Are you looking to build a good looking website? Are you aware of the many steps necessary? Web design is key. If your site is not designed well, it may not be well received. But you can find some excellent advice here to really help you out. Follow the information presented here to design an excellent website.
It’s crucial for your site to pass a NoScript test. Download and activate the NoScript extension for Firefox and see if your site is still readable. Some content isn’t going to work without using scripts, but you don’t want to have a blank site with scripts turned on.
Use fixed-position navigation so that users can navigate easily. What occurs when the navigation is fixed is the panel follows the users scrolling. In other words, it moves down the page as the user moves down the page. This is convenient for visitors and helps frequent visitors quickly find what they need.
Speed is king when it comes to webpages, so be sure that your images are loading quickly. If a visitor has to sit and wait for several minutes while your pages load, they are almost certainly going to click away from your site and go somewhere else, and they probably will not come back to your site.
Web Browsers
Don’t rely on JavaScript too much. It provides many ways to develop an interactive experience for your audience, but it can also stop some visitors from accessing your content at all. Web browsers are all different, and each comes out with new versions pretty regularly. Some of your readers are not going to have the most recently updated version of their browser. Also, many people do not enable JavaScript in web browsers. In either case, you are preventing your visitors from using all or some of the features of your website.
Do not use JavaScript too much. It does provide more ways for you to build a responsive and transparent site, but it can be problematic for some visitors. Everyone uses a different web browser, and all of them have new versions released fairly regularly. They might not have the latest edition of the browser. Many people turn off Javascript, or disallow it on a site they don’t visit regularly. Both of these things mean that these users are prevented from using your site.
Do not go overboard in using lots of fonts when creating your website. You should also think about how different fonts will look and how readable they are. Many websites use Verdana, which can be simple to read in various sizes and colors.
Elicit feedback from your visitors. By doing this, if you discover a missing item or if you don’t know how to properly utilize your page, it’s possible for you to fix it. If your site visitors feel actively involved in the process, they will be return viewers.
Always check for links that are broken. Do this before uploading the links to your server. If links are broken, visitors will assume that the info they are seeking is not available, and they will leave your site. To prevent this from happening, do a quick check to ensure everything is working properly.
When designing a large site, always incorporate a search feature. Try having a search box in the upper-right of your homepage that allows searching for terms on your site. FreeFind and Google both offer these search functions to use on your site.
Never place pop-up ads on your website. These ads are always alluring with the promise of making extra profits; however, most visitors find them highly annoying. People won’t want to visit your website again. Simplicity is key when it comes to ads. You do not have to rely on pop-ups.
Design Tools
Using a host’s design tools to build your website is a good idea for the basic layout, but you don’t want to rely on the design tools completely. Your site should reflect you and your personality, so you want to make sure it’s not too generic.
User experience is the most important aspect of any website. Do you know what the user’s needs are? Factors of note are usability, accessibility, user experience and interaction. It is essential that you don’t drop the ball on this. Look at things the way your readers would see things when you go to design a page.
Practice all you can. As you understand each little thing, give it a try. Practice makes perfect, and active practice is the best way to retain your learned knowledge. You never want to read something great but not actually “get it” because you didn’t try it out on your own.
Figure out your site’s target audience and ask them what they’re interested in with a website. This can help you with the design as well as the many features available on your site. It is also important to get advice from people in your target audience.
Make it easy to search your site from every page on your site, especially the homepage. A search form is critical for a site because it is user-friendly and functional, allowing a visitor to easily find information they want without leaving your site. Coding this search functionality isn’t difficult, so the increase in usability is definitely worth the time spent.
Test your site often to prevent issues. It’s very important that you carry out your site’s user interaction and usability tests as early as you can in the design phase of your website. You never want to stop testing the website and trying to make it better.
If you plan to include video content on your website, you should first verify that your web host allows it. A lot of services cannot spare the bandwidth or storage space for videos. They do this because FLV files can take up quite a bit of space on a public server. Just make sure you check before doing this so that you do not waste a lot of time and effort.
Do you still wish to create a great website? Do you have a better understanding of what is involved in creating a great website? Would you like to learn more about modern-day website design? Can you use these tips in upcoming site designs to succeed? Well, you should definitely be able to with all that you’ve learned here.