Tips For Web Designers: A Basic Guide

TIP! Never underestimate the value of a site that is simple for visitors to navigate. Ensure that links are visible and displayed in prominent locations.

Many people mistakenly assume that one website is just as good as another, but this simply is not true. Check out the website of a major corporation, then look at a site that is hosted on Google or Yahoo. You will notice important parallels between each site, as well how different designs are needed based on the needs of the individual website audience. Check out the ideas here to raise your awareness of the possibilities you can incorporate into your website development.

TIP! Always look for broken links prior to publishing pages on the web. Few things are as frustrating as clicking a link only to land on an error page.

A great place to build your website creation knowledge is through forums. This will help you learn more about starting and maintaining your web page design. There is no end to the excellent websites on the Internet that offer free advice for the taking.

TIP! Make sure that you regularly remove outdated and inaccurate content from your website. If the page a viewer clicks on is promoting something that happened a year ago, you just lost a reader.

Your site should be able to pass a NoScript test. Download and run the NoScript extension on Firefox and find out if the site is readable? There are some elements (e.g. ordering products) that will not work if there is no script. For this reason, if your website is blank and has no scripts, it will not work.

Search Box

TIP! Keep your homepage simple. A lot of people will only look at the front page.

A search box should be included on your website that allows visitors to look up information on your site. If visitors to your website are searching for something in particular, they will immediately look for the search box. If you lack one, they may just move on to another website immediately. Make sure the box is on the right at the tip of the page, which is where most visitors will look first.

TIP! Regardless how your website is designed aesthetically, it is important to make certain that all of the files have small file sizes. The smaller the size of each of your files, the quicker your pages will load.

Don’t let content that is out of date linger on your website. You will come across as undependable or an amateur if you have information on events that have long passed. Visitors want to visit sites that have the most up-to-date information, and leaving up outdated information shows that you are not committed to that. Make sure you regularly schedule time to add new content, and to remove old.

TIP! Placing a visitor counter on your site is unattractive. Though you may think it adds to the appeal, your visitors will not agree.

You can build yourself a fine website using only free software. Oftentimes, people erroneously believe that shareware is inefficient for certain tasks. However, there are many free programs designed to help you keep your website neat and current. Do some searching and you’ll find some excellent free tools to use.

TIP! One of the biggest mistakes people make is not reserving domain names immediately when they are considering owning several sites. Come up with something inventive, something that people will remember.

Your navigation methods should be clear and easy to maintain. Where your links are will determine if visitors can get around your site. Never forget that your design as far as ease of navigation is the most important thing you can do to retain and build traffic.

TIP! Keep practicing when you start learning web design so that you can try out little things and remember them going forward. The reason to do this is to ensure that you understand how to apply the information you learn.

Pay attention to the graphics you use. You are better off keeping the graphics to the normal GIFs and JPEGs so it loads smoothly. Just because PNG and BMP files can be more suited to web graphics, they can use a lot more disk space. By converting your file types to more manageable sizes, you will provide your visitors with a better experience.

TIP! Build a microsite at first, as this will help you get an overall impression of your current strengths and weaknesses as a web designer. Begin with a few basic pages, (just text for the most part) and see how it goes.

Try writing a good “About Us” page. Often, a website will contain a boring, half thought-out page to cover this. Your site doesn’t have to be one of those sites, though! Your “About Us” page should contain information about your goals, background and inspiration.

TIP! Limit your starting content on a page to little amounts when first starting out. You don’t want information that will confuse the visitors to your page.

When you are facing a block in your design process, you have the Internet at your fingertips for help. There are thousands of websites you can use to garner inspiration. Look for a website that is interesting to you and use some of their ideas. Remember that a successful website needs more creativity, not just the stuff you have borrowed from others. Making improvements on borrowed ideas makes them yours.

TIP! Always be sure to make a visual sitemap. This is useful in planning ahead with accuracy.

Always avoid placing pop-up advertisements on your site. Certainly it is important to include PPC ads on your site to earn some money, but pop-up ads that get in the way of what your visitors want to see is counterproductive. It will discourage people from visiting your website. Keep your ads simple; there’s no need for wild pop-ups.

TIP! Your site logo should link back to the home page of your site. Over the years most people have come to associate a logo with a link, that when clicked, will take them to the homepage of a website.

When creating a website, figure out who your target audience is, then figure out what it is they want to see on your site. This will make the design process much easier. It is also important to get advice from people in your target audience.

TIP! You might think this sounds simplistic, but your business logo is going to have much to do with site performance. Make sure it expresses exactly what you intend and gives you the edge over competitors.

Always avoid captchas unless you are using them for user registration. Captchas make viewers feel that they must jump through a hoop just to see a simple webpage. Unless your viewer is already a regular at your site, they will probably leave and go somewhere else.

TIP! An excellent location for getting your website’s domain name is at domain auctions. At auctions like SEDO, you can get access to names that have been purchased previously but are now available for sale by their owners.

Building a website does not dictate you need to purchase books. Yes, some may be helpful. Many magazines have books have numerous tips and tricks. However, this information can actually be found for free. Expensive books won’t have any more helpful information than free books.

TIP! Add tools that can be used for social media website sharing. You want users who have interest in your site to have the personal ability to share and promote your content for you.

It’s highly unlikely that you’ll create the next hit social network site. The odds say otherwise. However, using quality website creation methods will help you quickly and easily create a website that is attractive and functional. Use what you’ve learned here and get started today!