Use These Web Design Tips To Maximize Your Site’s Look

Aug 27, 2012 by oaugpe83

Keep reading for some tips that take the design of your site to the next level.

If you are absolutely stumped about the kind of site you want to build, do some narrowed, intentional surfing. Look for niches that have an extra demand right now, and look for inspiration by paying close attention to the ways other sites are designed. You’ll find an idea in no time.

White space is an important part of web design, so don’t be afraid to use it. Cluttering up your web pages with too many images or too much text, or using a distracting background, will only irritate your visitors. White space can make the important elements of your page more visible.

Before you meet with a website design company you should take the time to get an idea of what you want your website to look like and what information you want it to contain. The company bases their web design off of the information that they are given and will stay within the guidelines that you give them. You need to have the information readily available to them.

If you want your site visitors to spend as much time as possible on your site, make text easy to read. One of the most common design mistakes is using graphic backgrounds with patterns or dark colors; combine this with equally dark text and you have a recipe for disaster. Unless the text is clear and easy to read, your site will not be a success.

Try to minimize your image usage. Generally, simpler designs are more effective for the user. So keep your site simple, but also neat. Avoid cluttering pages with large, bulky images that have long loading times. Try being creative with the layout and using your “eye.”For example, use eye-catching focal points to get a viewer to visit something specific.

When you are designing a page with links, make sure that the link has text content. Links that show content are clearly visible to the visitor so they know what they are clinking on. If there are links on your page without text content, they could accidentally click the link through a keyboard shortcut.

To help your website visitors find their way home on your site, always include a link to your homepage on each page of your site. Having a home page link that is visible allows your reader to easily make their way back to starting point. If you do not have a home page link then your visitors might get frustrated and leave your site altogether.

When designing a website, seek out your target audience, and poll or ask people what they would like to see in a site. This can help you with the design as well as the many features available on your site. Advice from what your target audience wants to see is pertinent to the design of your site.

For multimedia presentations, take advantage of the new HTML5 standard. Although HTML5 isn’t quite as robust for animation and games as Flash, it has the advantage of working stably on mobile phone browsers, including those contained in Apple hardware. HTML5 is also quite a bit leaner than Flash, so load times will improve, as well.

Web designers who are designing a mobile web page must remember to keep things simple. There shouldn’t be any large files associated with any pages and there is generally less content to put on. Also, you shouldn’t use flash so that your web page will be visible to all phone users.

Design informative error pages. Many times someone will click onto a broken link, or a link that has been moved, and receive a generic error page that confuses them. Design your error pages so that you give a visitor a reason they may have gotten that error, along with a link to your home page so that they remain on your site.

Don’t use OnExit popups on your website. This tactic is mainly used by internet marketers who are trying a last-ditch attempt to get a sale. Word about these kinds of popups get around, and they will kill your reputation as a marketer. Mozilla has even taken steps to suppress the text on these popups, citing security risks.

If the design of your website needs to be mobile friendly, keep in mind that mobile devices have smaller screens and limited bandwidth. To account for smaller screens, you should try to design your website as a single narrow column so that the user only needs to navigate vertically, as opposed to both horizontally and vertically. Limited bandwidth means that you should be extra concerned about your file sizes. You can also opt to create a separate version of your website specifically for mobile devices.

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.

The tips you just read give you a variety of ways to build an effective website when you properly employ the techniques from above. You’ll be surprised at what you can accomplish with the right knowledge.

So, apply what this article has taught you to create a well-designed website to promote your business.

Jacquelyne Dewit possesses a local store that promotes web design devon