Great Web Design Tips

Most web designers aim at creating an attractive, functional and easily accessible website which will be convincing enough for visitors. Such a website requires intuitive and easy site navigation, good graphic design, good web copy and logical site layout.

The following are some tips which can be used to create a great website.

Web Content

You want visitors to perceive you as a reputable business and/or a knowledgeable information source. Poor spelling and grammar will reduce your credibility immediately. Remember, people use the internet for finding information. It is vital that you provide useful information for the visitor or else they will just click away and look for another site that will meet their need. This was one of the main considerations when designing my weight loss blog which features Medifast coupons, Bistro MD promo codes and Nutrisystem discounts

Cross Browser Compatibility

There are numerous different browsers available. Your website must be designed to work properly with the most commonly used browsers. To do this, you might have to do without some great special effects available since they might not be supported by most browsers.

For a well designed site, the web pages should be able to work in Netscape, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Safari, Opera and Firefox at a minimum. The compatibility of your website can be tested by viewing your site in different browsers while running on different platforms.

Graphics and Photos

Web surfers are impatient. Studies have shown that many people click away from a webpage if it takes more than 15 second to load. It is important to optimize your photos and graphics so as to have the smallest size possible without compromising picture quality.

Background Colors

If you use any other color besides white behind the text, make sure you specify link colors. If you don’t, the user’s browser default settings will determine the color of the links, which can render them unreadable.

Multimedia

Multimedia is made up of video clips, flash movies, background music and audio clips. Always use streaming media since it lowers download time. Ensure that the visitor can start and stop multimedia files or skip flash introductions if they wish. This way, people with devices which don’t support multimedia or slow connections can ignore them.

Always have any vital information contained in multimedia in text form as well so that the visitor can access the information without having to use multimedia. If a plug in is required to use multimedia, make sure you provide a link which can be used to install it. In conclusion, if you want to use multimedia, always keep in mind the 15-second rule for website loading.

Site Navigation

Site navigation should be intuitive and simple. Research has shown that if a web visitor cannot find the information they require within three clicks, they are very likely to leave the website. This is referred to as the 3-click rule. All areas of your site should be accessible within three clicks from any other part of the site. Make sure you test your navigation with all the major browsers.

Links

Periodically test all links in your site to make sure that they are valid. Visitors are easily put off by dead links. There are a number of free online services which will occasionally check your links.

 

Charles writes frequently about social networks and web development. He also blogs about diet plans for weight loss blogs which feature Medifast discounts and Nutrisystem coupons. He is currently writing for a diet blog that offers April savings coupon for Medifast and coupons codes or discounts for Nutrisystem, two popular meal replacement programs.

Mars Cureg

Web designer by profession, photography hobbyist, T-shirt lover, design blog founder, gamer. Socially and physically awkward, lack of social skills, struggles to communicate with anyone who doesn't have a keyboard. Willing to walk to get to the promised land. Photo and video freelancer, SEO.

9 Responses

  1. Shaza Chua says:

    Great article you got there! It’s true, those that you mention on top are the most vital elements when it comes to web design. Oh and don’t forget the usability. Some websites are informative and useful but they just don’t know how to make it’s usability more flexible.

  2. Web design links says:

    Nice overview! One more important thing to consider is the use of readable fonts. Especially with blogging websites.

  3. Justin says:

    Good Article, Well written and some very important points covered. You’d be suprised how much attention people give a website that is user friendly, as in easy to navigate and easy to read text. There are too many websites that are cluttered up with unnessary information it’s not suprise why people click away after a few minutes of reading.

  4. Excellent post with a lot of very good tips. I find cross-browser compatibility to be key with Internet Explorer always being the browser that our sites need more work on. At least it’s been getting better since IE 6.

    Your tip on allowing people to skip flash introductions is well taken although I would say we should just be doing away with those altogether. These started out as something new and “cool” that sites had but now they’re just getting in the way of good web design.

  5. very detailed information and thanks for such a awesome tips regarding website design aspects….

  6. Web Design Gr says:

    Great tip, although it would be good to mention the ability of adding custom embedded fonts in order to increase design impact and secure cross broswer compatibility.

  7. stag parties uk says:

    There are given various types of web design tips which help the person when he works on them. thanks a lot dear.

  8. Website Designing says:

    How great piece of advice given in the post! really Appreciable. The most important factor according to me is web content, loading time and navigation. Also when it comes to web content one should also keep in mind the fact that the text should be organized in a proper format of paragraphs type and also there should not be only content and content on a web but one should create different pages for different type of information.

  9. sadesigns says:

    great tips! thanks