You only get one chance to make a first impression, and this is as true of websites as it is of people. An unpleasant or inefficient design can drive people away almost immediately. The tips below can help you avoid this.
Avoid using frames on your site. Frames were popular on web pages back then but they created numerous problems. For example, it is difficult to scroll with frames. There are more modern ways to build layouts today.
Include an easy way for visitors to search your site content. Many people are coming to your site for a reason, and they want a quick and easy way to obtain the information they need. When one is not available, chances are they will move to a site that is searchable. Always put the box somewhere near the right page’s top because people will look for it there.
Set up your site so that visitors can cancel actions they initiate if they change their minds. This could be anything from filling out forms to registering for email newsletters. If you do not give visitors the option to get out of an action they do not want to continue with, you are pressuring them into something. This makes them less likely to come back or buy from you in the future.
Smaller pages are better. Not everyone who uses the Internet enjoys speedy connections, so they are likely to lose interest if your site takes a long time to load. You don’t want your visitors waiting for each page to load because they may just end up leaving.
Your website should be easy to scan. Most visitors won’t actually read everything you write and will skim for what they want. You are more apt to gain returning readers if text is broken down and can be scanned easily. Put your most vital information near the top. In this way, your visitors will have a good experience and get the information they need.
Retain user information so that people don’t have to waste valuable time re-typing information into forms. Make it easy on your visitors by keeping information that they may need for other forms or orders. Saving the user’s information in this way simplifies work for them, and is much appreciated by your website visitors.
It’s hard to go wrong with a simple color like white for the background of your website. White backgrounds make copy much more easily readable and give your site a more mature look. Complicated background designs on the other hand can be distracting, and can make your website feel less professional. A simple background is usually better than a crazy one.
If you want to create a website that’s nice, buy any of the programs on website design that are available today. You will be happy with the professional product these programs can produce. If the site doesn’t look good, you won’t have many visitors.
You want your home page to be simple. People judge a site and whether they want to go further by what the initial webpage looks like. Explain exactly what your business specializes in.
Keep frames off your page. People like frames, but search engines will not see your info if it is inside a frame. You will not get a good search engine ranking if your information cannot be ranked. You won’t get many visitors that way.
Don’t forget about Internet Explorer 7 and 8. Although many people loathe Internet Explorer, many people surfing the Internet do it on older versions of this web browser. Workarounds are needed for many elements to be visible in IE. Specifically, read about the “box model bug” that plagued IE for years.
Pay attention to the graphics you use. GIFs and JPGs are your best choice for graphics. Just because PNG and BMP files can be more suited to web graphics, they can use a lot more disk space. Make your files manageable to keep loading times down for visitors.
If you’re stuck in your designing, keep in mind that you can usually find help online. You can find millions of different websites where there is so much information to help you design your own site. Pick a site you like, figure out why you like it, and see if you can implement those techniques into your site. Remember that you can’t just steal ideas if your site is to be successful. Take those ideas and improve them.
Reserve a domain as soon as you can. Choose something that is creative, but reserve it quickly so that you will have it in the future. It is not uncommon for many people to have similar ideas. Great minds often think alike.
Put your user’s needs in first priority. As a web designer, you should always focus on the viewer’s needs. It’s important to consider accessibility, usability, user interaction and user experience. These are really important to think about when working on a website. Look at the site through the eyes of a user as you design.
When you know about web page design, get down to practicing what you know. Use the practice to apply the knowledge that you read here for easy learning. You don’t want to make any mistakes!
Don’t overwhelm users with too much content. Don’t confuse, fluster or overwhelm your early visitors.
Target Audience
A great “About Us” page will help your readers understand who you are and what you do. Most websites don’t have very interesting copy in this area. Try to give it a bit of personality. Give visitors insight into you, the designer. Help them understand how you began designing websites, which other designers you consider to be mentors, and where you are going from here.
Make sure you think about your target audience when designing your site. Create a poll or questionnaire to find out what they need from your page. You can use this to help with your site’s design and to put features on it. Taking the advice of your target audience is crucial if you want your design to be successful.
Try to make your website more entertaining by using graphics. Keep your site from looking bland by wrapping words around images. If you content is surrounded by creative design, visitors will like your site more.
Allow “site searching” on all of your pages. A search form is critical for a site because it is user-friendly and functional, allowing a visitor to easily find information they want without leaving your site. Coding this search functionality isn’t difficult, so the increase in usability is definitely worth the time spent.
Begin by creating smaller websites that allow you to gauge your strengths and weaknesses, and how to improve upon both. Besides keeping them small, your initial efforts should also be simple. Avoid complex multimedia and advanced structures to begin with, and stick with basic pages of text and pictures.
Focus your best material “high up and over to the left.” People read from the left side to the right. This means things that you do not want your visitors to miss should be placed on left and high enough that they will notice before moving on.
Make sure your interface tools are simple for users. This means that links should be checked often to make sure they go to the right place. Make sure to use code that changes the color of all links that are clicked on so that that visitors know they’ve already used the link. If you get the design of your site down, your visitors wills tick around longer and they’ll come back to your site again and again.
People will decide to stay on your website based largely on how your website is designed. Make your first impression attractive. The tips provided here should help you deliver the type of website development that engages and keeps visitors.
Read some web design knowledge online. You can easily do this by reading what others have done. The pros are often not in competition with you and are always willing to share information. If you don’t spend time learning, you’ll never get better.