If you want to learn what is involved in designing a website, then read on. These tips will ensure you master your skills. If you implement the information you glean from the following article, you should be able to be successful in website design.
If you’re creating a website, make sure you look at it in different browsers. What you see on your screen may be different from what others see. You need to know how your site looks to all visitors that are arriving at your page. You will also want to send your site to someone that’s using a different operating system so you can see that their browser is compatible with yours.
Don’t pile on the graphics. Having graphics are good for anyone who wants an attractive and professional site, but an abundance of them makes your page look cluttered. Don’t use graphics just to decorate; use them to improve the site. Having the right graphics improves your site all around.
If you want your website to cater to the needs of visitors, it must be user-friendly and simple to navigate. You should have the links on your site prominently displayed and easy to navigate. Menus will make it a lot easier to navigate around your site. To help visitors find their way back, be sure to have a visible link to the main page on all your pages.
Broken Links
Check for broken links before publishing a page. Few things are as frustrating as clicking a link only to land on an error page. Feel free to manually check them or use some programs to scan and report the broken links.
Buy a program to help you design a great website, there are many available in the marketplace. Programs are available to assist you in creating your websites that look professional. You site will not have a lot of visitors if it doesn’t look good.
Let people cancel any action they have started. Types of such actions would include registering an email, filling out forms, or browsing your site for archives or topics. If you do not give site users the opportunity to cancel an action, they are not likely to return to your site. Over time, this could negatively impact your sales and site traffic.
Alt Tags
Remember to utilize ALT tags for images as you design your website. There are a few core reasons why ALT tags should be used, including helping the visually impaired, providing indexing possibilities for the search engines and also for description and translation purposes. If you use images as links, you can describe the link. Search engine crawlers also heavily use ALT tags to boost the rankings for some websites.
Do not work with pop-ups. Nothing is worse that going to a website and being bombarded with pop-up ads. Most visitors to your website will not like pop-up ads, even on big sites, they are aggravating and cause people to leave. Stay away from those irritating ads and your visitors will be pleased. If your host tries forcing pop-ups on you, look for another one.
Optimize your site for older versions of Internet Explorer (IE7 and IE8). Lots of people grumble about IE, but they still use it, and they often use outdated versions. Workarounds are needed because the browser is not 100% compliant with standards. An example would be the vexing “box model bug” which troubled IE for quite some time.
Prioritize your user’s needs. Your focus should remain on the end user at all times. How easy information can be accessed and the website use are critical. These are vital considerations you must take into account. Putting yourself in your customers shoes can really help you to design the best page possible.
Make sure you test your site early and often. Check the usability and user interaction of your site as soon as possible while designing the site. Improve your site with every chance you get.
Keep the front page of your website simple. Most people will decide whether or not to stay on your site just by looking at this page. Describe your business in detail and what it does, but keep other distractions and details to a minimum.
This advice will get you to be where you want to go. However, there is still so much more you can learn. Continue learning as you go. The more you know, the better your website design will be.