A personal touch is best. While there are a number of tools that can help you build a website, there is nothing quite like doing it yourself. The trick to building a great website is bringing your vision to life. You can achieve this by using the right design tools. Keep reading this article and learn how to use some web design tactics to your advantage.
HTML5 video is set to become the next standard for displaying videos on the web and naturally, you should offer both a way in which users can stream your content through an HTML5 format as well as another format such as flash for those who have an older browser version.
Test your site to ensure it passes a NoScript test. This is a Firefox extension you can download, and it will check your site's readability. Some ordering systems or other types of content cannot run script-free, but if the site is blank without the script on, that's not good.
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.
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.
Be sure the websites you're designing are cross-browser compatible. You must check your site in the most popular versions of every top browser. Some examples include Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Safari, Mozilla Firefox and Opera. Many users use these browsers for surfing online, so you need to be sure your designs are being seen correctly on whatever they use.
New web designers who are aiming to create an appealing website, should utilize Photoshop. Using programs like PS can make amateur sites look professional, fast. If you don't have PS, it can be difficult and time consuming building a nice site quickly.
During the process of designing your site, use ALT tags for your images. These tags are used to describe the images they accompany in case the image is not displayed, such as when a user disables graphics or is visually impaired and uses transcription software to translate images and read them aloud. If you have images that are links, your ALT tags will tell people how the link will behave. Lastly, ALT tags offer search engines a target that will help in boosting your rankings in searches.
If you want to host videos, read the rules of your host to make sure you can. There are a large number of hosts in the world that do not permit video hosting to be on their servers. The FLV files used for modern video can either consume too much storage space or use too much bandwidth, so don't waste your time and check beforehand.
Hosting your own site is a bad idea, even if you've got the money to do it. Do as much of the design that you are comfortable with, but allow a professional to host your website, so your time is freed up; this allows you to dedicate your time for things other than the site's security and safety.
Always use the same type of fonts so that guest to your site don't become agitated by reading different types of fonts. You want people to browse through the site with ease so that they can just concentrate on the material on the site and what the site has to offer.
If you find yourself stuck in the design process, remember that you have the entire Internet at your disposal to look for examples. You can look at an infinite number of websites to obtain inspiration. Look for websites that appeal to your sense of design and figure out how you can improve on those things you like. Keep in mind that in order for your website to be truly successful, it is not enough to simply borrow ideas. You should always improve anything ideas you borrow.
If the design of your website needs to be mobile friendly, keep in mind that mobile devices have smaller screens and limited bandwidth. To account for smaller screens, you should try to design your website as a single narrow column so that the user only needs to navigate vertically, as opposed to both horizontally and vertically. Limited bandwidth means that you should be extra concerned about your file sizes. You can also opt to create a separate web design okc version of your website specifically for mobile devices.
Site maps are an excellent piece of technology that allow users and search engines to get a better view of your site's functions and layouts without extra work. Include a link to your sitemap from the homepage and leave it as simple as possible. The sitemap doesn't need fancy graphics or fonts, just layout your website and update it when needed.
Focusing on your target audience is important even for website design. For instance, if you're designing a site in order to sell winter coats, you're not exactly going to have a beach themed background with Joe Strummer tunes playing upon entry. Keep your site closely related to its targeted audience.
As was previously discussed in the above article, a lot of people build websites, but because they use a hard to read font size, it becomes impossible to see the information presented on the site. Take heed of the hints presented here to help you design a site that will wow your visitors.