If you want to design a website as a hobby, for your business or even as your own career, a solid foundation of knowledge will help you get your foot in the door. From learning HTML to knowing search engine optimization techniques, there are many facets to web design.
Read on to find some advice which will cover all of the basics.
It may look pretty, but stay away from having too many animations on your site. Having your sales splash page rotate, spin and blink may look cool to you, but it will likely drive potential viewers away. When you add too many flashy splashes like that, it makes your site look amateurish which is not the message you want to convey.
Break up long text blocks. Having a huge wave of text is unnecessary for any site, especially when you can break it up by using images, or even separating it into different pages. Boring your viewers will only make them leave, so keep things as simple and fresh as possible.
Use a descriptive title. Many site owners forget to name their pages, or name them something generic, such as “Welcome Page.” Search engines do use title descriptions in their rankings, so make sure you are as descriptive as possible, without going overboard. Make sure it is usable for your viewers and the search engines.
Make your links obvious. Customers do not like spending time wading through your site searching for something they are interested in. Having a site map, as well as providing big, prominent links will help your viewer find what they are looking for without wasting time in a hunt. Lead them to your information.
Learn how to use colors to influence your readers. Every color has a certain feeling that it can induce. For example, using black backgrounds or images could bring up feelings of depression and darkness. The use of a color like yellow is associated with happiness. Take the time to read up on the psychology of colors when determining your site’s color scheme.
Large sites should always have search capabilities. Place a search box in the top right corner on the home page where users can search for a term that may appear on your site. FreeFind and Google can help you install a search function on your website.
You can create a site using free software. While it is widely thought that pricey software and tools are the only solutions to building a quality website, there are actually vast amounts of free software and tools available on the Internet. Both of which can help you as you start the design process and to keep your site up and running. Do some research and try different software to find the tools you need the most.
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.
Every page of your website should have a way to return to the main page, or “home.” This ensures that when users navigate deeper into your site, they always have a way to start over if they lose place of what got them to the page they are on currently.
You’ve read the advice here and are ready to put it into action, so get ready to design your site! Start by sketching out a design and making lists of the content you’ll need and you’ll have your website online in no time.
Don’t forget to keep reading and learning so you’re never left behind.