Web Design Guidelines For The Novice Website Designer

 

If you want to try your hand at web design, then read on for suggestions on how you can make that happen. Learn what it will take, and gain the general information you need to know concerning web design in the following article. Whether you are new or a professional, there is a lot to learn.

Avoid using so-called "mystery meat navigation". This involves using websitesgalour.com unlabeled images or other elements for the site's navigation. In many cases, the visitor has to mouse over the buttons to even see what they do. Navigation is best kept simple. Use text links across the top or along the left side of the page.

A business website should always be one that is easy to navigate. Links should be highly visible and easy to locate. Good menus make navigating your site much easier. Link back to the homepage from every other page on your site; this makes it far easier for users to get around.

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.

Test your website in the most popular browsers and platforms to make sure that it displays correctly. Sometimes scripts that work in one browser may not produce the same results in another browser. So you may need take extra measures, like adding a function for browser detection, in order to ensure that your website will display properly under most conditions.

Add pictures to your site to make it look better Having pictures on your website gives off a more user-friendly approach to your site. People spend extra time on websites with photos because they look at the pictures.

Minimize the amount of clicking or scrolling visitors must do to access information. The more a user has to click or scroll around to find the information they seek, the more likely they are to give up looking for it. Aim for having at least 400 words on every page of your site by combining pages that have content that falls below this number of words.

Avoid using animated GIFs on your site. These were popular in the late 1990s, but newer technologies have replaced the uses for animated GIFs that were actually useful. Animated GIFs are low in quality and large in file size. Use static icons for page elements and actual video files for complex animations.

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 tech with your projects, or one of your sites may suffer neglect. Just take things one at a time.

As part of your website planning, survey your target audience regarding what features they would prefer to see on the new site. This will aid you in your design as you incorporate multiple features on the site. Giving the people what they want is vital to almost any type of success.

Offer a sitewide search option at the top of every page. This is vital to maximizing the usability of your site, and helping your vistors find what they need. These tools are easy to add to your site, and they provide a huge added value for your readers.

So, now that you have been taught about different ways to design better websites, you should feel confident in your abilities to design great websites going forward. Just be aware of the ever changing web design landscape as there is always more you can learn, and soon you will be a skilled web designer.