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How to Make a Better Website

3 years ago from , Creative Director @ Jake Cooper Design

In my latest Medium post, I outlined 6 tips I use to make more focused, goal/user-oriented sites when planning and strategizing a new website for clients.

What other techniques do you use to make sure your sites resonate with your viewers?

11 comments

  • iterati designiterati design, 3 years ago
    1. Gradients
    2. Hero image
    3. Parallax scroll
    4. Actually, completely hijack scroll
    5. Newsletter signup modal
    6. Loading indicator, so that you load the whole thing upfront and enjoy the experience.
    39 points
    • Jake CooperJake Cooper, 3 years ago

      These are excellent points for making a more considered, user-focused design that effects the user experience.

      I'm curious if others have ways to connect the brand, the user, and the content through design to improve the entire experience (and maybe even the purpose) of a site?

      1 point
    • Dan WilkinsonDan Wilkinson, 3 years ago

      Nice colours!

      4 points
    • Andy LeverenzAndy Leverenz, 3 years ago

      Don't forget to animate everything as you scroll!

      7 points
    • Jonas S, 3 years ago

      May I suggest adding an autoplaying video with sound somewhere below "the fold"? Those things tend to convert more people than Jesus himself.

      12 points
      • Vipul. MishraVipul. Mishra, 3 years ago

        Lol... There's more sarcasm in this comment than entire DN.. Good going guys.

        P.S. Nice article.

        2 points
    • Deepani IDeepani I, 3 years ago

      Great :-)

      0 points
  • Ivan C.Ivan C., 3 years ago

    It's the new age of typography design! (apparently)

    1 point
  • Steve Benjamins, 3 years ago

    Squarespace might seem like it offers a lot of flexibility in the types of content you can create, but maintaining content on the platform can be more time-consuming than it’s worth.

    Curious what you mean by this. I have a Squarespace website and it's damn easy to update.

    (I'm a web developer, I just use Squarespace for my band's website because it's easier than making something from scratch.)

    1 point
    • Jake CooperJake Cooper, 3 years ago

      It definitely has it's advantages and disadvantages, but my main issue is that you get locked into making a "Squarespace" site because of the limits of the formatting for the systems blocks. And in my experience, I end up having to "design" each page or post instead of just pasting in the content I want into predefined fields.

      Whenever possible, I prefer to write my own theme/HTML that can be hooked up to a CMS -- more often than not, I use WordPress (but I'm experimenting with other headless / static-site builder options). My clients prefer having to just enter the fields they need to get their content up rather than being weighed down by Visual Builders or strange abstractions of a WYSIWYG.

      Squarespace works best when your idea fits neatly into their templates. With the advent of tools like Jekyll, Timber for Wordpress + ACF, Forestry.io or Siteleaf -- you can get a really custom, flexible, streamlined option if you're working with a developer.

      1 point