Most people look at web design as a difficult task. However, this is only true when you don’t make the effort to learn the ropes of design. As with pretty much anything else, numerous software programs can be purchased to simplify website creation. Keep reading for some awesome tips on making your site work.
Using a fixed position navigation will help your users use it with ease. Websites that employ this technique have a navigation panel locked in place even when visitors scroll down. Not only do visitors find this convenient, but so do internet marketers who have calls to action they want in place.
If you’re working on website creation use the right graphics for the job. Remember, bitmap images are huge and usually don’t work well, PNGs work fine. For text buttons, screenshots, and other images that are not photographs, use PNG for images with over 256 colors and GIF for images with less. For pictures, use JPEG images.
Color combinations are key in branding your website. You want to make sure that your text is easily visible against your background colors. Dark text colors on lighter backgrounds tend to be easier on the eyes than light colors on dark backgrounds. Let your friends see your color scheme to get their input.
Frames are a holdover from 90’s design elements. Frames were terrific in the burgeoning web design days, but they had their problems too. Frames make it hard for visitors to bookmark and scroll through the page. You will learn, thanks to advancements in web design, that allowing your visitors to cruise through an easy flowing site is a simple as 1, 2, 3 and visually more attractive.
Minimize your web page’s size. If your pages take a long time to load, visitors with slow connection speeds will lose interest. You don’t want people to have to abandon your site because the pages won’t load.
Make sure that you get rid of any material that is outdated on your site. If the page a viewer clicks on is promoting something that happened a year ago, you just lost a reader. Users wants to browse sites that they know are updated frequented with relevant fresh content, but if the site has outdated information then they know it is not well-maintained. Review, update and delete content as a matter of course.
If you want your website to attract many visitors, it must be simple to navigate. Make all links prominent and easily located. Menus are another way to make site navigation easier on your site. Ensure that there are links to all of your main pages, such as the home and contact pages, in a prominent location on every page.
When deciding on a background color for your website, white is a very effective and good choice. White backgrounds cause your content to be easily seen, and it gives your site a trustworthy feel and a more professional look. However, intricate designs on your background can distract users and give your site more of an amateurish look. When it comes to backgrounds, simpler is generally better.
Make sure that you use file sizes for all content on your site that loads quickly for your website visitors. GIFs and JPGs are your best choice for graphics. Although there are a number of advantages to using PNG and BMP files for web graphics, these types of files take up much more disk space. To make sure that your users have an optimal experience when accessing your website, use file types for your graphics that take up less space on a disk.
Be mindful of your background. Your background should not be too distracting and allow your reader to read the text easily. Chose a background that complements your website’s content, rather than a background that clashes with your website’s content. Your website’s visitors will then find it easier to read your website’s content.
Do not add pop-up advertisements to your site. Ads are crucial for making money, but pop-ups are needlessly annoying. It will end up driving visitors away instead of getting them to read and click. Your ads should be simple, direct and engaging, without pop-ups.
On every page, be sure that you include a tagline that is clearly visible. You should make them bold and large so that people can see them and follow your links. They can quickly let the reader know what the offer, goal, or purpose is of the page, and whether they go back or stay on this page.
Try using a newsletter for getting repeat visitors. By giving your visitors an opportunity to keep current on your site offerings, you increase their loyalty. Put the form in a convenient sidebar, and track the users who subscribe. Make sure to only deliver the newsletter to people who have requested it!
Include some form of “site searching” from your home page, and all sub-pages if possible. This ensures that all parts of your carefully designed site are always accessible to the people that need them. Site searches are easy to make, and the benefits are worth the effort.
Web Host
You need to check your website’s performance across a wide array of different web browsers. Each web browser has a slightly different way of how they illustrate the website, and in a couple of cases these little differences could have major effects on the experience for the user. There are various resources to find which browsers are more popular. View your website in each of these browsers to ensure that the page will be viewed correctly.
Check with your web host before adding videos to your site, as some hosts will not allow it. There are many hosts that do not allow their servers to host videos. All of the FLV files occupy a huge amount of server space, so there is no point setting up a website to accept them if your web host can’t make the space.
As was stated in the introduction, web page design is fairly simple, especially when you have a program to work with. With some simple tips, getting into website creation is easy. Take these tips and go forward secure in the knowledge that you have a good base from which to work.
Keep in mind that the site you create does not have to be built entirely by you. Web design incorporates many different skill sets, from graphic designing to coding to search engine optimization. If you want to improve, you must be willing to get help. When it comes to those web design areas that you lack expertise in, hiring a specialist or a professional company may be well worth the cost.