It is crucial for new designers of websites to learn the fundamentals of their craft, so they can come up with attractive and effective websites. This article is among the many resources available to new designers, providing a great starting point. This article contains everything a new web designer should know, and learn more about.
Use a basic, simple layout for your website so it is easy to change and expand. You want to begin small and then expand at a later time when you are familiar with the entire web design process.
You should create a visual sitemap so that you are able to plan ahead more effectively. With the visual sitemap, you are going to see exactly how your site structure is coming along. This also helps you see areas that are lacking in content, or need other improvements at a glance. There is no better way to get an overall view of your website than to have a visual sitemap.
Most of the time, visitors go to a website to learn something or to do something, rather than ooh and aah at the site's design. Stay true to your original purpose and use imagery to help you achieve that; in other words, keep design simple and make sure it communicates your message. The fewer elements on the page, the faster it will load.
Use basic fonts, which every user will be able to see. You can tell if a site is professional just by viewing their fonts. Stay away from Comic Sans or other fancy looking fonts that are not on every computer. In case your user's browser cannot display the font your website uses, a secondary font can be set. This can look worse.
Steer clear of captchas. Encountering a captcha pulls a website visitor out of passive viewing, and forces them to solve a relatively complicated problem to continue. Unless visitors are already addicted to your site, they will probably leave your site in search of simpler pastures.
Pay attention to the colors on your website to make sure they match. You want to make sure that your text is easily visible against your background colors. Choose a dark color for your text, and use a lighter color for your backgrounds. If you are unsure about the color combo you have used, solicit feedback from a trusted friend before the site goes live.
Make sure to preserve personal information that may need to be entered again by the same user of your website. Save users' information like registration data, so it does not have to be entered more than once on different forms. Saving the user's information in this way simplifies work for them, and is much appreciated by your website visitors.
If you want to host videos, read the rules of your host to make sure you can. Many hosts do not allow for video hosting on the servers they provide. The FLV files take up too much space on public servers, so you need to check beforehand or else you might waste your efforts.
Always include keywords in your website design that are relevant to your target market. Design is about persuasion, rather than expressing yourself artistically. You need to understand who you are developing this website for and what they like when they look at websites. What type of language will your visitors respond to when they browse websites? Discover approximately five keywords, and then layer them into your design.
Create a favicon that reflects your website's personality. This means a recognizable icon will show up next the link to your site if a visitor bookmarks it. If your favicon is distinctive and memorable, the link to your site will stand out on visitors' bookmark lists. Your favicon should be in keeping with your site's logo and design features.
While you might see something else that peaks your design interest, it is crucial that you stay imaginative when you are building your site. Come up with interesting new design elements and website features. Do not be afraid to also improve on features that are considered best practices, however. This is a good way to develop your own understanding of web design.
Remember that some people's connections are not as fast as yours are if you post videos on your website. While videos and graphic-heavy layouts might looks nice, they will only serve to annoy people if it is too slow to pull up. This translates into a slow video, buffering every few seconds.
You must look at the portfolio, and speak to the references, of any web design company you wish to work with. You need to see proof that the company can produce high quality work. A viewing of their portfolio can provide some insight into their approach and depth of experience with web design.
It is now a given that new web designers need to learn web design basics to be able to build handsome, properly functioning websites. It can be hard to figure out where to begin when there is so much information available. This article is a good starting point, as it contains the basics of good web design.
Use a basic, simple layout for your website so it is easy to change and expand. You want to begin small and then expand at a later time when you are familiar with the entire web design process.
You should create a visual sitemap so that you are able to plan ahead more effectively. With the visual sitemap, you are going to see exactly how your site structure is coming along. This also helps you see areas that are lacking in content, or need other improvements at a glance. There is no better way to get an overall view of your website than to have a visual sitemap.
Most of the time, visitors go to a website to learn something or to do something, rather than ooh and aah at the site's design. Stay true to your original purpose and use imagery to help you achieve that; in other words, keep design simple and make sure it communicates your message. The fewer elements on the page, the faster it will load.
Use basic fonts, which every user will be able to see. You can tell if a site is professional just by viewing their fonts. Stay away from Comic Sans or other fancy looking fonts that are not on every computer. In case your user's browser cannot display the font your website uses, a secondary font can be set. This can look worse.
Steer clear of captchas. Encountering a captcha pulls a website visitor out of passive viewing, and forces them to solve a relatively complicated problem to continue. Unless visitors are already addicted to your site, they will probably leave your site in search of simpler pastures.
Pay attention to the colors on your website to make sure they match. You want to make sure that your text is easily visible against your background colors. Choose a dark color for your text, and use a lighter color for your backgrounds. If you are unsure about the color combo you have used, solicit feedback from a trusted friend before the site goes live.
Make sure to preserve personal information that may need to be entered again by the same user of your website. Save users' information like registration data, so it does not have to be entered more than once on different forms. Saving the user's information in this way simplifies work for them, and is much appreciated by your website visitors.
If you want to host videos, read the rules of your host to make sure you can. Many hosts do not allow for video hosting on the servers they provide. The FLV files take up too much space on public servers, so you need to check beforehand or else you might waste your efforts.
Always include keywords in your website design that are relevant to your target market. Design is about persuasion, rather than expressing yourself artistically. You need to understand who you are developing this website for and what they like when they look at websites. What type of language will your visitors respond to when they browse websites? Discover approximately five keywords, and then layer them into your design.
Create a favicon that reflects your website's personality. This means a recognizable icon will show up next the link to your site if a visitor bookmarks it. If your favicon is distinctive and memorable, the link to your site will stand out on visitors' bookmark lists. Your favicon should be in keeping with your site's logo and design features.
While you might see something else that peaks your design interest, it is crucial that you stay imaginative when you are building your site. Come up with interesting new design elements and website features. Do not be afraid to also improve on features that are considered best practices, however. This is a good way to develop your own understanding of web design.
Remember that some people's connections are not as fast as yours are if you post videos on your website. While videos and graphic-heavy layouts might looks nice, they will only serve to annoy people if it is too slow to pull up. This translates into a slow video, buffering every few seconds.
You must look at the portfolio, and speak to the references, of any web design company you wish to work with. You need to see proof that the company can produce high quality work. A viewing of their portfolio can provide some insight into their approach and depth of experience with web design.
It is now a given that new web designers need to learn web design basics to be able to build handsome, properly functioning websites. It can be hard to figure out where to begin when there is so much information available. This article is a good starting point, as it contains the basics of good web design.
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