real life one this time)? Do you remember them thanking you warmly and making a large purchase? I seriously doubt this is how it went down. What you really need to do – is fire your webmaster!
11. So, what are you waiting for? go to our free flash templates section and start working

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What we’ve done is to create a website that includes both free template and premium Flash template galleries. Each of our free flash templates is unique and cannot be found anywhere else on the web.  Because we love what we do we also make sure that every Flash template we offer is of the best quality and web design.

We’re filling our premium galleries with tons of new templates in different styles and designs. We want to make sure you can find what you need here at Massive Templates, whether you’re building a website for a restaurant, a high tech company or your parent’s anniversary. Our vision is to make Massive Template your one stop shop for all things related to Flash templates and web design. This is why we are launching a brand new learning center and this blog of course.

Our learning center will include many great tutorials to help get you started and dig deeper into the realm of Flash template design. This blog will be our direct channel to you. Here we can respond to your questions and requests, give you a little inside information and offer updates and information on Flash in general, web design and of course, any special new additions to Massive Templates galleries.

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