Website design can be overwhelming before you know much about it. Creating an attractive, inviting design is your first order of business, but how do you accomplish this? How do you use the various forms of coding? This article is packed with practical guidelines for creating an effective, visually appealing website.
Choose proper graphic for your web designs. Keep in mind that bitmap images are quit large. For this reason, they don’t work well; however, PNG images work very well indeed. For non-photographic images, text buttons, and screen shots, use PNG or GIF. JPEGs are good to use for photographs.
256 Colors
Do not underestimate the value of a website that loads fast, with no slowdowns. Your visitors are more likely to lose interest in your website and leave the page if they have to wait for a few minutes before having access to the content.
When designing webpages it is important that you use the correct graphics. PNGs work much better than bitmap images, which are huge. For images that are not photographs, use PNG format for over 256 colors. If under 256 colors, use GIF format. Use JPEG format for all photos on your website.
Check for broken links before publishing a page. Nothing frustrates visitors more than clicking for a page they want and getting an error page instead. If you have very few links, you can check them manually. If many links, try using a link-checking program that can do the work for you quickly.
If you want your website to cater to the needs of visitors, it must be user-friendly and simple to navigate. Links should be displayed where users will find them easily. Another way to provide easy navigation is to incorporate menus. Ensure your site users can easily find the way to the pages are the main ones by providing links to them on each subordinate page.
A search function should always be included when you develop a site that is very large. Place a search box visibly on your homepage that helps your visitors search single terms that may appear anywhere on your site. You can use Google search or FreeFind, as they both give you access to an engine which is free and simple to use.
Let visitors search throughout your website. If those visiting your site are looking for something specific, the first thing they will look for is a search box. They may go to another site if you don’t have one. You should put this search box on the top of your page, preferably the right side. This is where many visitors look for it.
Avoid using a variety of fonts on your site. You should also look at how various fonts appear when seen on a computer screen. Smaller fonts can be challenging to see. Times New Roman is a great example. A lot of sites use Verdana since it isn’t hard to read when it’s any color or size.
Broken Links
No matter what your website looks like, all the file sizes should be small. Your file sizes have a lot to do with the speed of your site loading. You want the speediest load times possible. Bear in mind that some site visitors are still using dial-up. Take the time to test your site, and make sure that various connections speeds receive quick load times.
Always double check pages for broken links before publishing a page. Visitors will be annoyed if they click on broken links. Use a program or check links manually to be sure you have no broken links on your site.
Navigation should be easy, clear and maintainable. Where you locate your website’s navigation links can make a huge difference in the amount of time a visitor will spend on your site. The structure for navigation should be consistent, neat, and easy to use if you want your visitors to enjoy their experience.
Understand what your purpose is. If you intend to create a blog, know about your subject before you write about it. Being unclear with customers or giving false information will drive readers away. To create a blog that draws visitors and keeps them interested, knowing what you are talking about is key.
When creating pages that have links, be sure the links contain text content. The purpose is to ensure that your customer or client is clicking on exactly what they are hoping to find. Textless links can easily be clicked by mistake.
Be certain you have a method for visitors to leave comments or questions. You will find out if a link is broken or if a page is not loading properly. One way to make sure that visitors re-visit you site is to give them a feeling of involvement.
Do not forget to test your site on several major browsers. Every browser will interpret the site slightly differently. Some of the slight differences can cause navigation to be difficult for the user. There are a ton of resources you could use, so you are able to find out the browsers that currently have the most popularity. Make sure to view your site in the most-used web browsers and as many mobile browsers as possible.
Regardless of how the design of your website is created aesthetically, be sure to make all of your files small. This is because the size of your website’s files directly affects its loading time. You should strive to make sure that your website loads as fast as it possibly can. Remember that not all visitors will have a high speed connection to the Internet. Test to be sure that even computers with slow dial-up modems can connect quickly to your website.
Avoid putting ads in your website that pop up. You may be really tempted to do this for the money they could bring, but all this will do is annoy folks. Pop ups are annoying and can keep people from returning. Simplicity is key when it comes to ads. You do not have to rely on pop-ups.
Avoid excessive use of pop-up windows. The average user finds pop-up windows to be an annoying distraction, rather than something useful. Every pop-up window you throw in front of your website visitors increases the likelihood that they will abandon your website in frustration. Once they leave, it’s highly unlikely that they’ll be coming back.
Limit the amount of content you start out with on a given page to small amounts when you first start out. Over time, the amount of content will accumulate alongside your network traffic, which makes things less confusing for everyone.
Background Color
If you want to know how to build websites, you don’t have to buy books. It’s not exactly a bad investment. There have been many great books written about web design. However, you can find the same information online free of charge. Books that cost money won’t tell you anything different than those that don’t.
White is the most common background color online for a reason. White backgrounds not only make the text easy to read, but also make your site appear more professional, as white is the standard background color for corporate sites. Complicated background designs, however, can be distracting, or make your site appear amateur. Simple backgrounds are usually a better choice.
Use the copy and paste features of your computer when you are making multiple pages as part of a sub category on your site. Instead of writing your HTML from scratch every time, use the shared section of code as a template and make the necessary changes, then use “save as” to save the file under a new name. Keep a master copy of your code and adapt it to your different pages.
It’s very important that you do all that you can to get load times for your website down to a minimum. When visitors are faced with long load times, the usually leave soon. You can do this by keeping your images and multimedia to an average size and keeping the coding simple and sweet.
Open space on a website is restful and allows the visitor to focus. It is a mistake to pack as many bells and whistles as possible into your website. White space on your site actually improves the readability; your visitors will have a much easier time reading and absorbing the information if things aren’t cluttered.
Sign up for newsletters that can help you learn about web page design techniques periodically. This will help both beginners and experts.
White space is important. This is the blank area on your web page. Don’t clutter up the screen with too much text and images. Adequate white space is necessary to maintain ease of readability.
Keep your initial content to smaller amounts when you get going at first. Adding too much stuff early on will create confusion for you and your visitors alike. Keep it simple to start.
It is important to include descriptive titles as part of your website. A web search will turn up many examples of “untitled document” or other similarly non-descriptive titles. This is often a common error. It is crucial that your site has a title. This will play a large factor in how you rank on search engines.
To familiarize yourself with the fundamentals of designing a website, work with a basic layout first. Starting with simple designs allows you to acquire basic skills before you can improve and work on more advanced projects.
You should always ask to see a website design company’s portfolio before you hire their services. You need to see proof that the company can produce high quality work. A viewing of their portfolio can provide some insight into their approach and depth of experience with web design.
Throughout the design process, you should perform useability tests periodically. Each time you add something new, have someone take a look and give you impartial feedback. For instance, you might not be bothered by a video that loads slowly, but someone else may have a different opinion. Make sure you get impartial opinions regularly.
When you design your site, link to your personal blog directly. You need to have a blog that shows you’re an expert on the things you do when it comes to your business. Placing the link in an easy to find location will ensure that your visitors see it.
You should create a visual sitemap so that you are able to plan ahead more effectively. By using this, you’ll discover how the structure of your website is coming along. This will allow you to hone in on anything that needs some tinkering, or perhaps something that you have completely overlooked. Nothing compares to having a clear visual overview of your project.
A great tip that will make it easier for web designers to create their site, is to find a good selection of cheat sheets and checklists, that you can refer to whenever you run into any problems with your site. These lists can also help you improve your site.
When you are making a number of pages that require the same template, the simplest way to do this is to use copy/paste. You don’t have to generate fresh HTML code for each and every page. You can copy the main portion of the code, make some tweaks to it, and save it to a new file. You can use the master copy of that main section of code as many times as you need to.
Consider partnering with professional design companies. It’s easy to use DIY web design programs, but they don’t deliver professional results.
You must get lots of information from a variety people to do well with web design. Do this so you know something about everything to do with the process.
Remember than inspiration for designing can come from almost anywhere. It doesn’t matter if it is your favorite movie, a new blog, or a page about your cat, the important thing is to start creating.
Don’t add large ads to your site. This can make people uncomfortable. Incorporate content that does not clutter the site. This allows visitors to view a webpage that is professional in design and drives them to return.
Concept sketches are an excellent tool for the beginning web designer. This technique will allow you to plan out the necessary functions and aesthetics of your website. It is a great way to begin your website design.
Become an expert in CSS. HTML may be the basics, but many of the best design decisions are made in CSS. CCS contains style sheets that serve as a reference guide format to give a website a certain design and flow. You can also switch things up on the page quickly and easily. Only having to change a single line of code to recolor all your pages can be very convenient and end up saving a ton of time.
Most Internet users find intrusive popup windows and hyperlinks that open up in new browser windows extremely annoying. Many of these functionalities are disabled in their browsers. Therefore, you should prevent utilizing certain techniques. If you are considering using these strategies as a means of navigating your site, you may need to rethink your navigation system and find ways to make it more user-friendly.
Remember what you just read when you start sketching your design. Keep seeking out new information on web design, and you will be able to create a site that can compete with the best.
If you hope to create a commercial website, stay away from free hosting. Spend your funds on basic hosting and your site will not be clogged with ads you have no control over. Plus, free web hosts may not offer sufficient bandwidth for the amount of traffic that your site must handle.