Design Tips

Fast download speed

Your page should load in under 30 seconds, even for users with a modem.

Ways to increase download speed:

Limit the number of images you use, and use WIDTH and HEIGHT within your IMG tags
Limit your use of tables, especially nested tables
Use cascading style sheets (CSS) whenever possible
Check out the optimization tutorial from WebMonkey

Site usability and navagability

Visitors to your site should be able to easilty determine the site's purpose and their role in interacting with the site.

Any level of your site should be accessible from all webpages.

Create a navigation panel on your homepage for easy access to all subsequent pages.

Scrolling

Horizontal scrolling will annoy most of your page's viewers. Recognize that not all monitors are the same size, and try to use percentages for widths instead of absolute pixels whenever possible.

Be mindful of a newspaper's mantra:

Keep the important information "above the fold."

Most users won't scroll down vertically on your homepage.