With the number of people using the web as their do all end all in life, it is easy to understand how a poorly designed website can make or break an entrepreneur. Keep reading to find out more about effective web design.
When you are creating graphics or photos for your website, be sure to keep the file size small. If your graphics are too large, your page will load slowly and your visitors will leave. You can find many free or inexpensive graphics programs online that will optimize your images before you load them to your website.
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.
You will need to pass the NoScript test. Download the NoScript extension on the Firefox web browser and activate it to see if your website can still be read. Some content, like ordering systems, will not work properly without scripts, but when your site is completely blank when scripts are turned off, then that’s not a good sign.
Use images wisely. Bitmap images do not tend to fare well for internet use, and some GIFs do not work well with lots of color. Image size is important as well, as larger images may make your viewers have to wait for them to download. Choose smaller images, and use them sparingly to make your site more manageable.
To help you attract a more professional crowd to your site, make sure you design your site with no spelling errors. When designing the site, utilize a spell checker and if need to, a grammar checker. If you have a site with poor spelling and grammar, people will not want to do business with you because they will think it is unprofessional.
Try using a newsletter for getting repeat visitors. Let your customers sign up for important events and updates so that they return to your site. Put the sign-up box near the top of your site so they can easily find it, and check how many sign up when you move it around your page. Just send your newsletter to those that ask for it, or you may get in trouble.
As you design your site, avoid overuse of multiple fonts. Consider how the ones you choose appear on standard screens since serifs like Times New Roman can be tough to read. Most websites opt for sans serif fonts, like Verdana, that looks fine in different sizes and colors.
To be updated on the new web design tricks, you should join an online forum. When joining these message boards you meet people who usually have an understanding of all the new web design technology. Without this new web design technology you could end up with a site that is completely outdated.
Test your site early and often. It’s very important that you carry out your site’s user interaction and usability tests as early as you can in the design phase of your website. Continue to make improvements and test the site as you expand it.
Anyone wishing to design a great-looking site should consider spending a lot of time on the header image. This is what visitors are noticing as soon as they log on to your website, so having something that’s on topic and visually appealing is a good move. Creating your own instead of using a premade header is the best way to go.
As stated above, designing a great website is not as hard as it seems. As you learn more about site design, you’re able to effectively put together your site without including distracting content. Keep the advice in the article above in mind.
