While some may believe that flash websites are really cool, the sad truth is that most computers take too long to load these pages, which causes website owners to lose viewers. Many successful SEO-Friendly website try keeping things simple so that the majority of people can get their desired information. Read on to learn how to design a clean, simple, and very appealing website.
It is always good to add a favicon to your website. The favicon is a 16×16 image file in the .Ico format. This image is the one you see next to the URL bar, next to the title of the page on an opened tab and is also visible on your bookmarks tab if you choose to bookmark a page. The favicon will help users quickly recognize your page in their browser without reading any text or directly viewing the page.
Use JavaScript to include a custom font on your webpages. Libraries like Typekit and Google Web Fonts make it easy to include esoteric fonts on webpages, even if most visitors don’t have those fonts on their computers. It works by embedding the font itself into JavaScript so that it can be decoded by the client on the fly.
Take the time to scour boards and forums for new techniques that work for others. This is how we develop our skill set and stay one step ahead of our competition who wait for things to dwindle before taking action. Performing a simple web search can provide you with the information you are interested in at no cost to you.
Give your visitors the ability to search your site so that they can more easily find what they are looking for. If someone cannot find what they are looking for right away, their next thought will be to look for a search field. Put this somewhere obvious and include a search button.
Choose your web host carefully. Some hosts require you to link to them, while others may force you to install their pop-ups. You should also test their performance using one of the many tools available for free online, as you do not want to host with someone who is consistently slow or crashing.
Don’t load rich content automatically. Rich content mainly refers to music and videos, but anything other than text or graphics qualifies. Many people browse in work environments where sounds suddenly playing is a big problem. Also, many people find such rich content annoying in general. Rich content should require some interaction from the user before playing.
Be sure your site can handle Internet Explorer, both new and old versions. There are many people on the Internet who still utilize Internet Explorer. The older versions do not render all site elements to comply with web standards, which means using workarounds. Specifically, read about the “box model bug” that plagued IE for years.
Be sure you take care of the people that use your site’s needs. Their needs should be your primary focus. This can include user experience, accessibility, usability, and user interaction. These are the most important considerations to be made. You need to look through the eyes of the visitors when you make a website.
Always make sure that your site design works well on every browser. Your coding might look great in Firefox, but it could be askew in Internet Explorer. You need to find out exactly how things look in all browsers and then code in a way that leaves your site looking the same on every popular browser.
Never bite off more than you can chew by attempting to design multiple sites at once. You should keep things simple by only working on one site at a time. Even if you do have some web design skills, you may get crossed up with your projects, or one of your sites may suffer neglect. Just take things one at a time.
Make sure that you periodically go back and try to remember all that you’ve learned thus far. One of the biggest problems people have when they first start out with web design is that they learn one or two things and forget them a couple of days later, which can hurt their website progress.
Selecting a good domain name is a very important aspect of website design. When you type an address in the web browser, do you use the famous www sub domain? Most people like to just type the address without using this, meaning you must design your site to be able to accept both.
When designing your website, it is a good idea not to stray too far from popular conventions. For example, most users expect that when they click on the website logo at the top of a webpage, they will be taken to the home page of the website. If your website behaves differently, it can confuse the user. In many cases, straying from such conventions can lead to a poor overall user experience.
When designing a website, you want to keep the privacy of your customer’s information in mind. Set up proper encryption for submitting data, and never store customer passwords and such in a text document. Make sure you set up your website properly so that your customers know that visiting and interacting with your site is safe.
Keep in mind that a website does not have to be designed only by you. Great web design incorporates many different skills, including graphic design, programming, SEO, and the creation of memorable content. Don’t be afraid to get help if you need it. You always have the option of hiring a company or professional that specializes in a particular area that you are not familiar with.
As stated above, it is better to stick with simple designs in a website. When you are educated on web design that is simple and pleasing to the eye, your site will become a success. Take what you learned from the above article to create a beautiful website that doesn’t cause your visitors to get distracted.