Answering Your Web Design Questions To Make You Better
You will likely feel intimidated by starting a brand new website, but see it as an exciting new venture. It can be hard to see where to start, who you can ask for advice, and the budget you will need. Use the following advice as a foundation for all your future web design efforts.
If you’re designing a website, make sure the code you write has a valid HTML+CSS. Although most browsers can make sense of code that isn’t valid, it could be rendered correctly or incorrectly. Valid code will render the same way most of the time in modern browsers. You can check the validity of your HTML code with an HTML validator.
Be sure to select the correct graphics when designing your website. Keep in mind that bitmap files are quite large and typically do not work well, but PNGs work okay. Try using PNGs for images that are not photos or text buttons or if an image has over 256 colors. Use GIFs for something with less than 256 colors. JPEGs are good to use for photographs.
Unless your website can be viewed on a variety of browsers, it is unlikely to produce the desired results. Ensure that the site can be easily navigated on the most popular browsers. Even though your website may display perfectly on Internet Explorer, this doesn’t mean that it will look the same on Chrome, Safari, or Firefox. Therefore, you should check how all the pages of your website display in all the major browsers on the market, before turning your site live.
Avoid creating user interface (UI) controls that mislead your visitors. These controls include elements, widgets and more that create an interactive experience, such as a link, drop-down list or button. You do not want to make visitors think that clicking on an underlined word or phrase for example, will lead to a new page if it is not actually linked to something else. When your visitors have expectations of something working a certain way and it does not, they are more likely to assume there is something wrong with your site and leave.
Keep your topics separated. Be sure to use different pages if your site includes more than one topic for discussion. It’ll help people find what they are looking for easier, and search engines will have an easier time ranking specific pages.
To help you design a site that is easy for people to read all the information, make sure the pages are not too wide. If the pages are not too wide then they will fit on most people’s computer screens. If the page is too wide, then part of your valuable information could be left off the page.
If you have never designed a web page, try using pre-made layouts. These can easily be found online for several blogging websites like Blogspot or Tumblr. Having an interesting layout will draw attention to content and give the site a professional look. Just make sure your layout is appealing to your target audience!
Make sure your website uses a consistent font throughout. Some websites change fonts willy-nilly without any design reason to do so. This makes the content difficult to process for visitors. Most websites, especially business websites, will do just fine sticking to basic fonts like Arial, Veranda, or even Times New Roman.
When designing a website for a mobile application, it’s important that you pick the right screen resolution. From an Android to an iPad, the sites are going to be displayed on the devices differently. If you’re hoping for the best results, go with a screen resolution that looks good on any type of screen.
When selecting a domain name, it’s important that you’re creative. A big part of web design is having a site with a good, on-topic name. Having a catchy, relevant name will make people remember your website just as much as any design features would. Don’t think that a name isn’t an important feature.
While development platforms can ease the coding process, many are not as efficient as a plain old text editor. The idea with these platforms is to design your site’s features, and then paste in their generated code. However, if you’re wanting to minimize errors and have an excellent experience, you need to utilize a text editor.
If you expect many people to contribute to the content of the website, incorporating a content management system (CMS) into the design of the website might be a good idea. A CMS will make it easier for everyone to add to and update the content without needing a high level of technical knowledge. These systems are easy to use and can make publishing content on the website much more efficient.
Now that you’ve read this, you should be prepared for moving ahead to tackle your own website design. Create a budget, locate all needed resources, and start to draft a visual plan for the site. If you get started as soon as possible, it will be easier to build an efficient, visually striking website.