Designing web pages is alluring, especially when the designer has an understanding of what they are doing. Excellent web page design is what sets internet leaders apart from “me-too” sites. Knowing what it takes to create a great website is the only way to achieve that goal. Read the article below to expand your knowledge and build great sites.
Don’t use frames. It isn’t the 90’s anymore. Though frames were of importance early on in web design, there were many flaws. Visitors are bookmark junkies and frames make that task extremely difficult and a simple scroll an annoying effort. There are better ways to allow your users to browse your pages easily.
Use fixed-position navigation. This involves locking your site’s navigation panel as visitors scroll down. This is convenient for the user and for Internet marketers since it lets users perform desired actions like signing up for newsletters or buying products.
People don’t like to wait when they browse the Internet, so your pages need to load fast even on slow connections. If Internet users have to wait a long time for your website to load, they will probably leave your site before it loads and vow never to return.
When you design a site, pull it up in various browsers. What you see on your side may not always be what the others see on theirs. Research all the commonly used browsers and design accordingly. You may also send people you know with other operating systems to see if their browser works like yours.
Let users cancel actions if they desire. This includes completing forms, enrolling in email newsletters and searching the site to find certain information. Forcing your user to complete an action they don’t wish to will ensure they never sign up for anything on your site again, nor are they likely to return at all.
Display a tagline in a prominent area on your page. This lets people know about the site. Clear taglines are effective in potentially capturing the attention of a reader in the critical first few seconds they visit your site.
You should not go overboard using JavaScript. It does provide more ways for you to build a responsive and transparent site, but it can be problematic for some visitors. Web browsers are all different, and each comes out with new versions pretty regularly. Many visitors use outdated versions of various web browsers, which means your code might not be supported. Also, some people browse with scripting turned off. This means that a portion of your visitors won’t be able to use your website.
A successful website needs to work for visitors using any browser, so it is important to test your web pages to make sure they display properly in different browsers. Your content may show up fine in Internet Explorer, but it may be unreadable or badly displayed in Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Therefore, check to see that all pages display correctly in all the large browsers prior to your site going live.
Prevent utilizing pop-ups on your site. There is nothing worse than visiting a website and getting assaulted by tons of pop-up ads. It does not matter who or what the website represents, most visitors will not hang around if they are bombarded with pop-ups. Therefore, you should keep annoying ads off your website, in order to avoid irritating your visitors. If the pop-ups are coming about because of your host, then now is the time to start shopping for a replacement.
Always include a search tool for searching through your site. A search box is essential. If you do not have one, the viewer will find another site. Make sure the box is on the right at the tip of the page, which is where most visitors will look first.
Put your user’s needs in first priority. You as a web designer have to think about the needs of the end user all the time. This includes user experience, usability, user interaction, and accessibility. These are really important to think about when working on a website. Look at things the way your readers would see things when you go to design a page.
Be considerate when it comes to your site background. You don’t want your text to be hard to read! A distracting background is…well, distracting. In order to preserve your website’s focus, and make it easy for your visitors to comprehend, you should choose a background image that harmonizes well with your site instead of clashing with it.
Meta tags are key to your site if you want to attract people to your site for short and long periods of time. Make sure you include them. Using relevant meta tags on each page of your site will help search engines categorize the page and show it to people who want to know about your page’s topic. Poorly designed meta tags will not reflect the content of your website and will not help attract visitors.
Consider using free software to design you website. It is not necessary to spend a large amount of money on web designing software with the number of quality, free programs available. Hit your favorite search engine and do research to find a piece of software that suits your needs.
It is better to start your website with a small amount of good content. Don’t confuse, fluster or overwhelm your early visitors.
Search Engines
On every page, be sure that you include a tagline that is clearly visible. Use large or bold font so that your visitors notice these taglines right away. It has to explain what the page is about so your visitor can quickly decide to stick around or not.
Leave off frames if you want to design a well optimized site. While frames look nice, they do not help when it comes to search engines. If your important content isn’t visible by search engines, you won’t achieve a high ranking. You won’t get as many visitors.
It may be necessary to enlist the help of a professional site designer, or perhaps a close friend, who has some experience in the matter. When you do this, you almost ensure that you yourself will become a pro one day, if you stick to learning.
It’s very important that you do all that you can to get load times for your website down to a minimum. Visitors will leave if they find themselves waiting for your website to load. Reduce graphics, scripts and Flash consoles on your web page, optimize HTML and utilize SSI files.
Once your site is published online, you don’t get to stop working on it’s design! You will need to stay active, when it comes to your website. It will not be necessary to update every day, but do realize that fresh content must be a priority. This is especially true if you have videos or deal with current events. Luckily, keeping website current isn’t as overwhelming as tending to a blog. You will need to work.
Always spend a few minutes proofreading content before posting it to your website. People should be able to read through the content quickly and easily. If you have a lot of errors, your site will be viewed as unprofessional and may actually be ridiculed.
Learning to work with more than one platform is in your best interest if you plan on designing more than one site. Learning many different web platforms such as Java, MySQL and PHP will only serve to make you better going forward. Whether you are designing a new site, or simply helping a friend launch his or her own, a wide variety of experience will help you.
Designing and running a website calls for a personal office space. This will help you to avoid distractions, become more efficient and focus on your work. Put your office supplies where you can reach them easily, and set aside enough space to allow you to design your site.
Watch over your site so that you can get rid of spam right away. If you are running a forum or blog, this is very important. Good site designers make sure that trash doesn’t build up.
You may notice interesting website development techniques being used by other web designers, but you want to innovate, not copy. Create original features that can’t be found elsewhere and are better than those your competition provides. Following through with this step will make your overall design more effective.
Avoid using Flash on your website. While Flash can look very high-tech and exciting, on some devices it will cause everything to slow down. Also, phones, IPads and other handheld devices may not be able to view Flash applications. This could make your site less enjoyable for these users to view, and they might decide not to bother with it.
Limit your starting content on a page to little amounts when first starting out. You don’t want to add a bunch of stuff that is going to fluster you because this can make your visitors confused as well when they come visit your site.
Every website should have an effectively designed favicon. The little graphic will have your site looking more noticeable, especially if your visitors bookmark the site. You will stand out amongst all of their bookmarks! Make your favicon relevant to your brand and theme.
When you are going to design a site, find specific individuals among your target audience and ask them what they personally want to see. This will help your design and help you tailor some of the features you have available on your website. The advice you glean from your target market will prove to be invaluable.
Become an expert on the cascading style sheet, also known as CSS. While HTML is important, consistency in design is key and made more available with CSS. Cascading style sheets operate as a guide in formatting multiple pages consistently. They were created to allow you to make edits to your entire site in one location. If you want to change your font color to red on every page, all you need to do is alter one line of code!
Do your best to design a website that is original and will stand out from the others in your niche. Just check your competitor’s websites before you start designing your own. Being similar to other websites won’t set you apart. In addition, you will just be a generic version of a similar site that came before yours.
Always get opinions on your design. Others may be able to point out flaws or challenging navigation on your site. Try asking a select group of your website visitors to go through your website to report to you what they loved and disliked about it.
Remember to position important information on your site high on the page and oriented to the far left. We have not only a natural instinct but are taught to read from the left side to the right side of paper and this holds true for your webpage. Don’t place everything on the right to appear different or because you think it’s cool.
Because a lot of good domain names are in use already, you may want to look at some auction sites that have used domain names. A great one to check out is Sedo. There you can discover great domain names that others are no longer using and buy them.
Have a favicon created for the website you designed. This tiny graphic can make your site more recognizable if visitors bookmark your site. When searching through a visitor’s bookmarks, having a favicon that is memorable will cause you to stand out from the pack. Brand your icon to match your logo and website.
While hosting your own website might seem like a good idea, you should understand that it is not nearly as easy as it sounds. Don’t become a host until you know what you’re getting into and the cost of it.
Becoming an expert at cascading style sheet (CSS for short) is something to pursue. While knowledge of HTML is important, CSS is more important in creating professional websites. The style sheets help you keep your site consistent. You can also switch things up on the page quickly and easily. Change the font color from time to time on your pages.
Throughout the content of your site, you should include relevant keywords and phrases. You need to persuade visitors to spend their money or join your cause. You don’t want them to just think your site looks nice without taking any action. It’s important to understand the client you are making the website for. What are the words that can be utilized which will attract your target audience? Identify a few useful keywords and include them throughout the website.
Beautiful website design is an awesome sight to see, but that’s only if it’s done the right way. It is easy to distinguish a bad design from a good one, but there are things that can be done to improve a design that is sub par. Use the advice from this article to create the perfect design for your website.
Set realistic goals with regards to how long things will take to accomplish. Trying to meet an unrealistic deadline will only cause the work quality to suffer and in turn facilitate a need for more work to be put in at a later time. The better practice you should follow, is to leave yourself enough time to do good work the first time around.
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