There are many purposes of a website. It might be used to entertain visitors, inform a constituency, or communicate with your customers and colleagues. It doesn’t matter what type of site it is, a talented web designer is working behind the scenes. The following paragraphs offer good ideas you can use to make great websites.
Make sure to view your website in a variety of browsers. What you get on your browser isn’t always what your visitors see on their browser. Make sure to research the browsers available. Make sure to also send the site to someone running a different OS to make sure those browsers are compatible.
When doing web design, use the appropriate graphics. Keep in mind that PNGs are much better than large and poorly working bitmap images. For simple text buttons or graphics that aren’t photographs, use PNG for files that are 256 colors or larger. Use a GIF file for anything less than 256. You can use Jpegs for photos.
Avoid using a lot of graphics. While they’re essential to creating a cohesive and professional site, too many can make it look cluttered. Your graphics should not only be decorative; they must also be true improvements. The right number of graphics improves look and functionality without crowding the page.
Use shortcuts often. There are often shortcuts that can be used for just about anything when it comes to web page design. Even HTML codes can be used to implement quick content updates.
Look at your site in multiple browsers when designing it. What you see on your screen may be different from what others see. You need to know how your site looks to all visitors that are arriving at your page. Also check your site with different operating systems.
Meta Tags
You need adequate meta tags on every page to attract more site visitors. High-quality meta tags will let the search engines know what your website is about. If you use poor meta tags, or worse, don’t use them at all, your site will get fewer visitors overall.
Incorporate a search function that lets visitors find what they need. Those searching for specific information will instantly scan for a search option. If you don’t have one, they may go to another site which does. Always put the search box on the page’s upper right corner, since this is where visitors usually look first.
Always check for links that are broken. Before uploading any page, you should do a thorough test to identify any misdirected links. This can be critical, since visitors are going to know that the information they are looking for is not available, and if that happens a lot on your website, they will stop going to your website. Therefore, you want to double-check that everything is working as it should so you can avoid this from happening.
If you are stuck when it comes to designing your website, remember that the entire Internet is at your disposal. You can look at an infinite number of websites to obtain inspiration. Find websites you like, and figure out which aspects make the site appealing, then think about ways you can borrow or improve the idea on your own site. However, don’t just take what you see and put it on your pages. You should always improve anything ideas you borrow.
Always keep the size of your pages to a minimum. Users with slower Internet connections may decide that the wait is not worth it if your site is slow to load. You will want your users to have a great overall experience.
One thing you want to think twice about is a website counter located on your page, as they have more negatives than positives. It is not something visitors really want to see. Get rid of your visitor count and use other methods to see how many visitors your site is getting.
Hosting your site yourself is not really a great idea, no matter what amount of money you’ve decided to invest in it. You should do as much of the web design work yourself as you can while allowing a reputable company to host the site. This means you can worry about your website design while the host worries about uptime and security.
Preserve the personal information users submit on your site safely. For instance, if someone filled in their name and address when creating an account, pre-populate this information when the customer fills out an order form. This information retention and re-use makes site transactions much easier, and many people will appreciate that.
As mentioned earlier, you can use a website to convey information or for entertaining. However, the specific focus of a website does not matter to who designs it. Use the tips you read above to fine tune your skills in designing.