The purpose of most websites is to get visitors get the information they seek as quickly and as efficiently as possible. A simple, intuitive design is the best way to accomplish this. If a website is full of links, banners and too colorful, it's less likely that visitors will take the action the website wants them to.
Web design is to create something that is eye-catchy, compelling and attractive. But too many of those will create distraction. Distractions are what will confuse and alienate users from the purpose of the website. And this will prevent the website to give as much information to visitors because of the 'confusing' aspects of design that intrigues.
Below is a list of items to consider to make a website that is not distracting users but still compelling and attractive.
Website Navigation
Website navigation is where people get accustom for browsing a site. This should be kept as simple as possible. A link to every product in a main navigation is not going to increase sales, but just frustrate visitor. Subdivide product line into categories and sub-categories and guide visitors through the website so they can easily find what they want. Additional navigation in the sidebar is recommended when there is a lot of item to provide.
It's also best to keep the main website navigation in one place. Main navigation for websites is generally placed at the top of the page. The rest is placed in the sidebar. The only exception is the bottom of the page.
It's not a problem to put additional links or repeat navigation at the bottom. Because the bottom of the page is where someone looks last, they are not as likely to become distracted as when they see a bunch of links at the top and both sides of the page.
Web design requires designs on both header and footer of a website. Navigation can be made more attractive by giving out compelling elements.
Page Width
Website design is what makes a website readable and attractive. Avoid a website that is set to 100 percent width of the screen. It might not be a problem on smaller resolution screens, but on wider screens, the site is virtually unreadable as the reader has to move too far left and right to read each line.
A 100 percent width also makes the website unable to control how its elements appear and laid out on the page on different resolutions when it is resized;
The acceptable width for a website depends on the site design and the number of columns it has.
Advertising Banners
Banners can be used to promote a website. But for the numbers, the fewer the better. This is because people are used to see banners and some banners cannot be controlled that it may create unnecessary distractions.
If a website is selling ads, offer fewer space at a higher price. That way, advertisers are more likely to get good results and visitors are more likely to respond to the site's personal call-to-action themselves. If the site don't sell advertising, but use other banners or inessential images - test their effectiveness. In many cases, graphical elements cause distraction and can cause the webpage to load slower.
Links Required for Information
If a website is selling products and/or services on a particular page, try to have all the information they need to make an informed decision on that single page. The number of links required from the home page to the product/service page varies, but the less the better. This is because too many links to get to what they want will make visitors 'wander' and get lost from clicking around trying to find what they want.
Research has shown that 3 is the optimum number of clicks from finding a product that interests someone to them being able to purchase it. Any more click required and the site is more likely to lose the sale.
People are accustomed to blue underlined links so using them can be beneficial. Some website design may prefer different colors, but if a link don't look like a link, people aren't going to click them as readily.
Popups
A popup is a window - usually a small window - that opens up when a user clicks on a link and open or close a window. Popups usually are used to give additional information and/or giving forms related to a link prior the process. Unfortunately many websites use too many or time them that it annoys visitors and increasing the the potential for losing them completely.