Best Practices
Follow WCAG AA/AAA color contrast.
76% of users are just scanning for answers to their immediate questions, so avoid accordions/tabs that hide answers.
Avoid carousels and rotating sliders. Clients love them but there is a high chance that users only see the first slide. Give them the option to stack the slides vertically.
Utilize “pattern interrupters” to give emphasis on an item.
Don’t add social media icons into the header. They’re best utilized in the footer.
Avoid jargon and overly simplistic words. Give appropriate context.
List order matters — items in the middle are the most forgettable.
Source: RGD Ontario
Fun Facts
80% of visitors never leave the fold.
Sites that follow standards are generally perceived as more beautiful.
Linking to blog posts have been proven to be distracting and encourage your users to leave your site.
Write meaningful copy, and always provide context.
Source: ORBIT MEDIA
Animation
Don’t use flashing animations (more than 3 times per second). It can cause seizures for some users.
Parallax/motion effects can cause vertigo, dizziness, and/or nausea.
Constant animations can be distracting due to humans to draw attention towards movement.
Source: Smashing Magazine
Audio/Video
Don’t use flashing animations (more than 3 times per second). It can cause seizures for some users.
Constant animations can be distracting due to humans to draw attention towards movement.
Parallax/motion effects can cause vertigo, dizziness, and/or nausea.
Source: Smashing Magazine
Images
Use pictures of people in them. Humans gaze at faces more than anything else.
If you can have the people in the photo gaze at something important on screen, users will tend to look at that too.
Stock photos make the site appear “fake”. Use more real and down to earth photos.
Source: ORBIT MEDIA