Are you interested in learning about web design? If so, this article is for you. The information contained here has a great deal of useful tips on web design to help you succeed.
White space is an important part of web design, so don’t be afraid to use it. Cluttering up your web pages with too many images or too much text, or using a distracting background, will only irritate your visitors. White space can make the important elements of your page more visible.
Be sure your site can be scanned by visitors easily. Usability tests indicate that the majority of online users fail to read content in its entirety, scanning instead for bits of information that are of interest to them. Emphasized text is more easily scanned and helps readers along, also better ensuring they return. On the upper area of each page, you should place your key information. Your visitors will enjoy their time on the website more.
Become educated on shortcuts and frequently use them. Just about everything in web design has some sort of shortcut and learning what it is can save you a lot of time. For example, you can use certain HTML codes to make very quick changes without needing to re-load.
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 believe your site may be accessed via mobile devices, you will want to keep your designs simple. The use of flash, excessive images, and complicated menus will not translate well to a mobile platform. Keep your page clean and simple, or create a specific mobile site for your users.
To help your visitors be able to easily read your site, you should design it using contrasting colors. If you use colors that contrast, it makes the text stand out. If you have black text with a black background you will not be able to see the information, but if you have black text with a white background it becomes simple to read.
Learning some basic HTML will help you add some interesting extras to your site. For example, you can have words that follow your cursor, or a banner that flashes important information. Make sure to change the colors and fonts occasionally, so you seem more involved with the web site and its design.
Make sure your website uses a consistent font throughout. Some websites change fonts willy-nilly without any design reason to do so. This makes the content difficult to process for visitors. Most websites, especially business websites, will do just fine sticking to basic fonts like Arial, Veranda, or even Times New Roman.
Don’t load rich content automatically. Rich content mainly refers to music and videos, but anything other than text or graphics qualifies. Many people browse in work environments where sounds suddenly playing is a big problem. Also, many people find such rich content annoying in general. Rich content should require some interaction from the user before playing.
Incorporating a traffic counter for your page is rather unsightly. You may think it’s improving your site, when in fact, it is not desirable. Get rid of it and use other tools to track your visitors.
This article showed you the basics of web design. All you have to do is implement the tips found here, practice and become skilled at web design.
