Whenever we utter the word design, beauty and style are the two features which knock our minds. These are the inherent features of any design. But, we should never overlook the purpose of designing. Web designing, in particular, is a matter more of purpose than of beauty or style. An aesthetically designed website would certainly catch attention of the surfers. But when you mean business your goal should be to reach your target user.

Sometimes it so happens that a website looks very beautiful and impressive in a particular browser. But when viewed in a different resolution and browser, the same website may not even show the plain text clearly. How a website would look also depends upon the operating system being used by the viewer. Such web pages will never be seen by those who are not using a perfect combination of browser, resolution and operating system.

The web designers should keep in mind that most of the surfers still use dial up. Your website should not take too long to load. Care should be taken that minimal and optimized images are used while designing the web pages. The ALT text attribute of the IMG tag should be considered. It helps the users tremendously.

Easy navigation and practicality must be given a higher priority. A beautifully designed website which is not easy to navigate will not be able to retain the viewer on the site for a longer time.

Two tables or one table inside another should be used for speedy loading of the page. Until the whole page loads the viewer will have something to look at.

You must avoid using functions which will respond only in a particular browser.

The use of the pop up windows should also be done sparingly. A visitor can get frustrated if unnecessary browser windows are opened. Not realizing that a new window has opened a viewer might get confused and if he cannot find the back button, he will not be able to return to your site.