There is much to be gained by learning about web design San Diego. If you are interested in this topic then this article is something you should definitely read. The following advice can be used to become an expert on web design.
Ensure your site can pass the NoScript test. Download and run the NoScript extension on Firefox and find out if the site is readable? While you may need to have some scripts running, you do not want to see a completely empty website if they are turned off.
Make sure all of your webpages actually have titles, and make sure they are descriptive. A surprising number of webpages out there are called “untitled document” or “new document”. This not only denies visitors a useful piece of information to remember your site, but also absolutely destroys your SEO, since search engines weight page titles heavily when ranking sites.
In order for your site to bring in visitors, its navigation must be intuitive. It should be painless to locate important links and other information. Menus will make it a lot easier to navigate around your site. Ensure that there are links to all of your main pages, such as the home and contact pages, in a prominent location on every page.
Avoid using frames. Most sites have abandoned frames on their own as better alternatives have become available, but there are still sites out there that are trapped in 1996. Alternatives to navigational frames include fixed-position navigation panels, having navigation in multiple areas (e.g. left and bottom) or simplifying page structure so that navigational links are never far away.
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.
Use images wisely. Bitmap images do not tend to fare well for internet use, and some GIFs do not work well with lots of color. Image size is important as well, as larger images may make your viewers have to wait for them to download. Choose smaller images, and use them sparingly to make your site more manageable.
If you want your site visitors to spend as much time as possible on your site, make text easy to read. One of the most common design mistakes is using graphic backgrounds with patterns or dark colors; combine this with equally dark text and you have a recipe for disaster. Unless the text is clear and easy to read, your site will not be a success.
Use custom error pages to make your site more informative. For instance, if you want people to report dead links on your site, either put a server-side script on your 404 page or have a form or email address that visitors can use to report the error. You should have custom pages for 403, 404, and 500 errors, at the very least.
Use breadcrumbs and make it so that clicking on the site logo returns you to the homepage. Breadcrumbs are markers that show where the visitor is in the site structure. For instance, the breadcrumbs might read “home > furniture > beds.” When the user clicks a link in the breadcrumbs, he can return to a page further up in the site hierarchy. Clicking on a business logo should generally take the visitor back to the homepage as well.
Always make sure that your site design works well on every browser. Your coding might look great in Firefox, but it could be askew in Internet Explorer. You need to find out exactly how things look in all browsers and then code in a way that leaves your site looking the same on every popular browser.
To help make your site more interactive incorporate games into your site. Having games on your site makes it a lot of fun for the visitor. If your visitors are not having a good time on your site, then they will leave and go look for something else to do.
Part of designing a good website is finding the best website hosting package. You want a package that offers ample disk space, bandwidth, email accounts, and such. If you cannot find a good website host for your project, then you shouldn’t start your project. Hold out until you can locate a premium host.
To help test your site’s effectiveness, make use of task-based usability tests. In general, the purpose of the tasks is to locate some information or functionality that is buried in your website. A well-designed website will have testers reporting no bugs or complaints. If there is a flaw in the design, the task can show what parts of the website need to be improved.
It is not imperative that you handle all the design elements for your site. Web design requires knowledge of many different areas including graphic design, user interface design, web programming, search engine optimization and content creation. Get some help if one area is too difficult for you. There are plenty of freelance web designers and web design firms who can handle any aspect of the web design process.
Don’t buy literature when learning web design. Doing so may not be a wise use of resources. There are some books which offer good content. However, much of this is available at no cost. Expensive books have the same information as the ones that are free.
YouTube is a great resource to learn a few things about site design. The best part about checking out YouTube is that you’re able to watch the design in action. You’re not simply reading about it. Visual aid like this can help you get the hang of site building a lot quicker than reading about it.
Now you can understand that designing websites is a viable income source, as long as you do your homework. However, designing sites is not the only aspect of the profession that will net you a job.