Web design is not without its intricacies. Web design can be overwhelming if you aren't prepared enough. Use the information in this article to help make an easier job of the process.
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 .
Make sure your webpages aren't too long. You only get one chance to make a first impression, and if your most important content is "below the fold," it may not even be read. If you have a lot of related content that needs to stay together, consider breaking it up into sections and adding links to each section.
Keep all of the site files you use as small as possible, regardless of design. This is because file sizes are directly correlated with load times. You want your site to load instantly. The other factor to bear in mind is not all visitors access through high-speed connections. Test to be sure that even computers with slow dial-up modems can connect quickly to your website.
To help your website visitors easily navigate through your site, design it so that it becomes easy to find "stuff." When you have a simple site that makes it easy to locate information, you keep your visitors there much longer. If you make it difficult for them, then they will get frustrated and leave.
Retain user information so that people don't have to waste valuable time re-typing information into forms. When a visitor fills out a registration form on your website, for instance, your site should hang onto that information, and use it to fill out data fields for the visitor on subsequent interactive pages ahead of time. You streamline the process when you create "sticky" information, and your visitors will appreciate you not wasting their time.
Be sure you're using ALT tags for the images while you design a website. ALT tags are used to provide a description of the images on your site, which will help any visually impaired visitors. When links are used for images, having an ALT tag lets you describe the link's behavior. Finally, search engine crawlers like ALT tags as they are useful. So, your search rank might improve as a result.
To help your web pages load quickly, you should compress all the images on the website page. If you have images that are compressed then pages will load much faster. Nothing is more frustrating to viewers than waiting for a 250k graphic to load when it should really only be 20k.
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.
Every page of your website should have a way to return to the main page, or "home." This ensures that when users navigate deeper into your site, they always have a way to start over if they lose place of what got them to the page they are on currently.
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.
Usability tests that are task based are a good way to figure out what design works best for your website. The idea of the tasks, generally speaking, is to find information that is contained somewhere within the website. If the site is designed well, any user should find the task quite easy. But if it isn't, you need to reconsider your design choices.
As you are designing your website, keep in mind that you are not required to utilize all of the space available. If you insist on making use of each pixel, your site may end up cluttered. Allow for good spacing between elements, which will in turn, make the experience more pleasant for your visitors. White space is often even more valuable than a flashy design and layout.
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 okc web design 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 stated in the beginning of this article, it is common for a person to have a webpage, be it for business or pleasure. In order for their design to look great, they have to know what they are doing. Now that you have read the above article, you will have no problem with designing the website of your dreams!