How To Design The Web Site Of Your Dreams

Sep 23, 2012 by randga93

Make sure your site passes the NoScript test. Download and activate the NoScript extension for Firefox and see if your site is still readable. Some content, such as ordering systems for products, can’t work without scripts, but if your site is simply blank with scripts turned off, that’s bad news.

Make use of your grammar and spell checker. Yes, some mistakes may get passed some of your audience, but it will not get past everyone. You could lose some of your audience because of this, particularly if you make mistakes frequently. Do your best to correct your grammar and spelling on your site.

You should always put in the effort to make a customized error page for your site; this page should include a basic sitemap that links users to the major sections of your website. This ensures that if visitors follow a bad link or spell your URL wrong, they will be able to find what they are looking for.

Do not depend on free web hosting if you are creating a commercial site. You are much better off spending money on basic web hosting, which will prevent your site from being clogged by advertisements that you cannot control. Furthermore, free web hosting might not provide you with enough bandwidth to support the kind of traffic your site may see.

If you’re new at web designing, there are lots of resources online that you should tap into. Resources such as Six Revisions are a great way for you to learn the newest technology and keep you up to date.

A lot of times when you load up a page to your file server, you cannot find it when you type in the address via your browser. You always need to double-check and ensure that you named the file correctly. Some people literally waste days trying to pinpoint the problem they believe is major, when in reality it’s only a simple typo.

Good web design includes some white space in your overall layout. The most important thing on your site is the quality content and the effective use of white space on your page will direct the users’ eye to your content. Avoid cluttering your page with useless information just to fill up every space.

When you’re thinking about how to design a website, you need to be sure to think about the navigation. You want your navigation to be easily accessible and easy to use. Put the navigation bar on every page in a noticeable place. Also, make sure that it flows well with the rest of your page and doesn’t distract visitors.

Consider using some sort of time tracking software to help keep you focused and on task. Getting distracted is an easy way to prolong the completion of any project your are working on and these time management products will help keep your head in the game, allowing you to achieve your goals on time.

If you’re a web designer make sure that you create a work space for yourself that will offer the least amount of distractions. This will allow you to focus on your work and will result in a more productive and efficient business atmosphere.

Optimize your site for older versions of Internet Explorer (IE7 and IE8). Everyone loves to hate Internet Explorer, but the sad fact is that a large minority of internet users still use these old versions of IE. They don’t render many elements in compliance with web standards, so workarounds are required. Specifically, read about the “box model bug” that plagued IE for years.

When designing your website, make sure that users can easily access it without a lot of waiting or other trouble. Your visitors are interested in getting specific information about your products or services when they come to your site. They do not want to see a fancy, time-consuming introduction or wait forever for graphics to load.

When designing your website, you should avoid using too many different types of fonts. You must also consider how different fonts appear on the standard computer screen; smaller serif fonts (Times New Roman, for example) are somewhat hard to read. Most sites use Vedrana, which is easily read in different colors and sizes.

Learn how to use colors to influence your readers. Every color has a certain feeling that it can induce. For example, using black backgrounds or images could bring up feelings of depression and darkness. The use of a color like yellow is associated with happiness. Take the time to read up on the psychology of colors when determining your site’s color scheme.

Watch the amount of flashy multimedia that is on your site. Don’t overdo it with a bunch of “extras”. Flash graphics and multimedia may appear enticing, but these may make it difficult for visitors to find the desired information from the site, particularly if they’re viewing your site from a non-Flash compatible device.

Now that you’ve learned some of the ins and outs of web design, you should, hopefully, be a bit more eager to use it to your advantage and gain a reasonable amount of profit through it. Web design is the future and now you have a good idea of how to become good at it. Use this to your advantage and become successful for years to come.

Sharyn Seil focuses primarily on web design midlands