It is common knowledge that effective web design is the main thing that determines whether a website is good or not. However, since there appears to be a lot of information about web designs, and because web design concepts change all the time, it may be hard to learn or increase your knowledge on how you can design good websites. Fortunately, reading this article is the perfect place to start. The article discussed below gives you some very effective tips about web design.
Keep the size of your web pages small. A lot of modern web pages are full of unnecessary elements, including huge images, Flash advertising, and lots of AJAX. Many people, especially those in rural areas and other countries with less-developed internet infrastructure, don’t have high-speed Internet and will have to wait forever for a large page to load.
Make sure your text and background has the proper contrast. There’s evidence showing that white text on a black background is easiest for most people to read, but other colors are fine so long as they’re readable. Also keep in mind that people with visual impairments may not be able to read your site if the contrast is poor. Check to see if your site complies with various contrast standards using the tool at http://snook.ca/technical/colour_contrast/colour.html .
It is important to choose great graphics for your web design. Remember, bitmap images can get quite large and often don’t work very well while PNG images work fine. PNG is the right choice for non-photo images, such as text buttons and screen shots. If an image has in excess of 256 colors choose PNG. If it does not, GIF is another option. Photos require JPEG to ensure high quality.
Put your user’s needs in first priority. As a web designer, it is important that you make this the focus of your design. Usability, user experience and interaction are all important. These are some important considerations to make. Try to look at your website design as if you were one of your users.
For your image tags, always try to include a brief description in the ALT attribute. Not only is this good for search engine optimization, but it is also beneficial to the sight-impaired users who rely on screen readers to describe image tag contents. Make your description short and as descriptive as possible.
When designing a website with a lot of text, choose your fonts wisely. While serif text will work well for a title or headline, the body of the text should be in a serif font, which is easier to read on a computer screen. Try to use common computer fonts such as Times New Roman and Ariel.
Always check your website for broken hyperlinks. This should be done frequently, before uploading to the server. Links that lead to the wrong place or nowhere at all are frustrating and visitors will soon lose interest in your site and stop visiting it. Ensure everything works before making your website public.
Pay attention to your background colors and your text colors when designing a site. Something like red text on a blue background doesn’t work well. And if you think that white text will pop with a black background, it could be a little too bright for your readers. Go with something subtle.
Having a nice web design is important. A prominent issue of recent times is that there is both an abundance of information as well as a constant flux with regards to technologies and approaches to web design and as a result, it can be a bit overwhelming when trying to keep your knowledge concurrent. Use this article as a basis for your education. Use the tips and tricks in this article, and apply them to a website that has already been established or to a brand new one.
