Many site building tools are available in today’s market; however, most will pale in comparison to your own creativity. The trick to building a great website is bringing your vision to life. Now is when the site design tools step in to help you get there. It is in your best interest to continue reading for some tips that will lead to a successful design.
When you design a web page, always choose the graphics that are appropriate for your purposes. BMP files are large and can slow down a website. PNG is the right choice for non-photo images, such as text buttons and screen shots. If an image has in excess of 256 colors choose PNG. If it does not, GIF is another option. JPEG works best for photo images.
In the 1990s, many designers used frames when creating their websites. Don’t do that. Frames were popular on web pages back then but they created numerous problems. Frame designs make scrolling frustrating and it makes sites more difficult to bookmark. A number of better ways exist that make it easy for users to navigate your site.
People don’t like to wait when they browse the Internet, so your pages need to load fast even on slow connections. If visitors have to wait and sit for a long time as your website load, there is a big chance that they will click away from you website and go elsewhere. They will probably not come back as well.
Unless your website can be viewed on a variety of browsers, it is unlikely to produce the desired results. Ensure that the site can be easily navigated on the most popular browsers. What works in Internet Explorer may not necessarily show up correctly in Firefox, Chrome, or Safari. Prior to releasing your website to the public, you should verify that all of your webpages appear as intended on every popular web browser.
Despite the type of site you are going to have, you definitely want to keep the loading time under ten seconds. Efficient sites that are well-designed need to show up in the browser for your readers in just moments. People browsing online like those instant rewards or gratification, so to speak, so this should be your focus.
Set up your website so that people can easily search it. This is especially important if you have a large website. At the top right of every page in your site, incorporate a search box which will let visitors search for a term that appears on your site. You can add search functions to your site with Google and FreeFind.
Be sure that your website has small files, no matter how aesthetically designed your site is. This is because the speed of your website loading is directly influenced by the file sizes. You want the speediest load times possible. Remember, some of your website’s visitors will not be using a fast Internet connection. Try to test your site regularly, especially with a slower dial-up modem. This will help you to know for sure that it will quickly load in every situation.
Make sure that your user’s needs are a priority. The web designer must know what the readers are looking for at all times. These needs include usability, accessibility, user interaction and overall user experience. These are primary considerations you must factor in. Look at the site through the eyes of a user as you design.
You need to check your website’s performance across a wide array of different web browsers. Each browser program handles sites in a different way, and these variations can alter the user’s interface significantly. There are various resources to find which browsers are more popular. Test your website on all of these browsers, including the popular mobile web browsers.
Conditional loading and independent CSS pages are important when you design your website. Using these techniques makes it much easier for testing and ensuing maintenance later on. You have to maintain your website, so why not keep it simple and easy?
Do not place adds that pop up on your site. Incorporating ads is an important part of a website but they should not detract from your viewer’s experience. People will not want to visit or click away immediately. Keep everything on your site as simple as possible.
Enroll in a periodic website creation newsletter to help you to occasionally re-focus on your web page design vision. For rookies and veterans, newsletters come in handy.
There is a wealth of technology available to use on your website. Your website can be as simple or flashy as you desire. It is your decision about how it looks. The nice thing about web design is that the sky is really the limit.