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 certain things that you should avoid, as a designer -- these elements may seem like a good idea to you at first, but they'll make your website unattractive. And if your site is visually uninteresting, then your visitors will be less inclined to stay and see what's inside.

1. Animated GIFs and scrolling text. These were popular, when the Internet was young, and they seemed cool at the time. If you want your new site to look professional, then get rid of all those GIF animations. Along with scrolling text, they're distractions- they don't get any message across, other than: "Don't look at the content, look at ME!"

2.Low contrast/Big fonts. Using bad color combinations for text and background (dark text on black backgrounds, for example) is a sure-fire way to turn your readers off. And don't attempt to compensate by making your fonts a lot bigger. Use high-contrast colors and regular font sizes: 12 points for both Arial and Verdana, which are the most widely-recognized fonts on all web browser programs.

3.Uncompressed images. Users today expect their websites to load as fast as possible, so they can immediately see the site content. 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. Keep your image sizes small, and the page will load faster. Compress your images- around 50KB is the ideal size of a medium-sized image. You should be able to find some graphics programs you can download for free, for easy website design.

4.Long blocks of text. Much of your site content will probably be text, but presenting them all at once will lower readability. Place text in columns, instead of stretching it out from one end of the screen to the other. Columns make it easier for people to keep their place when reading a lot of text. But that doesn't mean that very long columns are okay too. 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.

There are many more designs don'ts out there. The rule of thumb for people who want easy website design is: design for your target market. Don't put in colors that you like, put in the colors that you think your audience will prefer. Learn to look at your designs from a user's perspective. Visitors prefer pages that load quickly, with organized presentation, easily-navigable, and visually-appealing. Your average user browses through dozens of pages in a day, and you want to make his online experience as comfortable as possible.

Because your average user has a short attention span, you want their first impression of your site to be a good one. When designing, avoid components that will only distract visitors, like GIF animations. Keep your text readable by using column-based layouts, and using good font sizes and colors. Stick to small image file sizes, so help your page load faster. Easy website design focuses on your potential visitors' needs and preferences, and not our own, so you should learn to think like one of your potential visitors.