This article is for anyone with even the slightest interest in website development. This article will provide you with necessary advice for designing your website. No matter your skill level, there is a lot to take in!
Search Box
Include an easy way for visitors to search your site content. If people visit your site for something specific, they will be on the lookout for a search box. If you don’t have one, they may go to another site which does. Place the search box in the top right corner of the page since this is where most people look for one.
In the 1990s, many designers used frames when creating their websites. Don’t do that. While frames were helpful in the field of web design back then, they were also problematic. Visitors may find it difficult to scroll or bookmark your design when a frame design is present. There are more modern ways to build layouts today.
Allow users to cancel an action if they so choose. For example, put a “clear” button on a form, an unsubscribe link on all newsletters and a “cancel” button on orders. 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.
Pay close attention to the backgrounds of your site design. Your background should not be too distracting and allow your reader to read the text easily. Choose backgrounds that coordinate with your site, rather than clashing with it, and your message will be much more clear to your visitors.
Use shortcuts as often as you can. Many aspect of webdesign are not as hard as they seem and have shortcuts on how to do them. Even HTML codes can be used to implement quick content updates.
Always, always remove old or outdated information off your website. When you are offering specials that are past their expiration, you will watch your visitor counts dwindle. Users are careful with their time and if they can tell that your site is not updated often, they will leave. Make it a point to regularly update your content, and replace dated information with current things.
One tool amateur web designers should use when creating graphics for their sites is Adobe Photoshop. Using programs like PS can make amateur sites look professional, fast. If you do not have a top program like Photoshop, it can make it hard and really time consuming to acquire enough knowledge to build a really nice site, quickly.
Offer your site visitors a way to provide you with feedback. This will clue you in to ways that your website falls short of their expectations or doesn’t work properly, enabling you to make the necessary changes. Remember, when your visitors feel like they are involved with your website, they are more likely to make repeat visits.
Be sure you take care of the people that use your site’s needs. The web designer must know what the readers are looking for at all times. Interaction and ease of use are paramount concerns here. Always prioritize your visitors. See things from the perspective of your visitor.
You website should be easy to scan. Many readers online look for information that is interesting to them. Having text in certain areas to create a more bold appearance will catch the attention of readers who quickly scan each page. You should put the important stuff on top. Doing all this makes your visitors’ experience more enjoyable because they can find the information they want without any problems.
Meta Tags
Meta tags used on each page of your site, can increase visitors to your site. This is an important design consideration. Quality meta tags describe your site for search engines. Not putting enough effort into their content can severely hurt your page rank and reduce your traffic.
Try writing a good “About Us” page. Often, a website will contain a boring, half thought-out page to cover this. Try spicing things up! 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.
Do not overuse JavaScript. It does provide more ways for you to build a responsive and transparent site, but it can be problematic for some visitors. Web browsers are all different, and each comes out with new versions pretty regularly. You can’t expect that your website visitors are going to have the most updated versions of their browsers. Also, some visitors will not have JavaScript enabled. Either of these problems can make the visitor unable to use your site.
Always check your website for broken hyperlinks. Do this often, and especially before uploading any of it to the server. You want to make sure everything you put up is working as people become deterred when they see content on a site that is faulty, this can make them choose to never come back. In order to prevent this from occurring, proactively test thoroughly for full functionality.
Start small when learning how to build a website so you can figure out what you know, and what you need to get better at. 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.
Being in charge of your website and website design, will call for you to have your own secluded office space. Limit exposure to distractions, organize and make the space as efficient as possible. Make sure everything that you need is within reach, and create a space that is efficient for all your design needs.
Make sure that your page loads in less than 10 seconds. You want your site to load quickly on the browser of whoever is visiting your page. Your viewers want instant gratification, so you need to provide it.
Use good looking graphics throughout your website. To add interest to your site, it is wise to do some creative things, such as wrapping text around images. If your content looks like time was spent on it, people may be more inclined to visit and return to your site.
Implement site searching abilities into your home and sub pages. This ensures that all parts of your carefully designed site are always accessible to the people that need them. This feature can be included with ease, and is a worthy addition to any site.
If you have crucial information for your website, put it at the top and towards the left of the page. Many people start reading from the left to the right, so placing the most vital website elements in these areas will help readers see them before the rest of the site.
Create an opt-in newsletter to entice your visitors to return often. This is great for captivating someone whom may have viewed your site, but then gone on to forget about it entirely. Place a signup form on your site in a sidebar, while maintaining a list of everyone who signs up. Make sure you only send out the letter to those that have explicitly requested to view it.
You need a site map to help people navigate your site. Site maps do two things. First, it makes it so visitors can better understand your website. Next, the user should be able to find what they want fast. It also is great for SEO needs. The search engines are able to locate your site better this way.
Now that you have gained some valuable knowledge about website development, you can feel more confident when it comes to taking that step in designing your own website. Keep on learning, and you soon will be as comfortable as a professional.