Web Development - Misc. Tips for Aspiring Webmasters This tip was generously provided by Matt Mitchell of Complexity WebZine - http://members.aol.com/db8mattm My tip for all the aspiring webmasters out there is to worry most about cleanliness on your website. I am not a professional graphics designer, but I am able to create almost-professional looking pages with limited graphics knowledge, free graphics sites, and a small graphics program called PaintShop Pro. The reason that I am able to do this is because I make sure that all of my sites have enough whitespace and are not too cluttered. Make sure that your pages don't make your users scroll down for hours to view it all, and also try to stay away from flashy dividers and icons; they tend to make your page less professional. In order to make your pages clean, don't be afraid to put the same content in 15 pages instead of three. The second way to make a clean page is to institute a theme. Before you sit down to find your graphics or write your code, be sure to know exactly what colors you will use, what fonts you will use, where your graphics will go, etc., and have a good navigation system planned out. This will allow you to have your page formatted well with a lot of whitespace instead of the clutter you get when you use the "play by ear" design. Thirdly, be sure that all graphics look well done and that your pages are appropriate to your audience. Try not to make very advanced graphics on your own, because they will generally blow up in your face. Also, don't clutter the site with ads, a few are fine, but not too much. Thanks.   Add: Del.icio.us | Digg | Furl | My Yahoo!   Discuss This Tip Print This Tip Get E-Mail When New Tips are Online Return to the Web Development - Misc. page.