15 Tips for Better Web Design

Throughout the years, the standards and expectations of a business' website have increased dramatically, and these days it's at an all time high. You have only mere seconds to capture a visitor's interest and the website design will play a huge role; it will either entice them to stick around or send them packin'.
The following is a small collection of web design best-practices...
No spelling or grammatical mistakes - This should go without saying, but a website with spelling or grammatical mistakes can lose credibility and look unprofessional. Thoroughly spell-check and proof read anything before putting it live on your website.
Avoid long pages - Whilst some vertical scrolling is tolerable, do not make your pages excessively long. If you have a large amount of content, consider dissecting it over multiple pages.
Harsh, conflicting colours - One of the most hated things you can do is put black text on a white background, or vice versa. There is such a harsh contrast here that some people get headaches from looking at it. You need to make it easier on the eye for the user, so if you're using black/white, considering playing around with different shades of grey.
Make sure your links are visible - The user should be able to easily identity what is a link and what isn't. Links will commonly be a different colour from the standard text and are often underlined.
Optimise your anchor text on links - When you're creating a link, try to avoid making the link something generic like 'click here'. For example; rather then saying "For a professional business website, click here", I could say "Such and such company can create for you a professional business website".

Avoid intro pages - The more steps a user has to perform to access your content, the more discouraging it will be for them. Quite often I see websites that have an 'intro' page, where all it is is their logo and an 'enter site' button. A pointless page that's only real purpose is to make the user work harder... avoid this!
Keep your website simple - This means keeping your navigation user-friendly and easy to follow, and not cluttering your website. If you have a substantial amount of content, break it up into smaller, more manageable pieces. LESS IS MORE!
Make sure your logo is clickable - Most users now have burnt it into their heads that clicking the logo will return them to the homepage, so make sure your's does this also.
Include your contact details - There is nothing worse than a website that has no contact details. It should be easy for a user to get a hold of you if they need to so make sure you have a contact page with your details, and other various direct links to that page throughout the website. If you primarily want user's to call you, consider placing your phone number at the top of every page.
Avoid audio - Most user's hate going onto a website that automatically plays off a video or some sort of audio. If you have embedded a video and music track, make sure it's up to the user to initiate it with a play button and don't force it upon them.
Do not open new browser windows - It's seems logical that if you direct links to other sites to open in a new browser window that the user won't leave your website, but there is a reason why browsers have a back button on them. Let the user control how links are opened... they will go back if they want to.
Grab their attention - Like I said at the start, you have only mere seconds to grab a visitor's attention. So whatever you have on your homepage, it must be compelling enough to make them want more. A great way to do this is with a slideshow or promotional banner of some sort. Keep the text short and to the point, and make sure there are links to the areas on the website you want traffic driven to.Also, make sure to keep the most important information towards the top and 'above the fold', as in, make sure the visitor can see it without having to scroll down. You want it to smack them in the face as soon as they hop on the website.
Simple fonts go a long way - It's easy to format your content with some new fancy font, but is it readable? There's no point in making the text look prettier if the user can't read it... There is a variety of different web fonts to chose from nowadays that are simple and elegant, but still give your website that bit of funk. A good website will probably only make use of about 2 - 3 different fonts; 1 - 2 for the headers and another for the text.
Font size - Whilst we're on the subject of fonts... make sure that the text is large enough so everybody can read it! Depending on the website, a smaller text might look better visually and fit in with the design better, however it won't be so easy for some people to read. I suppose it depends on your target audience... if its the older generation, perhaps the text should be a little larger.
Avoid flash - Flash-based websites aren't so user-friendly and can cause major headaches for some users. The occasional flash-based banner is acceptable, otherwise, avoid it like the plague.

Tips That Will Help You Become A Better Web Designer

If you aspire to know more about the techniques of web design, then read on! You are going to learn what it may take to get started if you want to get into webdesign, but you will also get some solid, general website design information as well. There's a lot of knowledge out there, and nobody can possess it all. You can learn and improve your skills regardless of how much web design experience you already have.

The design of your website should not look anything like other websites selling similar products. To make sure this does not occur, have a look at the websites of your competitors. Remember that if your website is too similar to that of one of your competitors, you will not seem unique, and you might even accidentally send business to your competitor. You'll just be another version of the same old site to visitors.

If you have a professional to speak with, do so. Web design veterans can offer valuable insight into tips, tricks, traps to avoid, hurdles to jump and a variety of other information, that can boost your initial efforts. By doing this, you are helping to guarantee that one day you too will be a professional, because you are willing to take the time and gain the knowledge to do things the correct way.

If you've hired a web design professional or firm, paying your bill promptly is crucial. These people are responsible for the maintenance of your website, which is probably the cornerstone of your business. If anything comes up you'll find that they won't be willing to help you until you pay your debts, leaving your website unavailable or worse. Paying your bill promptly establishes rapport with the company and can ensure that your concerns are addressed quickly.

Do not feel that you have to hand-craft every portion of your website on your own. Web design requires knowledge of many different areas including graphic design, user interface design, web programming, search engine optimization and content creation. Do not hesitate to call in the experts when needed. You can pick and choose which areas you need help in and farm it out accordingly.

Be aware of the background on your website. Your background should not be too distracting and allow your reader to read the text easily. Choose a background to work with your website, not conflict with it, and your visitors will be able to better read and understand your site, and your point of view.

Try you best to write an informative and interesting "About Us" page. There are a lot of websites that do not utilize compelling or original content for their "About Us" webpages. Therefore, it is a good idea for you to spice things up a bit! Provide some insight for your visitors; tell them how and why you built your site and what goals you want it to reach for your company.

Keep your site fresh and up-to-date, and promptly remove any outdated content. If you have something on your site that lists an event that happened months ago, chances are you have lost some readers. People want the most accurate information available, and by leaving outdated information online you're showing you don't really care what they want. Set a review schedule to update content and remove items that are no longer useful.

Using shared hosting is an affordable alternative to buying your own server. Considering you cannot be certain about the level of traffic that your website will generate, you should utilize a hosting solution where you are only responsible for covering the cost of the amount of bandwidth that is used.

Think like you're an artist when designing websites. Keep your mind open to inspiration at all times. If an idea for your website strikes you while you are out eating dinner, make a note on a napkin. Or if you are not in a position to jot things down, give your cellphone a call and leave yourself a message so you can pick it up at a later time.

Do not hire a loved one to assist in designing your website. If you are looking for a web designer, you should probably avoid enlisting the help of a family member or close friend. If you are not satisfied with the work, it can be hard to fire someone you know well.

It is wise to buy some books that will help you learn how to web design successfully. Start with books around your skill level, so that you don't skip any necessary information.

This is rather obvious, but it is important. Be sure that you look over every word on your site to ensure that there are no typos on your site. Nothing looks more unprofessional to a visitor than misspelled or poorly-written content. Unprofessional appearances will likely cause you to lose your visitors quickly.

The more you keep at it, web design gets easier and easier. Try some easy web pages with C+ and HTML to learn the basics. It's important to practice to make sure you know the ropes of web design.

Make sure you sign up for things like newsletters, so that you always have saved information on different web design information. This way if you for some reason lose sight during your web designing efforts, you can get straight back into it. Web designers can derive great benefits from newsletters, whether they are self-taught amateurs or experienced pros.

Keep in mind that designing your website does not have to be expensive. Most expensive design tools have a cheaper or a free equivalent you have to look for. For example, free open-source software can usually help you to accomplish the exact same tasks that paid software does. Therefore, using open-source software can save you a large amount of money.

Now that you have gained some valuable knowledge about web design, you can feel more confident when it comes to taking that step in designing your own website. Be sure to always watch for new sources of knowledge, as the more you learn the more you will perfect your web design skills.

ExperTrans language - multilingual services
ExperTrans voice-overs services
ExperTrans interpreting translation services