What do you think are the most important things in designing a website? I think a website needs a ton of updated content, a good design, good navigation, and it should be dynamic (polls, forums and such).

__________________
www.webmasterforum.tk -The Webmaster Forum
http://www.nerdcouncil.comThe Nerd Council

Aside from the ones you have already mentioned, a website needs some sort of uniqueness about it in order to make it stand out from the rest. Something on the side to website design is try to also make your website friendly to popular browsers Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape etc. as well as SEO friendly.

Another aspect that some designers forget is not to fill the website with too much graphics. The reason why is that first it will slow down the pages overall which can turn alot of people off, even if they are on highspeed. The 2nd reason is that if the website is so graphical that it's hard to navigate around that too can also turn visitors away.

Hope this helps

__________________
»» eBypassnow Launched :: Bringing the e to free access
»» Click Here to Access! :: http://www.ebypassnow.com

dynamic, unique fresh content and a good design (fast loading and properly works with most all browsers).

I think good compatability with all browsers is key, making sure the loadtime is to slow, i think the statistic if it takes longer than 10 seconds to load people will never come back again or something like that it might be even shorter now than it used to be. I think visually pleasing to the eye never hurts either

__________________

Do not design 'for' any particular browser. Write standards-compliant, accessible markup. Then add workarounds, if necessary, for less compliant but ubiquitous browsers like IE.

What's most important in web design? It depends on why you are publishing something on the web. If you are promoting design (web design, art design, etc.) it may be important that your site shows your skills by being beautifully designed.

In most cases, though, the important thing on a web site is the content. It must be interesting to your target audience and it must be well written.

If you publish content on the web, whether it's to inform about something (an idea, a philosophy or whatever) or to promote something commercially, there is one really important goal: Make sure that as many people as possible can access the content!

That means pay attention to accessibility. Do not put up unnecessary barriers, like using only Flash for important content, or conveying vital information only through images.

Usability is related to, but quite different from, accessibility. To paraphrase Steve Krug: don't make your visitors think! Don't use a nifty navigation scheme if it's not intuitive. Remember Nielsen: your visitors spend most of their time on other people's sites.

Graphic design will be important, too, for attracting visitors and giving them an incentive to stay long enough to discover your important content. Just be careful not to make your design overshadow the content

__________________

nice post. I agree with most of that. very helpful information SKD

1. Good, updated and significant content
2. Consistent layout that segments the content well and visitors get what they want easily.
3. Pleasant color schemes and Graphics that make a site visually appealing.
4. Simple and easy access Navigation.
5. Easy and Memorable URL.
6 Above all a reason for visitors to come back.

__________________
eTechSupport.net || eTechDesigns.net
AIM : support24by7 || Yahoo : etechservers || MSN : sales@eTechSupport.net
24/7 Customer Support, Server Management and Web Development

I create a site for content, so this is a must. But people need to have a nice layout and navigation. I also think than uniqueness is important. If a site has a stock theme, then I am not that pleased to see it.

__________________
Webmaster Tips & Tricks - Unique articles, tutorials and topics. Free promotion.

Just like in Real Estate, the three most important things to web design are:

Content, Content, and Content.

__________________
Web Hosting Rebates
IXWebHosting Rebate | LunarPages Rebate