The Tricks Every Web Designer Must Know

TIP! Don’t pile on the graphics. Graphics are critical, but they can also clutter up a page.

Do you want to make a website, but don’t know how? Can you not afford to hire a professional? The tips and tricks here will help you learn what you need to know.

TIP! Always be aware of the size of your webpages and keep them as small as possible. Not all website visitors have blazing connection speeds and will get frustrated and lose interest if your site takes a while to load.

This isn’t the 90’s, so avoid frames. When web page design first started frames were useful but had many flaws. Frame designs are harder for the audience to bookmark and scroll through. There are many better alternatives to frames.

TIP! It is important that your website is easy to read. Usability tests indicate that the majority of online users fail to read content in its entirety, scanning instead for bits of information that are of interest to them.

Successful websites work well with any browser, so you’ll need to do some testing of your paging using various browsers. Your content may show up fine in Internet Explorer, but it may be unreadable or badly displayed in Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Go through every page with each browser and correct mistakes for a user-friendly website.

TIP! Research your keywords. Though your primary focus is on supplying proper content and information to your customers, you need to build a customer base.

Post pictures on your site. A few pictures on your site can make it more appealing to visitors. People will take more time browsing your site and looking at pictures.

TIP! You want to set up some way to let visitors give you feedback. If you have forgotten something or have made an element of your site confusing to use, they will be able to tell you.

Apart from the aesthetics of your website, remember that all files included must be small. Large files take longer to load when people visit your website. You want your website to load quickly so visitors won’t lose patience with it. Remember that not all visitors will have a high speed connection to the Internet. Test each section of your site to ensure it loads rapidly for every visitor.

Search Engines

TIP! The types of files that you use for the graphics on your website will affect the size of the files, which will also affect how fast your website loads. In general, JPEGs and GIFs are best for graphics.

To help you design a website that is optimized for search engines, do not include frames. Although some users like frames, information inside the frame will not show up when searched. Your rating will not be very high if search engines can’t see some of your important info. If you don’t do what’s necessary to make sure that your site is not ranked very high, people will not find your site very easily.

TIP! Any links you place on your site should have text content. Links should include a description so visitors understand what they’re clicking.

Be sure you’re using ALT tags for the images while you design a website. These tags are important for your website and people that disable graphics. If part of a link, you can include information about the link intention. Also, search engine crawlers use ALT tags, so your site is going to rank higher.

TIP! Begin your attempts at web design with simple sites that can be evaluated for potential problems. Learn from your successes and your mistakes as you expand your site.

Always use fonts which are legible and professional. People judge your sites professionalism by the fonts you use. Don’t use silly fonts, especially Comic Sans, or rare fonts that most people won’t have installed. A font can be subset to the default font on your user’s computer if they don’t have it. Sometimes this looks worse, but often times it helps the reader who otherwise may not have been able to read your website clearly.

TIP! Always proofread everything that you publish on your website. You want people to breeze through it.

As you are designing your website, keep in mind that you are not required to utilize all of the space available. When the entire screen is full of content, the brain becomes overwhelmed. When you space things out in an appropriate way and have a sense of organization, this will make users feel like they are in control. You would be surprised how empty space can often be as valued as content.

TIP! Imitation might be the best form of flattery, but when it comes to web design it’s important to develop your own ideas. Come up with your own features and add your own unique touch.

If you’ve got ideas for more than one site, you should go ahead and get the domain names now. Get creative and choose something you want, but reserve the name early to ensure you have it. Many people might have the same idea as you. Great minds often think alike.

TIP! Consult with friends to see if there is anything you missed when you learned about things like HTML or Photoshop or Dreamweaver. You want to be sure that all the things you have learned so far has been retained in memory, as you never want to be designing a site and then all of a sudden become confused and lost.

Learning from the experts can be done in person, online through chat or email, through their personal or professional blog or even through books they’ve written. You’ll rapidly advance your knowledge of design this way.

TIP! Give each individual page in a domain and its sub-domains a clear, unambiguous tagline. These taglines should be in text that is large and bold so that they are the first thing a viewer will notice when he or she follows your links.

Offer a sitewide search option at the top of every page. This is very important for making the web site easy to use and accessible. Coding this search functionality isn’t difficult, so the increase in usability is definitely worth the time spent.

TIP! Don’t force visitors on a path since that can keep them from their workflow. What you are trying to avoid is having some offers take control of their desktop until they enter data.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that creating a website costs thousands of dollars. For all widely used website creation tools that are costly, an equally effective tool can be found which doesn’t cost as much. For example, free open-source software can usually help you to accomplish the exact same tasks that paid software does. These open source solutions are the key to saving money in your budget.

TIP! If you’re aiming to host videos within your website, you should check to see if your web host will allow it. Some servers do not have the ability to host videos.

Make sure your site is secure. If you handle data like PayPal accounts or credit card numbers, you should get an SSL certificate. Additionally, consult with your website host about the security features that are included with your package.

TIP! Learning through practice helps you in designing your website to the best of your ability. Once you have figured out one aspect of the site design, tackle another.

Having white space (unused space) on your website is actually a great design feature, so don’t make the mistake of thinking that your site must be packed to the brim. Using white space makes your website easy to read. This makes your site’s message much easier to understand and process.

Using these tips will help you achieve your goals in website design. Regardless of why you set up a website, it is a great marketing tool. Well wishes!