There is a lot that goes into building websites that you might not be informed about. Website design can seem difficult if you’re not familiar enough with everything it involves. Try using these tips to step up to the challenge.
Be sure to use proper graphics when designing your website. PNGs work much better than bitmap images, which are huge. Use PNGs for images over 256 colors for text buttons and the like or use GIF files for images smaller than 256 colors. For photos, JPEG images work well.
Users can navigate easier when you use fixed-position navigation. This keeps the site menus in place as visitors scroll through your site. This makes thing convenient for visitors and facilitates them taking advantage of your calls to action.
Before going live, test your website against NoScript. You want to activate NoScript after downloading the extension on Firefox so that you can read your site. It will be normal for some content not to work, like the ordering system, but a blank page is a red flag.
If you want your site to bring in more visitors, you should ensure it’s simple to navigate. You should have links that are easy to find, as well as displayed well. Menus can make navigation on your site easier. Visitors will also be able to get around better if every sub-page has links back to your site’s primary pages.
Visitors will enjoy your website, if they can navigate it easily. Links should be highly visible and easy to locate. Menus will make it a lot easier to navigate around your site. Make sure that links to your main pages are on each page in your site so people can find their way no matter where they are.
You don’t ever want to use too much graphics. You want the site to look professional and well-designed instead of cluttered. Graphics should enhance what you have to say on your site. They shouldn’t be put there to just look pretty. Your site will be easier to navigate too if you keep the graphic clutter to a minimum.
Personal Information
Don’t have an abundance of graphics on your site. Although graphics are necessary make your site project a professional, well-designed and cohesive look, having too many can make it look cluttered. Graphics are not to be used for decorative purposes only. They need to add true content to the site. Your site will also be more usable if you don’t overdo it.
Ensure that you save personal information that the user might need to enter again into your site. For instance, if someone fills out a form using personal information, he or she should have to enter that same information in again when he or she goes to fill out an additional form. “Sticky” data will ensure that the user fills out all the forms they need to instead of leaving when it becomes too difficult.
Research your keywords. Although you want to mainly focus on providing relevant content to your viewers, it is important to first establish a healthy customer base. Understanding what keywords will bring people to your site from a search engine is a needed step to becoming a successful site.
When designing a large website, include the ability to search throughout the site. The best place to put your search text box is in the top right hand corner as that is where the bulk of websites put theirs. FreeFind and Google both offer search plugins that can easily be added to your website.
Dedicate a place where readers can give their input and feedback. That will allow you to fix any problems that you may not otherwise notice. Giving your visitors a voice makes them much more likely to return to your site and continue the conversation.
Put compelling, interesting information on your website. The appearance of the site design is crucial, but content keeps visitors coming back. Visitors will return again and again when they find valuable, useful information.
While you want to keep the aesthetics of your site in mind, you also need to make every effort to keep your file sizes to a minimum. This is because the size of the files dictates the speed at which your website loads. It is always better to have your website load as fast as possible. Even though broadband is common these days, there are still people stuck on 56K connections. Perform a test of your website to be sure that it will load quickly on every speed of internet connection.
It’s very important that you do all that you can to get load times for your website down to a minimum. Those who visit your site have little in the way of patience so ensure your site is designed to load quickly. Do your best to reduce graphics, scripts, and Flash.
Website counters are unattractive. It adds nothing to your website and is an outdated feature. Get rid of the counter and monitor your traffic by other means.
White is an effective and visually attractive background color for a website. White backgrounds make your content easier to read, and give your website a more trustworthy feel if you want a professional look. Conversely, complex backgrounds distract from your content and make your site seem much less professional. Make your background as simple as possible.
As you select a hosting service for your website, you need to make sure you know everything that is included in the package. Make sure that you understand the bandwidth, storage space, CPU usage, and any extras that come with the offer. You need to know exactly what you are paying for.
The main focus here is about getting your feet wet with website design, not waking up as a professional in the morning. When you have learned some tactics, your understanding of web page design will increase and you will create better features on your site. If you run into any problems, look over these tips again.
Although you could discover other designs and strategies you love, you must ensure you’re always being imaginative when it comes to designing your own site. Create your own features and use what you see on other sites as a base for your ideas. Implementing this technique will help you to create a quality website.