There is nothing like getting back to the basics, even when it comes to an experienced web designer. It’s hard to find the best tips when so many websites offer web design advice. You can get the help you need by reading this article. Listed beneath is an assembled list of many helpful tips on web design that is there to help you with creating some amazing websites.
Keep all of the site files you use as small as possible, regardless of design. Your website’s loading time is directly affected by the file sizes you have on your site. You want your site to load as quick as possible. You should also keep in mind that not every visitor will be using a high speed Internet connection. You want to perform a test to make sure your site performs well, even with dial-up modem connections.
Continually educate yourself on site design. Learn one aspect of website design, and then move on to the next. While this may lengthen the process of building your first site or two, you will soon have the knowledge you need to crank out websites much faster.
Don’t keep outdated content on your site. If there is content on your page highlighting an event that is already part of past history, your readers are going to abandon you quickly. Users are careful with their time and if they can tell that your site is not updated often, they will leave. Put removing outdated content on your to-do list, to do every 2-4 weeks.
Put together a nice page about you or your organization and title it “About” or “About Us.” Too many websites use boring, generic biographies. Spice things up. Provide some insight about your own story. How did you get inspiration? What are your goals? What led you to web design?
Try to be consistent with your fonts and color scheme on your site. Keeping a consistent design, will encourage visitors to proceed with confidence. Keep your graphics consistent, and you can avoid this problem all together. To achieve the maximum cohesiveness, also use the same font and color scheme in any brochure or literature you send out for your company.
Your website should also feature links which allow your visitors to share what they find with their friends on social networking sites. This can help to boost traffic to your website, as it allows your customers to brag about the great business and products they’ve found.
Let your friends see and use your website, to troubleshoot potential errors or bugs. Get impartial opinions about any new features you may add. You may not be bothered if a video loads slowly, but others might think differently. It is important to always get the advice of others.
Focus on creating content that is suitable for a global audience. Formats for dates, times, currencies and units of measure should be easily comprehensible by people everywhere. Remember that people from different countries will be viewing your site: do your best to make your site accessible to everyone.
A good website will never require that a visitor provide the same information more than once. Ensure that personal data for each of your website’s visitors is preserved. When a user needs to enter their information multiple times to sign up for various options you give them, make it so that they don’t have to enter duplicate info from beginning to end on their own repeatedly. With this “sticky” information, you create a simpler, easier experience for your users, which will prompt them to stay on-site longer.
One tool amateur web designers should use when creating graphics for their sites is Adobe Photoshop. Even without professional training, a web designer with a good grasp of Photoshop can turn out attractive, useful websites very quickly. 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.
Work with a professional. You can gain a great deal of knowledge from a web design master who knows how the field works. You’ll rapidly advance your knowledge of design this way.
Never underestimate the value of a site that is simple for visitors to navigate. Your links need to be prominently placed, easy to understand and functional. Menus can make navigation on your site easier. Make sure you have links back to your main pages accessible on every single page of your website; that way, visitors are able to always get around.
Carefully use sound on your website. Refrain from bombarding your website’s visitors with annoying sounds that they can’t mute or control. Audio and video links are great, but the user should be in control of them, with the ability to turn them on and off, and control the sound.
Keep in mind that not everyone visiting your website will have a fast Internet speed. You may want to stream at 5,000 kb/s, but only the fastest cable and fiber connections can handle that sort of bandwidth. Which translates into a slow video, buffering every few seconds.
There should be a tagline for each page in your site, that is clear and easy to understand. Use large text in bold that will grab attention, as this is the first thing seen by visitors when following links. A tagline of this type will clearly identify what is offered on the page and have a defined purpose.
You don’t have to fill all available space when designing a site. Filling every last pixel of available space can produce a cluttered effect your visitors may find overwhelming. Leaving a sufficient amount of space in between the various elements on the webpage however, can give your visitors a more comfortable experience. It can actually work to your benefit if you allow some space to be left uninhabited.
Regardless of what your skill set may be in website design, you must remember the basics. The information for web design is vast and far-reaching, which can make for a challenging search for good knowledge. The information included here should get you on your way to creating excellent websites.