If are unfamiliar with what all web design is, you definitely are not alone in this thought. There are many people who either do not know what exactly web design entails or how important it is with promoting a business. Read this article to obtain a good background about the subject.
A great place to build your web design knowledge is through forums. This will help you learn more about starting and maintaining your web design. With a quick search on Google, you can uncover plenty of information that won't cost you a dime to learn.
Check for broken links before publishing your web page. An error page after clicking a link is very frustrating for visitors to your page. Links can be checked manually, and you can also find software that will check your site to see if there are any broken links.
Always mark files that must be opened in an external program with an icon. Many sites host PDF files, and less commonly, DOC files, that must be opened in Foxit Reader and Microsoft Word/OpenOffice, respectively. These files should be marked with an icon representing the file type, and a link to download the appropriate viewer if the user does not have it.
Use a style sheet to stay consistent. There is almost nothing more disconcerting than being sent to a page that looks at nothing like the site you were just looking at, even if it is concerning the same subject. Style sheets help with saving your formatting, so each page looks similar to the rest.
Retain user information so that people don't have to waste valuable time re-typing information into forms. When a visitor fills out a registration form on your website, for instance, your site should hang onto that information, and use it to fill out data fields for the visitor on subsequent interactive pages ahead of time. You streamline the process when you create "sticky" information, and your visitors will appreciate you not wasting their time.
One thing you should always take into account when you're thinking about web design is the latest technology that is out today. As technology advances to does the web, so be sure you are always up to date with what is changing so that you're that much more understanding of how the web works.
Make text easy to ready by using colors that contrast or backgrounds that are easy to read text on. When your text is harder to read because the background or text color creates eye strain or portions of text that are unreadable, site visitors are less likely to stick around.
File types can affect the time it take for a website to load. Your best choice for graphic files are GIFs and JPEGs. Though better for the actual creation of web graphics, PNG and CMP files use up a lot of disk space. By converting your graphics, you can help speed up load times.
A good resource where you can learn some insightful knowledge is a book store. You can go to a bookstore and read books that have information on html, c+, photoshop, and dreamweaver as these are some of the key things you need to learn when it comes to being a well- knowledgable web designer.
Resist the urge to use pop-ups ads on your site. Having well placed ads can add income to your site, but popups will only annoy your visitors. People tend to avoid pages altogether that have pop-up ads. Keep your ads simple; there's no need for wild pop-ups.
Site maps are an excellent piece more info of technology that allow users and search engines to get a better view of your site's functions and layouts without extra work. Include a link to your sitemap from the homepage and leave it as simple as possible. The sitemap doesn't need fancy graphics or fonts, just layout your website and update it when needed.
Avoid every instance of spammy "sell language" that you possibly can. Studies show that users are likely to jump off of a webpage the instant they pick up the "salesman" vibe. This is because it is said to actually trigger a predatory response in human brain function! So next time you want to sell a product, remember that the potential consumer may view you as a predator and run!
Site maps are an excellent piece of technology that allow users and search engines to get a better view of your site's functions and layouts without extra work. Include a link to your sitemap from the homepage and leave it as simple as possible. The sitemap doesn't need fancy graphics or fonts, just layout your website and update it when needed.
Focusing on your target audience is important even for website design. For instance, if you're designing a site in order to sell winter coats, you're not exactly going to have a beach themed background with Joe Strummer tunes playing upon entry. Keep your site closely related to its targeted audience.
To summarize, you knew it would be a good idea to refresh yourself on a few web design tips or to start off by getting a good baseline knowledge on the subject. There is quite a bit of information available and ideally you were able to find this article both interesting and useful for your website.