I thought it'd be nice to start a thread that gives good tips on the Do's and Dont's of web design. Now bear in mind, there are TONS of each and I doubt one person can come close to all of'em but this is a start, and it'd be nice if people could add to this list:

Do's:
Use web safe colors
Make ease of navigation a top priority
Make the layout "intuitive" and easy to follow - the user's focus shouldn't be jumping around wildly all over the place
Make clean and simple designs
Use a minimal number of fonts
Try to think about compatibility
Try to make the pages fast loading - even this day there are 56k users
Make use of flash where appropriate if it serves a purpose

Dont's:
Use obnoxious "blind the person" colors
Use bright text on dark backgrounds,etc
Don't go for overly complex designs with tons of imagery (unless you can properly pull it off, and few people can)
Use 30 different fonts of different colors on the same page
Use something that you know only works in IE because you figure "most people use IE anyways"
Try to use navigation menus that float or move around from one side to another
Use too much annoying flash and make everything animated

This is just a start...like I said...hopefully people will add to it and I will add to it whenever I think of something...

From me to add (it's mostly about coding):
do's:
- the best way is to write your code manually;
- always set size of images - your page will not be loaded until your image won't be loaded if you don't set size;
- always close tags
- use CSS - it will make your code structured and more understandable;
dont's:
- don't use WYSIWYG progs;


that's to start.
_______________
andrews_john
http://www.******************.com

Just thought I'd add something else that I missed earlier.

Try and utilize things that'll make the site more extensible and easier to update later on. Just as a programmer always needs to think about extensibility when building software, web programmers/developers should also think about this.

One example of this would be to use CSS in your site. If you have a 15 page site that uses a common Heading style and you want to go back and change it a month after it was built, you'll be glad if you've used CSS...

I have been using Dreamweaver exclusively for over 5 years. I think your advice is bad advice. I would rather spend my time doing other things than hand-coding a website. What I can do with DW in 10 minutes would take a hand-coder 2 hours.

hostingu: there are 2 sides to this issue. It really depends. DW is fine for many things. I have personally used DW many times and sometimes opt for hand coding. Some people are very strict about having code that's W3C compliant. With DW the code won't conform to those standards. The issue is that a large number of people believe, the only way to achieve maximum cross-browser compatibility is by handcoding. At times, WYSIWYG progs do write some messy code. It really depends on what you are doing. Some people will use DW to layout the table structure and avoid having to write all those annoying <TR><TD> tags. I personally use DW sometimes and then test the page in various browsers and clean up code as needed to make it work better.

Definitely agree with you there, because I use Mozilla.

Do's:
-------------
Use your web stats to your advantage; If you're not making scalable tables, conform the site to your users' most popular resolution.

Use clear, simple fonts.

Don't be afraid to mix mediums. Cross pollenating you site with different web languages can often offer directions you didn't notice before.

Dont's
-------------
Don't use Flash intro's without preloaders, skip links, or file sizes which will not load on a 56k connection within 2-3 seconds.

Don't embed tables in tables. This works on some browsers, others cough. Avoid as much as possible.

Never assume that everyone uses a current generation browser. One would be surprised how many people still browse on 4th and 5th generation browsers.

Do:
-be creative.
-look at other art (web/print/3d/motion)
-use Flash if it enhances the experience! best if you want need a site with music and sound
-learn the extents and limitations of your programs, and when/how to cross over between them

Don't:
-let the technicals get in the way: learn the system(s), then if they are good, your creativity shouldn't be limited and at the same time you know what is possible.
-get locked into one style (see Do #1 and 2)

=my views!

great thread!
-CC

Don't try, do.

And that's why your code won't be HTML 4.01 validated. Even the latest version of Dreamweaver allows deprecated elements to be used.

And 4.01 is depreciated now its all about XHTML 1.1 at the moment and i dont think Dreamweaver can produce XHTML 1.1 compliant code.

Dreamweaver MX 2004 does in fact allow you to produce XHTML v1.1 compliant code.

always keep in mind which audience you are designing for