In today’s poor economy, many folks are trying to start businesses on the Internet. But web page design is critical to the success of an online business. Read on and find some helpful tips on website creation that you can take and use to help your business succeed.
Your website needs to have easy navigation, if you want to have multiple visitors. Important links should be highly visible on every page. Having a menu bar on your site can also make navigation easier. Ensure that you have a link to your website’s home page on every page on your website so that visitors can easily return to you site’s main page.
Don’t overload a website with more graphics and photos than necessary. While you need graphics to create a website that looks well and works right, you don’t need a lot of them, because they can clutter things. 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 much more usable and user friendly when you minimize the use of graphics.
Choose your color scheme wisely. Make text visible against the background hues. Using dark colored text on a light colored background generally ensures that the text is easy for visitors to read. If you’re unsure about the color combo you’ve used, solicit feedback from a trusted friend before the site goes live.
Have the data that users enter into fields preserved so that it can be transferred over to other portions of the site where the same information has to be filled out. For instance, if a person registers on your site and a portion of the same exact information is required for filling another form out, ensure that the information they’ve already put in is saved so that he or she doesn’t have to put in this information again. Developing “sticky” data like this streamlines the user experience, and your visitors will likely appreciate the convenience.
Use JavaScript only when necessary to avoid losing some potential viewers. JavaScript is highly overrated because it can cause issues for some users. Web browsers are all different, and each comes out with new versions pretty regularly. You can’t expect that your website visitors are going to have the most updated versions of their browsers. Many people turn off Javascript, or disallow it on a site they don’t visit regularly. Both of these mean users will be prevented from using the site you made.
When designing a large site, always incorporate a search feature. Place a search box in the top right corner on the home page where users can search for a term that may appear on your site. FreeFind and Google both offer search plugins that can easily be added to your website.
Is your site easy to scan? Most website visitors do not really read online content. They just scan it looking for interesting tidbits of information. You are more apt to gain returning readers if text is broken down and can be scanned easily. Keep the most pertinent information near the top of the page. This will help your visitors quickly locate the information they are looking for.
Try pulling images into your post to maximize engagement. This will make it more appealing to your visitors. People will spend more time on your site looking around when they see pictures they want to click on.
Make sure your site loads quickly. If visitors have to wait too long, they will likely leave. Try reducing your number of graphics, Flash, and script on your pages, optimizing your HTML, using SSI files, using client and server caching, creating expire headings, and minimizing your JS and CSS coding.
Create CSS pages and conditional loading when designing a website. Having these pages allows for easier testing and necessary maintenance in the future. You do not want to run into problems when making changes to your site.
A good website will never require that a visitor provide the same information more than once. Ensure that personal data for each of your website’s visitors is preserved. For example, if someone registers for your site, and some of the same information is needed to fill out another form, make sure data that they have already entered is preserved, so users do not need to re-enter this information. Creating transferable form information will make the overall process simpler and quicker for your visitors, and they will be happy with the time you have saved them.
Make practicing web page design a habit, even in between projects, so that you can really learn and remember the tricks you read. This is necessary as we often fall into a rut by doing what has become standard to us. You don’t want to move on thinking you learned a topic when you haven’t properly understood it.
Website Development
Buy books that describe popular website development techniques. Stick to books for beginning web designers until you’ve mastered the basics, so that you won’t miss anything you need to know as you study website development.
Don’t overdo it with JavaScript. It has several useful benefits, but can also be problematic. Everyone uses a different web browser, and all of them have new versions released fairly regularly. Every single visitor isn’t going to be using a more recent version of their browser. Also, many people do not enable JavaScript in web browsers. Both of these mean users will be prevented from using the site you made.
Ask others around you about concepts and skills in programs such as Photoshop or WordPress. Knowing as much as possible about every facet of website creation is key to giving yourself the ability to design great websites.
Try to begin your site with minimal content. This helps build a niche and gets them focused on whatever message you are delivering instead of spending wasted time jumping from page to page looking for what interests them. Don’t confuse, fluster or overwhelm your early visitors.
Practice with a very basic layout to understand the basics of web page design. You should start with the basics, then advance to the more complex functions as you improve your skills and get more experience with the entire process of web designing.
Despite the type of site you are going to have, you definitely want to keep the loading time under ten seconds. Sites that are well-made and efficient will open in a browser in moments. Many online users want instant gratification, so you should provide that.
Web page design can be simple if you let it. Some techniques are more difficult than others, but the tips here have simplified the process for you. This advice will prove to be of help, no matter why you are looking to get involved in website design.