There are a lot of website-building tools on the market today, but none of them are really worth their weight in salt when compared to your personal vision. The key in designing a site is to bring your creativity to life. This can be done if you have good tools for web design. Here are some great tips to get you started.
Pay careful attention to which colors you choose to use together in your web page design. Your text should remain the main focus of attention and should be easy to read. In general, you want to use a dark font color and a lighter background. Soliciting feedback from a friend can help you determine how effective your color scheme is if you develop doubts about it.
Testing your website in every browser available is a great way to ensure it works as you wish it to for every visitor. If something works in Chrome it might not work in Firefox, for example. Before your website goes live, check to be sure that the pages display properly in all of the most popular browsers.
Peruse web design forums for more in depth ideas, as well as new information. An Internet search on your computer will give you access to a lot of info.
Broken Links
Check your webpages for broken links before publishing them. Error pages only cause visitor frustration. Use a program or check links manually to be sure you have no broken links on your site.
Stay away from using pop-up ads. There is nothing worse than confronting a cascade of pop-up ads when visiting a website. This often causes people to leave a site, meaning they never take the time to get to know your product. Avoid annoying your customers, by staying away from these irritating advertisements. If you have a host where pop-ups are mandatory, then perhaps you should be out looking for a new one.
Be careful when introducing new colors into the design of your website. If the text fades into the background due to poor contrast, the text will be hard to read. It is typically easier to see darker lettering that is set upon light backgrounds than the reverse. Ask your friends to give you feedback on the colors you choose.
Photoshop is a good program for creating great content for your new web site. It is also novice friendly. Using programs like PS can make amateur sites look professional, fast. If you do not have a top program like Photoshop, it can make it hard and really time consuming to acquire enough knowledge to build a really nice site, quickly.
Don’t use frames. While many people like frames, information tends to not be easily seen via search engines. The search engine will give your website a lower ranking if it can’t see the great content you are providing. You will lose out on visitors, if this happens.
Meta Tags
Your website needs to function properly for visitors who use any kind of browser, so be sure to test out your site for browser compatibility. What works in Chrome might not appear the way you want it in Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Safari. Before you set your site to go live, look at how every page shows up in all the major browsers.
It is important that you incorporate meta tag into the design of each of your website page, if you want to increase your website’s exposure. Quality meta tags will help the search engines to recognize what your site is all 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’re setting up your site, it’s fine to take a look at the features and designs other people are using, but you should hang onto your own creativity. Come up with your own ideas and features or improve upon some that you admired on other sites. Your web page design work will be more effective and more memorable if you remember to keep it creative.
When starting out, limit your content. Visitors want simple, informative content they can use.
For images, use ALT tags. These tags help you describe the images for people with visual impairment or people that disable images. If you use images as links, you can describe the link. Finally, ALT tags are used by search engine crawlers; therefore, using them can help boost your search rank.
Usability tests that are task based are a good way to figure out what design works best for your website. In general, the purpose of the tasks is to locate some information or functionality that is buried in your website. Users should not have any trouble completing the task if the site is designed well. However, if it’s not, it will give you insight into what areas on your website need improvement.
Try speaking with a professional web designer in order to learn some great tips and ask any questions you have. They already know the right and wrong way to do things and can quickly help you get on the right track. Through their guidance, you can design websites at a professional level.
You don’t have to tackle the entire project all by yourself. Here are some of the things a good web designer must understand: Content creation, search engine optimization, web programming, user interface design, and graphic design. Do not hesitate to call in the experts when needed. When you are not sure how to design something, keep in mind that there are professional web designers out there who can help you get it done.
Use navigation that is easy, clear, and simple to maintain. Place all navigation links in areas that flow well and are easily visible so your visitors know where to go and remain on the site much longer. The navigational part of your website should allow users a great experience.
Once you learn about website creation, you will be able to craft a site using Flash, Java, or any other particular technology you want to use. You can make your site look however you want. It is up to you. The thing you want to remember is that you are in control of your design when you use the tips from above.
