The more you know about best practices for website design, the easier it will be to keep your site up and running. Website creation is about much more than making a site look good; good design can make your website more appealing to visitors, easier for them to use and identify with. That will help you attract more visitors, and encourage them to return to your site time and time again. The article below discusses some of the things you can do to be successful at web page design.
Make sure your website passes a test by NoScript. Download the NoScript extension on the Firefox web browser and activate it to see if your website can still be read. Some content, such as ordering systems for products, can’t work without scripts, but if your site is simply blank with scripts turned off, that’s bad news.
Minimize your page sizes. Many users have slow connections and when a page takes too long, they will quickly loss interest. If the wait is too long, your visitors may give up and leave.
It is important to choose great graphics for your web design. PNGs work much better than bitmap images, which are huge. Try using PNGs for images that are not photos or text buttons or if an image has over 256 colors. Use GIFs for something with less than 256 colors. Try using JPEGs for photos.
Make sure you have the right background. If you have a GIF background that moves, your text may be too hard to read. Pick a background that meshes with your site, not against it, and your viewers will have a much easier time understanding what you want to say.
You always want to have a maximum page load time of ten seconds. A site that is designed well will only take a few seconds to load. Most visitors want instant gratification, so give it to them.
Keep your topics separate. Each topic should be put on separate pages. This can keep viewers from becoming confused, and it can help search engines better understand your site so that they can boost your rankings.
Make sure you put your website through the NoScript test. Download the NoScript extension in Firefox and test it on your site to see if it is still readable. Some ordering systems or other types of content cannot run script-free, but if the site is blank without the script on, that’s not good.
When designing a large website, include the ability to search throughout the site. People have become accustomed to search boxes being in the upper-right corner of the page, so put it there. These should let you at least search for one term, but it’s better if it allows multiple terms. FreeFind and Google can help you install a search function on your website.
Know what your subject is. Should you plan to make a blog, it is imperative to be well versed on the topic you are blogging about. Providing bad information will only lose you readers. Blogging requires knowing your intended audience.
Make compelling and fascinating web content. The actual site design “look” is important, but content is king. A website that provides information that is both, useful and updated, will be the most effective. Readers will find information they find helpful, which will cause them to return in the future.
Maintain normal-sized pages. If your pages take a long time to load, visitors with slow connection speeds will lose interest. If it takes too long many will just leave and visit a different website.
Search Engines
Frames are one feature to eliminate if you are attempting to optimize your site for search engines. While visitors to your site may enjoy the pages that have frames, search engines do not pick up the information contained within frames. If there is important information that you want the search engines to see on your website, never put it within a frame. When that happens, not many people will see your site.
If you want your website to get more visitors, take care to use relevant, up-to-date meta tags on every page of your site. High quality meta tags assist search engines in understanding the topic of your website. Poor or useless tags that are irrelevant to your site will deter future and returning visitors.
If you want your website to be more attractive, consider adding your own pictures. Pictures help to break up a boring text-only website and give it a more user friendly vibe. People will look at your website longer and more often if you include high quality, original images.
Create CSS pages and conditional loading when designing a website. The point of this is to keep maintenance easy and adds to ease of use during test periods. You will eventually have to maintain it and this will make it easy.
You simply cannot go wrong when building a website by way of Dreamweaver, a popular Adobe program. It is ideal for beginner builders and easy to learn. It allows you a number of templates and potential layouts, and even tests what your possible site would look like online.
Stay creative when designing your site. It’s okay to get ideas from other websites, but make your site as original as you can. Come up with your own features and add your own unique touch. You will be able to get great benefits from following this step.
Free software exists that can help you set up your site. Some people assume that spending hundreds of dollars on a software program is an absolute must. However, there are dozens of programs that offer comparable results for less money. Instead, look around for a free product which has the tools you need.
You should have a visible tagline included on not only every webpage that is in the domain, but also the sub-domains. Keywords will make your website more relevant to search engines and increase traffic to your site. This tagline let’s people know what the page is about and whether or not they should stay there or not.
Focus as much time as possible every day on bettering your website. You have to work in chunks, as opposed to sporadically, so you don’t lose your train of thought. When you put the effort into doing this, your hard work will pay off as your site is built. In addition, working for longer periods of time makes the retention of what you are learning and doing much easier.
If your site uses a consistent logo image on all or most of its pages, making that image into a link back to the home page is a good idea. People now have an expectation that when they click on a company logo, the result is a return to its main home page. It’s frustrating to click on a logo and have nothing happen, and this saves you from adding a ‘home’ link. Having a logo that is clickable will make site navigation easier.
Don’t add any pop-ups to your site. Although they may serve some function for your site, the average reader views them as a major irritant. As a result, your users may just go away from your site, too angry to come back.
Embracing excellent web page design practices will be of great benefit to you. Using best practices helps your site exude a genuine feel. It engenders trust in your visitors. Additionally, visitors will find your site more attractive and user-friendly. Remember that a good design is an important part of a popular website. The above article has given you some excellent advice about how to design your pages effectively. Use everything you have learned to gain success from your website!
