Proven Web Design Tips That Anyone Can Follow

Jul 27, 2012 by Barfds93

A great tip for all web designers is to view the web site that you are building subjectively. Put yourself in the shoes of any of your future visitors and imagine what you would like to see on the site and how you would like to use it.

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.

Test your website before it goes live. There’s nothing worse then launching your new website and having to take it down right away due to bugs or other issues. Get a group of people together who are using different web browsers and computer platforms, and ask them to use a beta version of your website, writing down any issues they come across.

To help your visitors be able to easily read your site, you should design it using contrasting colors. If you use colors that contrast, it makes the text stand out. If you have black text with a black background you will not be able to see the information, but if you have black text with a white background it becomes simple to read.

Make sure your website uses a consistent font throughout. Some websites change fonts willy-nilly without any design reason to do so. This makes the content difficult to process for visitors. Most websites, especially business websites, will do just fine sticking to basic fonts like Arial, Veranda, or even Times New Roman.

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 find yourself stuck in the design process, remember that you have the entire Internet at your disposal to look for examples. There are literally millions of websites that you can browse to find the inspiration that you need. Find a website that you like, identify what makes that website appealing, and determine if it is an idea that you can borrow and improve upon. Keep in mind that in order for your website to be truly successful, it is not enough to simply borrow ideas. You must also improve upon them.

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.

Practice practice practice, as soon as you start to learn about web design you want to try out any little thing that you get your mind wrapped around. You want to do this because you want to make sure all of the knowledge that you’re learning is easy for you to apply. The last thing you want to do is think you’ve learned something but didn’t properly digest it.

Become a cascading style sheet (CSS) expert. HTML is one thing, but the real design (and consistency in design) happens in CSS. These style sheets act as a formatting reference guide to your site to help each page maintain a consistent look and feel. This also makes it very easy for universally change things on your site. If you want to change your font color to red on every page, all you need to do is alter one line of code!

Web design is a great business venture or hobby that, with the proper knowledge, can truly lead to some great sites. Without the proper knowledge, your sites can backfire. So, do yourself a favor and apply the tips that you just read to your own web designs that can put you above the rest.

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