Web design as a career path is a popular choice of many. Website development is one such career path, but designers are becoming a dime a dozen. Check out these methods to help you stand out.
Let users cancel actions if they desire. Actions include registering for any e-mail notifications, browsing the site, or filling out forms. If you don’t give visitors the opportunity to cancel their actions, you are depriving them of control, and that can prove fatal to your website.
Try the common “newsletter” technique to keep your readers reminded of your services. Allowing your customers to sign up for updates or important events can have them coming back for more. It is good practice to place the newsletter signup form in your website’s side bar. Furthermore, you should always keep track of everyone who signs up. Send your newsletter only to those who have signed up; doing otherwise is considered spam.
Speed is the governing factor of the Internet and it is imperative to ensure your web site loads at a fast pace. No visitor is going to wait more than a few seconds for your page to load, so ensure they get what they want quickly so they don’t go to your competition’s website instead.
Internet Explorer
Your website should be optimized to include older versions of web browsers such as Internet Explorer. People may say they dislike Internet Explorer, but a majority of them still use it. Unfortunately, many aspects of your site may not be compatible or displayed properly due to outdated rendering standards, so you may have to create some fixes for the elements that do not work properly. Specifically, you should learn about a “box model bug” which troubled Internet Explorer for years.
Make sure to test early and to test quite often. While you’re designing the website,it is very important you perform the usability tests and website’s user interaction as soon as you can. Keep testing and improving as the design nears completion.
Don’t pile on the graphics. Graphics and images are definitely necessary to help facilitate professionalism and appeal, but they can also facilitate clutter if you’re not careful. Don’t use graphics as a decoration for your site; they should be used to make it look professional. Having the right amount of graphics will improve your site’s usability and reduce the clutter.
There are millions of sites out there, and most of them are similar. Rising above them all is how you’ll make your Internet mark. So if you are ready to begin a future in web design, just start with the above tips.