Technology moves at a rapid pace and keeping up can be frustrating. The fact is that a company without a website is missing out on many customers that they won’t be able to get any other way, so implementing technology in your favor is important. Read on to find some techniques and secrets which will help you get into the game.
Make sure your webpages aren’t too long. You only get one chance to make a first impression, and if your most important content is “below the fold,” it may not even be read. If you have a lot of related content that needs to stay together, consider breaking it up into sections and adding links to each section.
Avoid cramming page elements together. Each section of your page should be naturally separated from each other, as this makes the purpose of each section more clear. The easiest way to separate sections is by using DIVs, but there are other ways, including absolute positioning (not recommended), the CSS margin command, and floats.
Make sure your visitors can search for content on your website. If visitors are searching for something specific, they should be able to use a search box. When there isn’t one available, they may just decide to try another site where they can find that information. Place the search box in the top right corner of the page since this is where most people look for one.
Ensure people can easily scan your information. Through usability tests, it has been determined that many readers online do not read all content. Normally, most are just scanning for interesting parts. Easily-skimmed articles will make it easier on readers and will entice them to come back another time. Also, the more important info should be kept towards the top. This helps the visitors see the important stuff first before checking out the rest of the site.
To help your web pages load quickly, you should compress all the images on the website page. If you have images that are compressed then pages will load much faster. Nothing is more frustrating to viewers than waiting for a 250k graphic to load when it should really only be 20k.
Always keep your load times under 10 seconds. An efficient site that is nicely designed is going to load properly and quickly. Make sure online visitors obtain the information they need rapidly.
If you have several pages on your web site, use a navigation bar at the top to help visitors find the information they need right away. Include contact information, so they can speak with you if they’d like. Headings should be clear and visible, and paragraphs should be concise as well as easy to read.
If you are not feeling confident in any area at all when you’re designing a website then go ahead and ask for help from someone. You can either find help from a friend or from strangers on places like forums on the web. Just be sure you don’t tackle anything without knowing what you’re doing first.
Don’t load rich content automatically. Rich content mainly refers to music and videos, but anything other than text or graphics qualifies. Many people browse in work environments where sounds suddenly playing is a big problem. Also, many people find such rich content annoying in general. Rich content should require some interaction from the user before playing.
Make sure that you use file sizes for all content on your site that loads quickly for your website visitors. Keep your graphics to GIF and JPEG file formats. Although there are a number of advantages to using PNG and BMP files for web graphics, these types of files take up much more disk space. Keep your graphics at a reasonable size to save space.
Add a search feature to a website. When visitors come to your website, they want to easily be able to find what they are looking for. A keyword search feature will make it easy for people to find the right page on your site, especially if the website you are designing is very complex.
A well-written “About Us” page is worth the effort. These pages are often dull and uninteresting. You can share personal information, education history and career choices that have lead you to this point in your life. Let people see who you are by sharing your educational background, career moves and future goals.
Learn as much as you can about the various forms of html, as the html is crucial to web design. When you learn about html go ahead and make a couple of pages that are sort of filled with the information that you want to add to any of the sites you plan on working on.
Most people are familiar with the Adobe Photoshop program and understand the importance of mastering it for designing websites. However, many people don’t know about Dreamweaver and its potential for designers. Look into this application to find out its benefits.
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.
As an alternative to Photoshop, you could choose to use the GIMP photo editor. GIMP has practically every single feature that Adobe Photoshop does; and instead of spending hundreds of dollars on a program and using up a few hundred MBs of program space, GIMP is 100% free and runs about 35mb.
In the end, Blank Canvas web design has become so simple that anyone can do it. From your 8 year old neighbor who has her own Pokemon site to my 90 year old Grandmother and the Quilting forum she set up, everyone seems to be active online. Get your company set up with its own presence and enjoy the profits it brings!
