If you do not know much about it, web design can seem like a mysterious and intimidating art. However, once you learn more about the subject, you will realize that it is really not so difficult. Use these basic techniques for a website that is attractive, easy to navigate and informative.
It may be best to avoid hiring someone of a close social relation to you as your web designer, and instead to opt for a more formal professional. Hiring friends or family members is not a good idea when it comes to the design of your webpage. If for some reason their work is poor, you may find it difficult to let this person go.
Be certain that the website is simple to use and visually pleasing. If visitors are having trouble navigating or just feel uncomfortable viewing your pages, they may leave soon after they have visited. Avoid frustrating your visitors by providing the information they need in a simple, straightforward manner.
Domain auctions are good sources of potential website domain names. Established sites, such as SEDO, will facilitate the purchase of a domain name that already exists. It may cost more than buying a new domain, but all of the benefits make it worth every penny!
Create a favicon that reflects your website’s personality. This graphic shows up both in the address bar and on your bookmark, allowing people to recognize your website without even looking at the URL. As they look through their bookmark list, your favicon will stand out more than the bookmarks of other sites. Just be sure that you favicon is aligned with the theme of your site.
Keep in mind that designing your website does not have to be expensive. For each tool that costs a great deal of money, there is a second tool that is beneficial and will not cost as much. You can get the same jobs done with open-source no-cost software, for instance, that you can do with corporate-funded for-profit programs. Utilizing open source software can help you save a significant amount of money.
It doesn’t matter nearly as much as what your website looks like as much as it matters that the files listed are on the smaller side. This is because file sizes are directly correlated with load times. You want your website to load as quickly as possible. You need to remember that not every person who visits the website will have a fast Internet connection. You want to perform a test to make sure your site performs well, even with dial-up modem connections.
Solicit feedback from visitors to your website. This will let them communicate with you if they feel something is missing, or they do not understand what they see on your webpage, and you will be able to fix it. Giving your visitors a voice makes them much more likely to return to your site and continue the conversation.
Free software exists that can help you set up your site. You can use a lot of free tools to assist your building of your website, so check into the software that is available to you. A basic Internet search should produce a number of free design programs from which you can choose.
Draw out some sketches of what you want your website to look like. You can get an idea of how people are going to react to your sketches by asking friends and family what they think of your drafts, from this you can draw conclusions on what direction you should be going in for your site.
Have a steady use of your fonts and color schemes throughout the website. Keeping a consistent design, will encourage visitors to proceed with confidence. You don’t want to confuse your visitors. In order to achieve the most consistency, utilize the same fonts and color scheme in brochures.
Keep in mind that a lot of visitors are looking for good content, and not necessarily looking at how the page was designed. Keep your pages simple. Only include information and photos that will help your visitors understand what you are trying to communicate. The page will load quick if it’s simple.
Include links on your site that makes it easy for your visitors to share the information or products that you offer on a social site. This will help them recommend your site’s content or products to friends, which will increase your visitor count.
Do not put pop-up windows on your site. They may seem helpful, but they are seen as more annoying by visitors than not. Every pop-up window you throw in front of your website visitors increases the likelihood that they will abandon your website in frustration. Once they leave, it’s highly unlikely that they’ll be coming back.
Always opt for fonts that area crisp and easy to read. Look at the font of a site and you can distinguish whether or not it’s professional. Don’t use fancy fonts, such as Comic Sans since many computers don’t have them. Use a font that is part of the default font subsets on user computers. That can ruin your design!
There are many good books which can help you learn more about web design. Be sure you begin with information that is targeted to your current design level; you want to improve your skills, but you want to make sure you don’t miss any information as you go.
If you want to have a successful website, you need to design it in a way that works for all browsers. It is crucial you test out your site that and see that all pages show up properly in each browser. Each browser is a little different, and a site that looks fine in Firefox may look wrong in Safari, Chrome, or Internet Explorer. Check how each page displays in the major browsers before your site goes live.
Web design should no longer be a mystery for you. The more you know about web design, the easier it’ll be to design a site for your needs. Use what you have learned from this article to help you on your way to creating a website!
