Because the internet is critical to our lives, any business that hopes to succeed must have a credible internet presence. If your website doesn’t work properly, you will lose customers. Use these tips and tricks to design an excellent website.
You will need to pass the NoScript test. Download the NoScript extension on the Firefox web browser and activate it to see if your website can still be read. While you may need to have some scripts running, you do not want to see a completely empty website if they are turned off.
Always keep the size of your pages to a minimum. Some people do not have speedy Internet connections, and if they have to wait a long time for your site to load, they probably won’t be interested in viewing it. You don’t want people to have to abandon your site because the pages won’t load.
Broken Links
Always double check pages for broken links before publishing a page. Visitors will be annoyed if they click on broken links. You can do manual checks or seek out a program that will do a scan and give notice of broken links.
It’s a good idea to set up your site so that it can retain a copy of user information that must be entered repeatedly. For example, if someone registers for your site, and some of the same information is needed to fill out another form, make sure data that they have already entered is preserved, so users do not need to re-enter this information. Saving the user’s information in this way simplifies work for them, and is much appreciated by your website visitors.
Let site visitors give feedback. This lets you see if anything is confusing, or if you’re missing something on the page, so that you may fix it as you can. Letting your visitors get involved helps to ensure they will come to your site again.
Ensure that your user’s needs are a priority. Do you know what the user’s needs are? How easy information can be accessed and the website use are critical. These are important considerations to make. Always view the design from the vistor’s perspective.
Keep things as simple as possible when setting up the design of your site. Where all navigation links are placed will have an impact on how long any of your visitors stay on your site. Navigating your site must be easy, consistent, and neat for visitors to have a good experience.
Use professional-looking, and readable fonts. A site’s look can hinge on whether or not it’s fonts are professional. Do not use Comic Sans, overly ornate fonts, or fonts that many computers might not have. A font can be subset to the default font on your user’s computer if they don’t have it. That will appear worse.
Many platforms will put together code that you need, but you will find that some are unreliable editors. The goal of a platform is to design the features you want in a site, then you simply paste the code that was generated into your own site. To reduce errors, and for actual experience, try using a type of classic text editor.
Your best bet is going to be to start small, and move up to larger websites. This way you can easily see what you’re good at, and what you need to work on. You want to start off with maybe a couple of pages that are basic with just information and text, and see how you feel from there.
Using task-based usability tests is great for figuring out how effective your website design is. The tasks search for functionality and information hidden within your site. A well-designed site allows the user to easily complete the task. If there is a flaw in the design, the task can show what parts of the website need to be improved.
Try to include some “site searching” on your index page and sub-pages if you can. This increases the site’s usability five-fold, and makes it easier to get to anyplace on the site from any other place on the site. You can include a search function easily, and it will greatly increase the utility of your site.
Website creation is not difficult and almost everyone can do it effectively. Once you master the fundamentals, you can make a simple and effective website that you and visitors both like. Use these tips to learn more.