The Basic Principles of Effective Website Design

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 website creation. Read on to find some advice which will cover all of the basics.

Use JavaScript to include a custom font on your webpages. Libraries like Typekit and Google Web Fonts make it easy to include esoteric fonts on webpages, even if most visitors don't have those fonts on their computers. It works by embedding the font itself into JavaScript so that it can be decoded by the client on the fly.

Display a tagline in a prominent area on your page. This lets people know about the site. Clear taglines are effective in potentially capturing the attention of a reader in the critical first few seconds they visit your site.

Don't try to fit too much onto one page when you're designing a website. If your page is too busy it will take a lot longer to load and can overwhelm visitors. When you're going to be putting up a lot of content, create pages for everything you can to reduce the clutter on your page.

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.

Test your site to see if the major translation services work properly when translating your site. Some sites receive many international visitors, and these visitors sometimes use services like BabelFish and Google Translate to translate the text to their language. Certain website creation problems, especially poor server side code, can break these services.

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.

Publish a newsletter, to increase your likelihood of having repeat visitors. This is great for captivating someone whom may have viewed your site, but then gone on to forget about it entirely. Put the form for signing up in a prominent location, such as a sidebar, and use it to compile a list of visitors who opt in to your newsletter. Stay on the ethical path and only send newsletters to users who request them.

Keep the sizes of your files and images small. Excessive loading times are a death knell for any site. The larger the files are that must load, the longer a user's load time is going to be. Most users will click away if the page doesn't start to load within the first few seconds of opening your page.

Personalize your site. Your clients want to feel comfortable with you, so use testimonials from trusted customers, as well as photographs of people. Building trust with your customers is very important, so be sure to let them know you personally care about the product or service you are providing them.

Eliminate pop-up windows from all pages on your site to create a user-friendly experience. They may seem helpful, but they are seen as more annoying by visitors than not. Every pop-up window you throw in front of your website visitors increases the likelihood that they will abandon your website in frustration. Once they leave, it's highly unlikely that they'll be coming back.

To help you design a good site, you need to make it so it is simple to navigate. Navigation encompasses everything and is the backbone of your site. So construct a site that flows easily from one area to another, otherwise your site will be very confusing and people will not visit it.

When selecting a domain name, it's important that you're creative. A big part of website design is having a site with a good, on-topic name. Having a catchy, relevant name will make people remember your website just as much as any design features would. Don't think that a name isn't an important feature.

When designing a website, you want to keep the privacy of your customer's information in mind. Set up proper encryption for submitting data, and never store customer passwords and such in a text document. Make sure you set up your website properly so that your customers know that visiting and interacting with your site is safe.

Never enter into a website development course unless you already understand the basics. The vast majority of people in these courses are already far ahead of you, thus the material being taught is strictly technical. There is no buffer period. You'll go from to 60 instantly and will be left behind if you enter as a complete novice.

Keep your font type simple on your website. Arial or Times New Roman is perfect for any website. You don't need to get carried away with bubble letters or illegible chicken wings. Exotic fonts might seem cool to you, but your visitors are going to have a tough time reading your site.

Think of cellphone users when designing your site. More people than ever before are using their mobile phone to surf the internet. If they cannot access your site or if it can't be viewed well on their phone, they will likely stay away from your site. That can cost you a lot of business.

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.