Web design may appear like an intimidating and mysterious art to those that aren’t experienced with it. Learning more will help you to gain confidence when you embark on creating your site. The tips presented in this article allow you to create your own personalized website to serve any purpose.
To facilitate navigation, consider utilizing fixed-position navigation. This allows you to lock the panel for navigation in place while users scroll. This is not only convenient for the visitor, but can also be useful for internet marketers, as this makes it easier for visitors to take some desired action (e.g. buy a product, sign up for a newsletter).
Check your site in all of the different browsers. It is always possible that what you are looking at on your preferred browser is not what others are looking at in a different browser of choice. Research all the commonly used browsers and design accordingly. It’s also a good idea to test out your website on different operating systems.
Avoid using frames. They used to be great in the early web design days, but they had many flaws. Designs on frames can make it hard for people to get your site bookmarked and they won’t like scrolling either. There are much easier ways to provide your users a flow through your website.
Older Versions
Optimize your site for older versions of Internet Explorer (IE7 and IE8). While it is often viewed as a sub par browser, a large number of users are still using old versions of this browser. The older versions do not render all site elements to comply with web standards, which means using workarounds. In particular, learn about the famous “box model bug”, an old thorn in IE.
Continue to improve your site’s load time whenever possible. Those who visit your site have little in the way of patience so ensure your site is designed to load quickly. Try reducing your number of graphics, Flash, and script on your pages, optimizing your HTML, using SSI files, using client and server caching, creating expire headings, and minimizing your JS and CSS coding.
Keep in mind that the Internet contains a plethora of website design examples. There are thousands, if not millions, of websites waiting for you to browse and wait for inspiration to strike. Find websites you like, and figure out which aspects make the site appealing, then think about ways you can borrow or improve the idea on your own site. Remember that if you want your website to succeed, you will need to do more than just borrow an idea. Making improvements on borrowed ideas makes them yours.
A website counter is outdated and not attractive. While you may like to see how many visitors you’ve had, most of your visitors do not want to see the counter. Get rid of visitor counters and encourage social media interaction instead.
Open Source
It is myth that creating a great website has to cost you a fortune. While some tools like Photoshop can be expensive, there are many cheaper tools which will serve you just as well. Open source applications can often do the same job as applications that cost money. You can realize significant savings by seeking out such open source alternatives for your software needs.
If you are using FileZilla for your file server, you must manually program the quick start menu settings within your domain, username and the right port. Your settings can be personalized, saved and quickly selected when you log onto your server. This can save a ton of time.
If you incorporate videos to your arsenal of tools on your site, remember that not everyone will have the capacity to view video at high bandwidths. The higher the quality of the video, the more bandwidth it takes to display it. People are likely to leave the page before it even loads.
Sketch out how your site will be organized through a visual sitemap. This will help you plan things out much more effectively. When you utilize a sitemap that is visual, you can see just how the site’s structure is developing. You’ll now have the ability to determine any areas which need improving, or areas that have been neglected. There is no better way to get an overall view of your website than to have a visual sitemap.
Leaving white space for your users is a well-reviewed element of design. White space on your site actually improves the readability; your visitors will have a much easier time reading and absorbing the information if things aren’t cluttered.
You need to be looking at the stats for your website when you are making updates. You will know who visits your website and which pages they like the most. It will help you formulate a plan for gleaning repeat traffic.
A general rule of thumb for search boxes is that the character length is a minimum of 2 characters, and that it is placed at the forefront of every page. Be certain that the search button itself does not say “go” or “submit”; it should say “search”. This will keep your search box prominent and simple to use.
Be sure to factor in ample time to work on web design. You need to dedicate extended periods of time so that you can actually get some work done rather than just working a little bit here and there. When you put the effort into doing this, your hard work will pay off as your site is built. In addition, working for longer periods of time makes the retention of what you are learning and doing much easier.
At this point, you may have come to the realization that designing a website is not an esoteric secret. The more you know about it, the easier it will be for you to design a website that meets your needs. With the advice from this article, you have what you need to start moving forward.