Does Your Website Surpass Initial Viewers' 10-sec Glance?

Online, February 17, 2014 (Newswire.com) - Statistics still shows that viewers only spend an average of 10 seconds on your website, trying to find out your value proposition. In other words, you and your website only have 10 seconds to relate to all viewers who happen to click to your site or may have been interested in your business.

Even Apple redesigned the iOS 7, a much cleaner look (despite the super-fast battery burn for iPhones). All icons and their colors have been simplified. Overall icon size is bigger with a bigger border radius as well. Colors are used to distinguish not decorating. Looking at the reminder and passbook icons, different colors indicate different items. Compared with the old mail and phone icons, designers took away the envelop and phone shadow and put in the gradient background on the new versions.

Simplification is what many look for nowadays. Simple designs, short descriptions and easy navigation are the top three criteria our clients ask for and we provide to them in request.

However, simple designs are not as simple and easy as it sounds because it involves a lot of break-through and creative brainstorming. Creativity could be a risk. Trends come from renovation and recombination of existing elements. Designers really try hard to find the right balance with the new and old and keep refreshing viewers' mind.

A website takes a designer and programmer. It's like a good book takes a writer and an editor. Here's a list of 20 elements programmers ensure to incorporate with websites for the best appearance and SEO ranking. Not yet to mention, SEO with background coding and tagging is what gets you visitors and clicks. Good design is what it takes to keep viewers wondering and coming back to you. Take this list as a checklist for your current website. It's time for some once-in-a-while maintenance.

1. Responsive Layouts: Check your website on all devices and different browsers.

2. Retina Support: Does your website look HD on a bigger screen? or pixelated?

3. Fixed Header Bars: When you scroll down, does the header bar stay?

4. Large Photo Backgrounds: What is your background now? Plain?

5. CSS Transparency: It's definitely classier when you click a page is semi-opaque on top of your background. Does yours look that way?

6. Minimalist Landing Pages: So how many tabs are there on your menu or header bar? I hope it's not tens of them.

7. Digital QR Codes: On your contact or about page, is there a QR code? It's very cool looking!

8. Social Media Badges: This is your identity and characters on the net! So get yourself signed up now. It's never too late.

9. Detailed Illustrations: Don't use the same picture over and over. It's not cool and will NOT work.

10. Infinite Scrolling: So… How long does it take for you to scroll down to the bottom?

11. Homepage Feature Tours: How do you show your visitors around the website? Or you just expect them to click around?

12. Sliding Webpage Panels: Do they slide? It's usually a gallery.

13. Mobile Navigation Toggle: Do they work on your smartphone? Do they look at least functional? If not, umm, you need an update!

14. Full-screen Typography: when you have a full screen of typography, it pops to viewers. It better pops rather than having them fish around for information.

15. API and Open Source: Simply asked, what system your website operates or runs on? What if you want to insert some cool features by plug-ins?

16. Deep Box Shadows: How do the graphics look on your website?

17. Vertical Navigation: This is a part of easy navigation many look for. Vertical navigations is much easier for viewers to switch from pages, and, of course, generates some more clicks.

18. Circular Design Elements: Do they look circular?

Seriously, a new year, a new look! Time to refresh! Let's talk