Many people think that a flashy website looks great to the eye and thus attracts more visitors, however this is only if they have fast internet connections. Keep things short, sweet and to the point, like other successful sites do, if you want to appeal to the masses looking for easy access to the answers they seek. Outlined below are some helpful tips to keep your website simple and clean.
Choosing the right graphics can either make or break a website. PNGs work much better than bitmap images, which are huge. For non-photographic graphics choose a PNG if the graphic has less than 256 colors. Otherwise, choose a GIF. For photographs, opt for JPEGs.
Check your site in all of the different browsers. What you’re seeing on your end may not be what others are seeing on theirs. Make sure that your site is compatible with all popular browsers. Also check your site with different operating systems.
Pay attention to the colors on your website to make sure they match. Your text should remain the main focus of attention and should be easy to read. Dark text on light backgrounds are typically easier on the eyes than the other way around. If you are not sure whether or not your chosen color scheme is user friendly, ask for some feedback from some of your friends.
You don’t ever want to use too much graphics. Graphics are indeed important to make your website look well-designed and professional, but if you use too many, it just looks cluttered. Graphics should always be used to enhance the website, and not for decoration. Your site will be easier to navigate too if you keep the graphic clutter to a minimum.
Be mindful of your background. Your background should not be too distracting and allow your reader to read the text easily. In order to preserve your website’s focus, and make it easy for your visitors to comprehend, you should choose a background image that harmonizes well with your site instead of clashing with it.
Know your niche. When posting to your website, make sure that you have done your research. You won’t win any followers by giving them bad information. Knowing your topic is the way to build a great blog.
Make sure the content on your website is interesting. Website design is critical, but without content, it won’t matter. Useful, informative content which matches what visitors are looking for will ensure your visitor numbers continue to increase.
Stay away from pop-up windows as part of your design. Most people will be turned off by a site that pop’s windows up in their face. As a result, your users may just go away from your site, too angry to come back.
Internet Explorer
Use ALT tags for your website. These tags are important for your website and people that disable graphics. If the images are links, the tags let you describe the link as well. They can also be read by search engine spiders to boost your site’s ranking.
Make sure you site is optimized for previous versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer, especially IE 7 and 8. Many people are still using the older versions of Internet Explorer. Since many elements are not up-to-date you will have to work around it. Specifically, read about the “box model bug” that plagued IE for years.
Good meta tags are a quick way to ensure your website makes it to a good rank on search engines. High-quality meta tags will let the search engines know what your website is about. If you do not have good meta tags that describe your site well, you are not going to attract many visitors to your site.
When you are facing a block in your design process, you have the Internet at your fingertips for help. There are thousands, if not millions, of websites waiting for you to browse and wait for inspiration to strike. Look for a website that is interesting to you and use some of their ideas. Remember that proper web designing is more than borrowing ideas. It is important to transform the idea to make it better.
Avoid pop-up advertisements at all costs. Generally people who use the Internet find pop-up ads annoying, so it is best to stick to more traditional ads on your website. This usually results in visitors not returning to your site. Keeping your site free of excessive ads will only create a better experience for the visitor.
When you are creating your website, remember that all available space is not required to be used. Using every pixel available to you can make the website feel overwhelming or cluttered. Dividing up your site’s elements with blank space, can make it easier for visitors to distinguish what elements perform what function. You would be surprised how empty space can often be as valued as content.
To familiarize yourself with the fundamentals of designing a website, work with a basic layout first. Starting simple will allow you to add more advanced techniques as you expand your site, giving you a chance to learn each one by one.
Clearly, even though flash makes a website very appealing in many ways, it can also be problematic in terms of download time. Your site is more likely to be successful if it looks good, but not flashy. Try these tips out seriously, and you can go far.
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