前几天看到这篇关于网站设计的文章：Top 5 Web Design Mistakes Small Businesses Make，挺有用，就想翻译下来。英语水平是不怎么样，但是只要自己能看懂，也不错。
翻的时候把原文也转过来了。无外乎两个原因，一个是方便大家帮我挑挑错误，另一个是这原文想直接看到也有点不易。
This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.
本文最初发表在American Express OPEN（美国运通？？？？开放）论坛上。在那里经常会汇编发表一些关于在小企业中应用社会媒体和技术的文章。
If you’re a small business owner, your website is the central hub of your company, and it’s a pivotal part of your marketing and branding.
如果你是一个小企业的所有者，你的网站是你企业的中心枢纽，并且，它是你营销和品牌的关键部分。
Potential customers visit your site specifically for its content, meaning its appearance and usability are critical to its success and how those users view your company. However, getting your web design wrong can have a negative impact on your business.
潜在的顾客会因为你网站的内容访问你的网站，这意味着网站的外观和可用性会对它是否成功和用户如何看待你的企业造成重要的影响。然而，错误 的的网站设计可能对你的企业造成负面的影响。
Here are 5 common web design mistakes you must avoid to create a great user experience and grow your bottom line.
这里有5个常见的网站设计错误，是为了创建非常好的用户体验和拓展你的底线，你必须要避免的。
1. Poor Navigation 失败的导航
Many small businesses fail to make navigation a priority, but without careful attention to how people navigate your site, you could unintentionally be creating a frustrating experience for any potential visitor. People visit your site for specific information, and if they cannot find it they will quickly go elsewhere, leaving with the impression that your business is disorganized in more than just its website.
许多小企业在使导航更优先的方面很失败，如果没有仔细注意人们如何浏览您的网站，你可能会无意中给任何潜在的访问者创造一个令人沮丧的经历。人们因为特定的信息访问你的网站，如果他们无法找到它，他们很快就会去其他地方，留下的是你的企业是杂乱无章的印象，而不仅仅是你的网站。
A good navigation structure should be seamless and will keep visitors on your site longer, which means potentially more readers, subscribers, sales or leads — whichever is your primary objective.
一个良好的导航结构应该是无缝的，将使您网站的访问者停留的时间更长，这意味着潜在的更多的读者，订阅者，销售或线索 - 这些都是您的首要目标。
Website navigation affects both usability and accessibility, so it’s important to make it a primary concern. Most websites and blogs use common navigational techniques that are expected by the average visitor. The pages and sections of the site should be easy and logical for visitors to maneuver. Don’t make your visitors think about how to navigate your site; it should be effortless and natural.
网站导航影响对可用性和可访问性都会造成影响，所以重要的是要将它首先关注在内。大多数网站和博客使用普通访问者常见的导航技术。对于该网站的网页和章节对于访问者来说应该容易和逻辑。不要让您的访问者思考如何浏览您的网站，它应该轻松和自然。
There are several principles you can follow to create an effective navigation structure:
创建一个有效的导航结构，有几条原则你可以遵循：
* Use icons to aid navigation. They’re both visually appealing and easy to use and understand.
使用图标来帮助导航。它们将提升视觉吸引力，更容易使用和理解。
* Create logical groups of related links, with the most important links on the top-level navigation bar and functional (dashboard, account, settings, etc.) and legal (copyright, privacy, terms) located elsewhere.
创建相关键接的逻辑分级，将最重要的链接放在最顶层的导航条上，功能（工作台、账户、设置等）和版权信息等放在其它地方。
* Provide location information so users know where they are on any given page and how to proceed to another area of the website. This can be achieved by using Breadcrumb navigation.
提供位置信息，这样用户在任何一个给定的页面都可以知道他们在哪儿，并且如何进入该网站的另一个区域。这可以通过使用面包屑式（痕迹）导航来完成。
2. No Clear Calls To Action 没有清晰的立刻行动指引（这个可以称为是标语或者口号吗？）
The fundamental error of many small business websites is the lack of a clear call to action. We’ve all seen bland small-business brochure websites with nothing but endless descriptive paragraphs. If you aren’t leading users to commit to an action (buy a product, contact you or subscribe, for example), then you are losing them.
许多小型企业网站的基本错误是缺乏一个明确的行动指引。我们都见过那种平淡无奇的小企业小册样式的网站，上面除了无穷无尽的描述段落一无所是。如果你不能引导用户提交一个的行动（比如购买产品，与您联系或认购），那么你就失去他们。
Driving traffic to your website is important, but that traffic is useless if your primary call to action is a plain “click here” link buried in a sea of text. Call-to-action buttons are a great way to grab the user’s attention, and these buttons can be the key to higher conversions. Investing time and consideration into creating successful calls to action can help guide users and address their needs while achieving your own business goals.
提高网站的访问流量是重要的，但如果你的这种行动指引只是平谈的“点击这里”，并且链接到了一个被埋藏在文本海洋中的链接，那么这种流量是无用的。行动指引按钮是抓住用户注意力的一个非常棒的方式，这些按钮，是较高的转换的关键所在。投入时间和考虑创建成功能的行动指引，可以帮助指导用户，并满足他们的需求，同时实现自己的业务目标。
It’s important to keep the following best practices in mind when creating an optimal call to action:
在创造一个优化的行动指引时，遵守下面的最佳实践是非常重要的：
* The design of a call to action can be broken down into 4 simple elements — size, shape, color, and position. Each plays a vital part in determining how effective the call to action is in directing the user.
设计一个行动指引，可以分解成4个简单的元素 - 大小，形状，颜色，和位置。在确定指导用户行动指引对于他们来说是多有有效时，每一部分都是要害。
* Don’t make your users work or think, or they’ll leave. It’s not that they aren’t smart, it’s that they want access to information quickly without spending unnecessary time searching for it.
不要让你的用户的做或思考，否则他们就会离开。这不是他们不聪明，他们希望快速获得的信息而没有在如何找到它上面花费不必要的时间。
* Don’t overdo it with multiple, competing calls to action on every page. Decide what your primary target is and then define a clear objective per page. Your content should have answered, “What’s in it for me?” and your call to action should now answer, “What do I do now?”
不要在每一页上都设计多个、有竞争关系的行动指引。决定你的主要目标是什么，然后为每页定义一个明确的目标。您的内容应该答案，“我里面有什么？”，而您的行动指引现在应该回答，“我现在要做什么？”
3. Color & Contrast 颜色和对比度
Color and contrast aren’t usually high up on the list of priorities for a small business owner when it comes to creating a website. But it should be, because if your website text does not have sufficient contrast compared to its background, people will have difficulty reading your content, especially people with poor vision or color-blindness.
色彩和对比度对于小企业主来说，当他们创建一个网站的时候，通常不会出现在优先事项清单上。但是，是这样，如果你的网站文本和它的背景相比没有足够的对比度，当人们会阅读你的内容的时候会有困难，尤其是视力低下或色盲的人。
Aside from plain readability, color and contrast are important because they can be used to create visual interest and direct the attention of the user. It can equally be effective in organizing and defining the flow and hierarchy of a page, and it’s therefore an essential principle to pay attention to during the design process. Here are some tips:
除了普通的可读性，颜色和对比度非常重要，因为它们可以用来创造视觉趣味和引导用户的关注。它同样可以被有效地组织和定义流程和页面的层次结构，因此，它是在设计程中需要注意的一项基本原则。这里有一些提示：
* Using a free a Color Contrast tool (which conforms to accepted standards) you can easily check to see how the contrast on your website measures up.
使用一个免费的色彩对比工具（符合公认的标准），你可以轻松地衡量您网站上的反差。
* Research how major sites use color and contrast to improve readability and highlight specific sections, and use this knowledge to experiment with color schemes.
研究各大网站是如何使用色彩和对比度的，来提高可读性、突出显示特定的的部分，和使用这方面知识来试验配色方案。
* One of best ways to enhance contrast is by creating size differences between elements, making some things appear larger than others. This works especially well within a minimal color scheme, and it means you don’t have to necessarily rely on color.
加强对比度的最好方法之一，是通过创建元素之间的大小差异，使得有些东西显示得比其它的大。这在少量颜色方案中会有特别好的作用，意味着你没有必然依靠颜色。
4. Content, Content, Content 内容，内容，内容
People visit your website for its content, and how that is structured is a huge factor in its success or failure. Unfortunately, an overwhelming number of small businesses get so caught up in overloading the user with information that they overlook how that information is presented.
人们因为网站的内容而访问它，它是如何组织的是在其成败的巨大因素。不幸的是，绝大多数的小企业追捧的是给用户提供了过程的信息，他们忽视了如何来展示这些信息。
Most people do not read unless it’s absolutely necessary, and they prefer to scan through information quickly to get to the points of interest. This is why it’s so important to establish a strong visual content hierarchy so users can quickly scan your site and sifting through relevant information. A logical content hierarchy also acts as a guide through each page and creates a more enjoyable user experience.
大多数人除非必要，是会阅读的，他们更喜欢通过快速地信息扫描来获取兴趣点。这是为什么建立一种强烈的视觉内容层次结构是如此的重要，它可以使用户可以快速地扫描您的网站，并进行相关的信息筛选。一个逻辑内容层次结构也可以用作每一页的指南，并创建一个更愉快的用户体验。
So when focusing on your content, it’s best to keep in mind these three tips:
因此，在您的内容为重点时，最好要记住这三个秘诀：
* White space is possibly the most important factor to consider. It will allow the user to focus on the meaningful content within each section.
空白可能是需要考虑的最重要因素。这将允许用户在各个段落中将重点放在有意义的内容之上。
* Break up lengthy pieces of information into digestible blocks of text, utilizing headings, sub-headings, bullets, blockquotes and paragraphs.
将冗长的信息分解成易消化的文本块，利用标题，小标题，公告牌，引文和段落。
* Readable content is important, so use a good line height that is large enough to make content scannable. Margins and letter spacing also need to be taken into consideration.
可读的内容是很重要的，所以用良好的线高，它应该大到足以使内容可扫描。边距和字母间距也需要考虑。
When talking about content, spelling and grammar cannot be underestimated.
提及内容的时候，拼写和语法时也不能被低估。
5. Clutter 混乱
We all know at least one small business website that seems to include everything but the proverbial kitchen sink. Many small business owners tend to cram as much as they can onto a single page — the end result is a busy, cluttered and unreadable page.
我们都知道至少有一个小型企业网站，似乎包含一切，但是看来却像厨房水槽。许多小型企业所有者往往向单一页面中塞进尽可能多的内容 - 最终的结果是一个繁忙，混乱和无法读取的页面。
The more extraneous items there are on a web page, the more unprofessional it looks, and it becomes overwhelming, confusing and distracting for the user. A cluttered website will also affect traffic because visitors won’t return if they can’t understand or follow the content, which leads to low traffic, a high bounce rate and possibly a poor Page Rank.
在一个页面上无关的条目越多，它看起来就越不专业，让人头疼，会让用户混乱和分心。杂乱的网站也将影响网站的流量，因为访问客如果不能解或者关注那些内容，他们就不会再次访问，这导致了低流量、高跳出率，并可能是导致一个极差网页排名。
Clutter also applies to images. Too many can be a huge distraction and just plain annoying. Images should be used to illustrate, capture attention and guide the user where required.
混乱也适用于对图像。太多了会导致非常的分散和让人心烦。图片应该使用说明，吸引用户注意，并将他们导向他们所需要的内容。
Follow these guidelines for a more streamlined visitor experience:
遵循下面这些可以提供更有效的访问者体验的准则：
* Challenge every item on each page and ask, “Does it really need to be there? Does it serve a specific purpose? Can I live without it?”
质疑每一页上的每个条目，并要求“它是否真的需要在那里？它是否为了特定目的呢？我是不是可以没有它？”
* The key is to aid the visitor in finding the information they’re looking for, so make sure to differentiate between areas of content, advertisements and promotions.
关键是要帮助访问者找到他们正在寻找的信息，所以请一定要区分内容区域，广告和促销领域的区别。
* Prioritize your content and decide what is the most important to your visitor and potential customer — and sell it well.
优先考虑你的内容，并决定哪些对于你的访问者和潜在的客户是重要的，然后好好地卖掉它。
Even the greatest content can become lost in a mess of words and graphics, so de-cluttering is essential.
即使最好的内容也可以迷失在乱七八糟的文字和图形之中，所以去除混乱是必不可少的。
These are just five web design mistakes that many small businesses make. What other mistakes have you noticed on small business websites?
这是仅仅是五个小企业进行网页设计的错误。你注意到了小企业的网站还有什么其他的错误吗？
参照：
1. Top 5 Web Design Mistakes Small Businesses Make
2.
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