If you haven’t learned the basics, web design might seem like it requires years of specialized training to master. However, if you take the time to learn more about it, you may realize it’s not so bad after all. When you take advantage of the advice that has been made available to you here, an easy to navigate, nice to look at website, can be yours.
Concept sketches are a great way to organize and plan out a website during the earliest, most flexible stages of the web design process. This tool makes it easy to identify areas for improvement; it also allows you to establish a clear vision for the site. It’s a great starting point.
Place your search box toward the top of your pages and allow people to type in at least twenty-seven characters. Make sure the button that engages the search says “search” and not “submit” or “go”. This will ensure your search box can be easily seen, used, and assist your visitors in discovering what they’re searching for.
Ask your web host what is and isn’t allowed when it comes to streaming video through your site. There are a large number of hosts in the world that do not permit video hosting to be on their servers. Those FLV files absorb a great deal of server space that simply may not be available to you. Before putting the effort into this feature, make sure you’re not wasting your time.
You should have a visible tagline included on not only every webpage that is in the domain, but also the sub-domains. Use large, bold text to attract site visitors’ attention. 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.
When designing a large site, always incorporate a search feature. The upper right of the main page should have a search box for users to search your whole site. FreeFind and Google both offer these search functions to use on your site.
You want your title to be descriptive on your website. As an experiment, do a web search for the term “untitled document”. Don’t make this mistake! It is essential that you name your site. Search engines use site names to determine what sites are about.
Just because you’ve launched your site doesn’t mean the design process is finished. Keeping on top of your website will help you to ensure it’s always current. Regular updates are important as they show that you are bringing something new to your site. This is especially important if you will be hosting videos or dealing with current events. The necessary alterations to a website are different from a blog. Website updates require more time and work.
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. Make it easy on your visitors by keeping information that they may need for other forms or orders. Developing “sticky” data like this streamlines the user experience, and your visitors will likely appreciate the convenience.
This may seem obvious, but it’s still important to remember. A page should not go online without being carefully proofread for spelling or grammatical errors. Poorly written content that appears on your site will make you seem quite unprofessional. Unprofessional appearances will likely cause you to lose your visitors quickly.
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. The most popular browsers are Internet Explorer, Firfox, Safari and Google Chrome and what works with one might not work with the others. Monitor how the pages look in major browsers before taking your website live.
While making your website, remember that you don’t need to use all the available space. Just because you have all of that space does not mean that you have to use it. However, by leaving some space between your site’s content, you can provide your visitors with an experience that’s more comfortable. In some cases, empty space can be just as valuable as content.
You want to ensure that your content is usable across the world. Things to think about when optimizing your site for an international audience include dates, currencies, times, and units of measurement. Since not all of your website visitors are from one country, ensure that your site is friendly to the viewer no matter where they are from.
Using a development platform can make it easy to code your web page, but they are not necessarily reliable. The goal of a platform is to design the features you want in a site, then you simply paste the code that was generated into your own site. However, if you wish to ensure that the code is free of errors, and be directly involved in the process, utilizing a text editor is a better option.
Do not hire someone close to you to help you with your site. Regardless of the experience level of this family member, you should not use him to build your website because you cannot fire him easily if you do not like the results.
Pay careful attention to which colors you choose to use together in your web design. Make text visible against the background hues. Generally speaking, it is easier on the viewer’s eyes when they see darker text on paler backgrounds, rather than the other way around. Let some of your friends see your site and give you some advice before going live.
It might be best to look at alternatives to Flash. Despite it’s visual appeal and features, it can be a problem when a website visitor’s computer can’t effectively use the feature. 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.
At this point, you should have come to the realization that web designing is not really a mystery anymore. As your learn more about web design, creating a website will not seem so difficult. If you use what you’ve learned above, you should be able to create a great website very quickly.