Do you believe that all sites are fundamentally the same? Have you ever stopped and compared Google to Facebook? You will find that there are major differences in the appearance and useability of these very different sites. Check out the ideas here to raise your awareness of the possibilities you can incorporate into your web design.
Do not have pop-up windows on your site. While you might see these as valuable in some form or another, most people find them rather annoying. If your visitors become frustrated enough with pop-ups, they may permanently leave your website.
A good website should be designed to be easy to read through. If visitors are having trouble navigating or just feel uncomfortable viewing your pages, they may leave soon after they have visited. Avoid frustrating your visitors by providing the information they need in a simple, straightforward manner.
Put your search box in an easy to find location, and make sure up to several words can be entered. The button that turns on the engine should read “Search.” By following this advice, your website’s visitors will be able to easily find and use the search box effectively.
Get a professional mentor. Even if you want to tackle most of the site building yourself, having professional advice can greatly ease the process. If you take this route, you can make the most of an opportunity to develop your own skills.
Use a sensible background for your site. Some sites use moving GIFs in the background, but that can make text hard to read. Use a light colored background which fits into your site’s color palette.
If users want to, let them cancel an action. For example, put a “clear” button on a form, an unsubscribe link on all newsletters and a “cancel” button on orders. If visitors cannot cancel an action they are not interested in, such as providing their contact information, they will feel they do not have a choice and won’t buy anything.
A great way to get repeat visitors to your site, is by having them subscribe to your newsletter. This is great for captivating someone whom may have viewed your site, but then gone on to forget about it entirely. Place the signup form in a sidebar on your site, and keep track of the people that sign up. Stay on the ethical path and only send newsletters to users who request them.
Don’t keep outdated content on your site. If your home page features an event that already took place, people will not be interested in reading more of your content. Viewers want to know that they are getting up-to-date information, and lack of attention in removing old products will not install this faith. Create a regular schedule for updating the content of your page, and weed out anything that has become irrelevant.
Make sure that you validate all of the websites you create. There are a lot of WYSIWYG editors that add junk codes to the website design. Go through your code and use a validation service to make sure your code is clear enough. Go to the WWW Consortium website to validate your pages for free.
Create a favicon for your website. The little graphic will have your site looking more noticeable, especially if your visitors bookmark the site. When looking through their lists of bookmarks, a memorable favicon will make you stand out. Brand your icon to match your logo and website.
For those just starting out in web design, save money by using either grid or shared hosting. VPS or dedicated hosting is not necessary for the small websites newbies make. That is because you don’t know how many visitors your site will attract, and you want to avoid overpaying or underpaying before you have a good idea of what your hosting needs will be.
Use fonts that are both easy to read, and professional. People judge your sites professionalism by the fonts you use. Fancy fonts, such as those that look like gothic lettering or calligraphy, can often be hard to read. Other fonts, like Comic Sans, send a message that you aren’t professional. In case your user’s browser cannot display the font your website uses, a secondary font can be set. This can make your website look a lot worse.
Hosting your own site is a bad idea, even if you’ve got the money to do it. Design your website as much as you can by yourself, but have someone else host it, so that you do not have to worry about its security and safety.
When you design a website, be aware of the value of leaving blank space in your layout. Utilizing all pixels available can cause your site to feel cluttered. Leaving space between different elements on your webpage could give your consumers a comfortable experience. Sometimes, the value of blank space is equal to that of a website’s content.
Keeping your website’s links working, and up-to-date, is vitally important. Good web design relies on being user friendly, and broken links are frustrating to your visitors. To prevent these things from happening, create a time frame at regular intervals where you check all the links for proper functionality.
If you are designing a commercial website it is a terrible idea to use a free web hosting service. You will not want the advertisements on your site to take away from the content you put on the site. It’s better to use a type of paid hosting service.
In the “About Us” area of your site, write some good content about who you are. Dry or simplistic content won’t get your reader interested. Your site doesn’t have to be one of those sites, though! Let people see who you are by sharing your educational background, career moves and future goals.
Do not expect to create a website as successful as Facebook. Overall, the chances of making a worldwide known site is slim. Fortunately, anyone who has a solid understanding of web design fundamentals can create an attractive, functional website. Use the tips laid out here, and start designing today!
