Wednesday 26 February 2014

Web Design: Do It Like A Pro

By Lacie Tonge


As a web designer myself, I can say that learning as much as I could from experts was how I got started. I looked at their sites, checked out their code, and even borrowed from their designs. Today there is a great deal of information available to help you get into the game, and this article is a great place to start learning.

On the Internet today, speed is where it's at. So you must make sure everything on your site loads fast. No visitor is going to wait more than a few seconds for your page to load, so ensure they get what they want quickly so they don't go to your competition's website instead.

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.

Always ensure you are giving meaningful feedback, as this is what creates the communication between a website and its visitors. For example, if an action taken by a visitor results in an error, do not simply display "error occurred."? Instead, provide a message that explains what happened and how the visitor can correct the error by taking a different action. Without this feedback, visitors are more likely to grow frustrated and just give up by leaving your website.

If you have several pages on your web site, use a navigation bar at the top to help visitors find the information they need right away. Include contact information, so they can speak with you if they'd like. Headings should be clear and visible, and paragraphs should be concise as well as easy to read. Don't add any pop-ups to your site. Pop-ups are an irritating distraction, at best, for most web surfers, and the possible benefits you could reap with them are extremely modest. If customers see these popups and get frustrated, they may not come back to your site.

Optimize your site for older versions of Internet Explorer (IE7 and IE8). Everyone loves to hate Internet Explorer, but the sad fact is that a large minority of internet users still use these old versions of IE. They don't render many elements in compliance with web standards, so workarounds are required. Specifically, read about the "box model bug" that plagued IE for years.

Review your site for broken links regularly. The right time to make this check is well before you upload a page and take it live. A visitor who comes across a broken link will question how dated all of the content on your site might be. You can prevent this by frequently checking that all links still work.

A lot of times when you load up a page to your file server, you cannot find it when you type in the address via your browser. You always need to double-check and ensure that you named the file correctly. Some people literally waste days trying to pinpoint the problem they believe is major, when in reality it's only a simple typo.

As stated above, web design may be attractive to look at, but only if it's executed well. Creating a great design isn't difficult, but there are a few key elements that you must understand. Putting these tips into practice will lead to effective web design.




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