Many people want to design a website of their own; however, they have no idea where to start. If you learn the right design aspects and know what tools to use, you can make your very own website. In this article, you will learn some great tips on how to build your own website.
If you’re working on web design use the right graphics for the job. Remember, bitmap images are huge and usually don’t work well, PNGs work fine. Use a GIF instead if the image contains over 256 colors and PNG for test buttons and screen shots. JPEGs are good to use for photographs.
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. While you may need to have some scripts running, you do not want to see a completely empty website if they are turned off.
Always check your website from a variety of browsers in different areas of the country or world. This is because your website may look a certain way to you in your browser, but will look very different in another browser. Research the different browsers that are popular and design your site accordingly. Also, have others check your site.
Make sure that your clients can cancel an action when they need to. Types of such actions would include registering an email, filling out forms, or browsing your site for archives or topics. If visitors cannot cancel an action they are not interested in, such as providing their contact information, they will feel they do not have a choice and won’t buy anything.
Keep a simple front page. A lot of people will only look at the front page. That’s where they are making the decision whether to spend more time on your site. Be clear about what your company is about, but be concise.
In the 1990s, many designers used frames when creating their websites. Don’t do that. Frames were of great use in the early days of web design, but it had a lot of flaws. Designs on frames can make it hard for people to get your site bookmarked and they won’t like scrolling either. Use a different technique to help visitors organize information.
Do not go overboard in using lots of fonts when creating your website. You need to also be mindful of how some fonts appear on monitors, since smaller serif fonts are difficult to read. The majority of sites utilize Verdana, which is easy to read in any size or color.
Don’t add any pop-ups to your site. Although you may think they are helpful, many people think they are annoying. When the windows pop up, many people become frustrated and decide to leave the site rather than see what information is available.
Search Engines
Minimize your web page’s size. Users with slower Internet connections may decide that the wait is not worth it if your site is slow to load. You don’t need visitors having pages get stuck every time they load because they may just leave your site and not return.
Keep frames off your page. Website visitors like framed pages, but the information isn’t easily viewed by the search engines. If search engines are unable to see some of the key information presented by your site, your ranking is bound to suffer. If this does happen, your visitation may sink.
You must remember in order to index your images, ALT tags must be employed. These tags are used to describe the images they accompany in case the image is not displayed, such as when a user disables graphics or is visually impaired and uses transcription software to translate images and read them aloud. If you use your images as links, the ALT text will also give you an easy way to describe how the link behaves. They can also be read by search engine spiders to boost your site’s ranking.
Keep things as simple as possible when setting up the design of your site. The placement of your navigation links on a website plays an important part in determining how long a visitor will remain on your site. Navigation must be simple and clear to better the user experience.
Try doing some research on a variety of keywords. You definitely want to focus first on providing relevant content, but keywords should be planted appropriately to help you grow that customer base. Keywords are what search engines use to guide people to your website.
Choose fonts that are legible, and look professional. The font type on a website is a quick indicator of how professional it is. Fonts that are overly artistic may seem like a good idea, but often aren’t accessible on all computers. A font could be subset to a default font in the computer of your user, if they do not have it. That can ruin your design!
Start investing in books and resources that help you learn to be successful with your web design. Choose books adapted to your current level of skills and very comprehensive. Read reviews before buying anything.
Use a small amount of content when you first set your website up. Don’t confuse, fluster or overwhelm your early visitors.
If you’re creating a large site, include search functions for your visitors. Place a search box visibly on your homepage that helps your visitors search single terms that may appear anywhere on your site. FreeFind and Google both have these capabilities for a website.
All you need to create an effective website is a bit of information. You can make a website quickly with the right information. Use the suggestions from the above article to help in designing your first website.