Web Design For Dummies: Quick Tips And Tricks
Your website’s design is the first thing a person will see when they go to your site. Create a design that leaves a good first impression, or people will tend to leave your website quickly. Use these tips to avoid losing customers.
Web design is a subject that you always want to stay informed on. With this in mind, if you have any friends that are also into web design then you will want to keep in contact with them. You can exchange any new information you learn so that you’re both on top of your game when it comes to web design.
Have a site map. These are useful to your clients and the search engines, as they give a detailed overview of your entire website. It can be a guide for viewers searching for a certain part of your site, and also allow you to keep track of its structure and layout.
Build your website using a content management system. Knowing how to build a website using just HTML and CSS is a good foundation of knowledge, but this can only produce a static website. Web design has evolved into providing dynamic content. If you couple your coding skills with the use of a content management system, you can practically build any type of website that you desire.
Do not use blinking, scrolling text or other animations. Also, steer clear of sounds or music that plays automatically. All of these things are distracting to users and provide nothing of value. In addition, connection speeds vary from one site visitor to the next, and everyone does not have the same speed. Those users with slower connections will resent the slow-loading elements of your site.
Make sure everything is easy to locate on your website. Spend some serious thought on how everything on your site will be laid out. When content is randomly thrown on your site with little thought to the layout, you are making things harder for the people whose use of your site ensures your online success – your site visitors.
You always want to make the user’s needs your top priority. Web designers need to completely focus on the user’s needs. These needs include usability, accessibility, user interaction and overall user experience. You should consider these issues as you go about your work. Seeing things from your visitors’ perspective will benefit you greatly.
Creating a site map is a very important part of the web design process. A site map is an effective way to inform visitors of the various kinds of content that your website has to offer, and is a great tool for navigating your website. Search engine crawlers will also utilize your site map for similar reasons, and therefore, including a site map will help boost your search rankings. Make sure your website has a site map, and that it is through.
When designing your website, it is a good idea not to stray too far from popular conventions. For example, most users expect that when they click on the website logo at the top of a webpage, they will be taken to the home page of the website. If your website behaves differently, it can confuse the user. In many cases, straying from such conventions can lead to a poor overall user experience.
Sometimes implementing certain strategies when designing a website can take a significant amount of time and effort. If you find something rather difficult, do not give up and move on to something else. Instead, persevere and realize that patience and diligence pay off in the long run. These ideas that you find valuable for your site can be implemented with some patience and hard work.
If user or customer agreements are found on our website, speak plainly in them, avoiding legal jargon as much as possible. You want your customers to feel like they know what is going on and being said. Legal jargon will confuse your customers, and it will make them uneasy about your site.
If you are considering hosting videos on a website, be sure to check with the web host to make sure that it is allowed. There are many hosts that restrict videos from being hosted on their servers. FLV files occupy a lot of room on servers, so make sure you’re allowed before you waste a lot of time.
Don’t use JavaScript too much when designing your website. Some people do not have java-enabled on their machine, and many are still using out-of-date browsers. Instead of using too much JavaScript and AJAX, make your sites clean and lean a bit more on graceful degradation. Remember, the goal is to make your site user-friendly for all users.
A big part of your site’s first impression is its design. This factor alone can determine whether a visitor sticks around or goes to a competitor’s website. Therefore, first impressions are as important online as in face-to-face communication. With any luck, you will have learned something new about designing an appealing and user-friendly website.