Designing a great site takes a lot of work. If you are not prepared, dealing with all the minutiae can be quite daunting. You can rise to the occasion by using this knowledge.
Ensure your website can pass the NoScript test. See if the website is readable. Some content is unable to work without the proper scripts.
Keep your site fresh and up-to-date, and promptly remove any outdated content. You will lose the attention and credibility of your readers if the promotional offer on your page expired months ago. Visitors want to visit sites that have the most up-to-date information, and leaving up outdated information shows that you are not committed to that. Make sure you regularly schedule time to add new content, and to remove old.
Do not use a lot of graphics. You want the site to look professional and well-designed instead of cluttered. Don’t use graphics as a decoration for your site; they should be used to make it look professional. Having the right amount of graphics will improve your site’s usability and reduce the clutter.
Don’t rely on JavaScript too much. For some people visiting your site, Java will cause problems instead of providing improved functionality. Every web browsers is different and they are constantly updating. Every single visitor isn’t going to be using a more recent version of their browser. They may also not have enabled JavaScript in their browser. This means that a portion of your visitors won’t be able to use your website.
Always keep your load times under 10 seconds. Efficient sites that are well-designed need to show up in the browser for your readers in just moments. If the site takes too long to load, you run the risk of losing your audience.
Consider your website’s background carefully. Some websites have backgrounds that make the website’s text hard to read, while other websites have backgrounds that contain elements that annoy visitors such as gif animations. Use a light colored background which fits into your site’s color palette.
Design your front page to be a minimal as possible. Most people will decide whether or not to stay on your site just by looking at this page. Be descriptive when you talk about your business and what you offer that is unique, but keep other information minimal to avoid your visitors getting distracted.
Explore your website with different browsers and computer systems. Because different browsers render websites differently, the visitor may not have the experience you intended. Using available resources, determine which browsers are the most popular among your target demographic. Check your site on every browser, and include the popular browsers on cellphones too.
When designing a website, use independent CSS pages and conditional loading. Having these pages allows for easier testing and necessary maintenance in the future. Simplicity is key to success.
Be certain to ‘remember’ personal information that might have to be re-entered by the same site visitor. For instance, people may already register with your site, and you should have it set up to preserve their information if they choose so they don’t have to register again. 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.
Always use fonts which are legible and professional. People judge your sites professionalism by the fonts you use. Don’t use fancy or non-standard fonts. Some people may not have these fonts installed on their computers. Use a font that is part of the default font subsets on user computers. That can ruin your design!
Website counters were popular in the 90s but are rather unattractive now. It may look like you’ve added something neat to your site, but many visitors do not wish to see that. Use a different way to monitor your traffic.
Some hosting services offer a tool to build your own website. Use this tool to create a very basic layout but do most of the coding yourself. If you stick with the plug-and-play site creator given to you by your host, your website is never going reflect your unique personality the way it should.
Pop-up windows are one feature you should avoid. While you might see these as valuable in some form or another, most people find them rather annoying. In fact, you may drive them to leave your site out of irritation and frustration with your pop-ups. You could lose a visitor for life.
Start small when learning how to build a website so you can figure out what you know, and what you need to get better at. Create the basic pages of a website, such as Contact Us and About Us, and add items as you go along.
Make sure the entire website is entirely read over and over again to insure it looks professional and well-designed. You want visitors to easily absorb it. Errors make your site look careless and unprofessional and this, in turn, will not encourage a positive reputation for your site.
You should have a visible tagline included on not only every webpage that is in the domain, but also the sub-domains. They should be in bold, large text and be placed in the viewer’s initial line of sight. If you use the tagline appropriate, it will let the reader’s know what your page’s true goal is. It can even help to determine if they will remain on the page or use their “back” button.
Optimize load times on your website. Visitors to your site may be more likely to navigate away from your page if it takes too long to load pages. Minimize the amount of Flash, scripts and graphics on your site. Optimize the site with HTML, SSI files, caching options and minimize CSS and JS coding.
This article should have given you a foundation with website development. When you have learned some tactics, your understanding of web design will increase and you will create better features on your site. Check out more articles and learn all you can.