No matter what kind of site you are running, you need to understand how to design it. The design of a site has a lot to do with whether or not you get repeat visits. This article is full of tips that let you run a successful site.
Avoid useless scripts. Scripts like counters and date/time scripts don’t really serve any purpose, and since they are all JavaScript, can add a few kilobytes to the page’s file size. Getting rid of these elements also frees up space on the homepage. Replace those useless scripts with useful content that keeps users coming back.
Avoid using so-called “mystery meat navigation”. This involves using unlabeled images or other elements for the site’s navigation. In many cases, the visitor has to mouse over the buttons to even see what they do. Navigation is best kept simple. Use text links across the top or along the left side of the page.
There are many free programs available to help you develop your website. Do not listen to people who tell you that you can’t design and operate a website without relying on pricey software packages; you can find a free alternative for virtually every task. All you have to do is a little searching to find the best free tools for you.
Do not use images for your background. When you think about some of the biggest websites on the Internet, they do not have images as backgrounds. When you use image backgrounds, you represent yourself as someone who is not well-versed in web designing. Images as backgrounds also cause your site to load slower, which can lead to user frustration.
Use custom error pages to make your site more informative. For instance, if you want people to report dead links on your site, either put a server-side script on your 404 page or have a form or email address that visitors can use to report the error. You should have custom pages for 403, 404, and 500 errors, at the very least.
Try to code using only CSS. We’re moving away from table-based sites to only CSS sites because they are reusable, accessible, and they can greatly reduce your file sizes. This allows you greater control of the appearance of your site. There are various CSS resources you can use, therefore, knowing CSS is invaluable to web design.
Optimize your website’s load times. Visitors would rather leave than wait. You can do this by keeping your images and multimedia to an average size and keeping the coding simple and sweet.
Anyone wishing to design a great-looking site should consider spending a lot of time on the header image. This is what visitors are noticing as soon as they log on to your website, so having something that’s on topic and visually appealing is a good move. Creating your own instead of using a premade header is the best way to go.
Keep practicing when you start learning web design so that you can try out little things and remember them going forward. This will ensure that you are using the information you learn. You want to avoid believing that you have learned something only to find out at some future date that you really did not fully understand the information that was presented.
Always proofread any information you put up on your website. You want visitors to easily absorb it. A site with errors is not very professional and it will make people want to stay away from your site.
In order to host your own website, you must have the infrastructure and the money it requires. It could actually prove much more costly to you. You also need to know what you are doing. It is not easy as pie, and you must have the knowledge to host your own website.
Make sure you are always on the lookout for as much information as you can grasp your mind around when you’re getting into web design. There usually isn’t anything that you can learn that isn’t going to benefit you in web design, unless the information you learn isn’t true so be aware of this.
It doesn’t matter what website type you’re working with, you have to know what web design is all about. Whether visitors find your website attractive, and even whether they trust your website depends in part on the design of the website. So keep the above tips in mind when designing a website.