Do you need special templates and expensive software to design a great website? Maybe. Or, you could learn how to do a lot of this yourself. The lazier you are, the more expensive your website will be. However, if you want to do it yourself and are willing to put forth the effort, then these web design tips are for you.
If you want to host videos, read the rules of your host to make sure you can. Many hosts forbid hosting video using their servers. The FLV files are big and take up a lot of space on servers, so check to make sure it is allowed before wasting your efforts.
Avoid using pop-up advertising. Many consumers are bothered when they visit a site and are suddenly bombarded by pop-ups. Many visitors to a site will just click away from a site with pop-ups, even if the site is a popular one. In addition, many people now have pop-up blockers anyway. Your customers will be much happier if you give these types of advertisement a wide swerve. If your webhost places their own popup ads on your website, it is time for you to change your webhost.
Once your site is online, do not assume your work as a designer is over. Be prepared to keep busy with your site. Updating doesn’t need to be daily, but you must find a regular schedule and follow through consistently. Regular updates are crucial, especially if your website hosts anything relating to current events. Updating a website is quite different from updating a blog. There is a lot of work involved.
Allow users to cancel an action if they so choose. This includes completing forms, enrolling in email newsletters and searching the site to find certain information. Visitors with second thoughts are not going to appreciate being locked into an action. They will feel that they are being forced to act against their wishes, and it will be unlikely that they will want to return to your site after such an experience.
Videos on your site won’t be accessible to all viewers, including those with slower Internet connections. You may want to stream at 5,000 kb/s, but only the fastest cable and fiber connections can handle that sort of bandwidth. People are likely to leave the page before it even loads.
Ditch Flash and use something else for multimedia. Flash may seem high-tech and splashy, but it might cause a visitor’s computer to load slowly and lag. Also, many computers, especially tablet computers like the iPad, do not even have Flash capabilities. Not being able to see elements of your site might cause visitors to leave and never return.
A great place to get a domain name for the website you want to design is through domain auctions. SEDO and similar domain auctions can be a big help to your website by letting you purchase already-established domain names. A worthwhile, quality domain name may be expensive, but can pay major dividends to your success.
In order for your website to be successful, it must work properly regardless of the browser that is used. You should therefore make certain that all of your web pages are thoroughly tested on a variety of browsers. Each browser is a little different, and a site that looks fine in Firefox may look wrong in Safari, Chrome, or Internet Explorer. Go through every page with each browser and correct mistakes for a user-friendly website.
Keep your design consistent across your website. Be consistent with the colors and fonts you use to avoid confusion. This can be easily avoided by using consistent colors and images on all of your site’s pages. To further create a consistent user experience, you can utilize the same set of colors and fonts throughout your business’s publications.
It’s important to validate all of your code. There are a lot of WYSIWYG editors that can add many junk codes to your site’s design. When using those programs, it’s important to take the extra step and validate your code through a validation service. The W3C’s web site has an HTML validation widget that will validate your pages at no cost.
White is generally a safe background color to use when designing a professional website. White backgrounds not only make the text easy to read, but also make your site appear more professional, as white is the standard background color for corporate sites. Gaudy backgrounds, by contrast, often blend in with the content, and make it appear to be hastily put together. When it comes to backgrounds, simpler is generally better.
Test your site on multiple browsers, platforms (Windows 7, Windows XP, Linux, etc.) and devices (Mac, PC, tablets, cell phones, etc.) Each web browser interprets websites slightly differently, and in some cases these differences can have drastic effects on the user experience. You can easily discern which browsers are used frequently. View your website in each of these browsers to ensure that the page will be viewed correctly.
Have a favicon created for the website you designed. The little graphic will have your site looking more noticeable, especially if your visitors bookmark the site. If your favicon is distinctive and memorable, the link to your site will stand out on visitors’ bookmark lists. If possible, create a favicon that’s consistent with your business logo, product, or theme.
You will design a better site if you keep learning every step of the way. When you figure out a certain portion of web design, you need to explore another one. While this will take time, it will be worth it in the end when you know enough to create site after site.
Draw out some sketches of what you want your website to look like. Show your drawings to family, friends or potential customers to get their opinions. Use their feedback to make changes to your sketches or eliminate some ideas.
Website design isn’t as complex as brain surgery. You don’t need school, and somebody else’s life isn’t dependent upon it. By adhering to the above guidelines, anyone can learn to create an effective, dynamic website.
