Category: Web Design

Checklist: 10 Must-Haves For Websites

We love bucket lists for budding online entrepreneurs, so we’ll give Certified Social Media Specialist (drum roll) Joanne Burgess have a turn this time at telling you Top-10 things your website should have.

Why do we do these every now and then? Because there’s always first-time web design customers coming along, and it’s too easy to forget that our advanced chatter sounds like a babbling brook of techno-jargon to the first-timers. It’s necessary to include the new users, too.

Web Design – Hire a Pro or Do it Yourself

When it comes to web design a great debate still rages about whether you should hire a pro or do it yourself. There are a number of important factors that can help you make your decision about which is right, because both have their pros and cons.

The days of a simple HTML website being sufficient are pretty much gone. Working in checkouts and taking payments can be complex, sights that look professional and compete against other sites is necessary, and understanding the technology that is involved in web hosting security, creating a quality site and a mobile load are essential. Some of you may have the necessary skills, others may not. This should help. Below are a few of the skills which Internet business consultants agree are necessary for modern web design and to build a site that works.

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Handy Tool Of The Day: CSS3 Generator

OK, you web design people all probably mumble hexadecimal color codes and CSS div tags in your sleep, but there’s a tool to generate CSS3 code on the fly anyway. Similar to the W3 School’s “try-it” editor, this is a visual tool to try out a trick and tweak it on the fly, then just copy ‘n’ paste the code.

Only downside is that you need a bleeding-edge browser to see it. But we’re all used to that; it’s been a fact of life since, what, 1992?

Open Source Gurus: Why Are They Such Curmudgeons?

WordPress users are ruminating over the founder’s latest opinionated decision, and this author does us all the favor of explaining just why the guru prima-donna mindset tends to be the norm in open source development.

We see it all the time with open source project founders. The fact is, it simply takes somebody with a stubborn streak to launch a successful open source project.

Neither democracy nor oligarchy will do; you need the fabled “benevolent dictator for life”. The recipe for an open source founder is a self-starter, visionary, and rebel, with a touch of stubbornness and an unswerving aim for the Right Thing… which isn’t always the popular thing.

Web Design Changes to Expect in 2013

You could say web design has its own ‘fashion statement,’ because each year things come and go. Let’s look at web design changes you can expect to see in 2013.

  • Large Visual Impact Created with Large Images
    While there is a focus on typography over images throughout the website, on the home page it seems big just might be better, as many websites are placing large images on the home page for a visual impact. Web designers are being conscious of data usage and bandwidth by providing these large images only to those with large screens.
  • More White Space Please!
    Over the past year or so, we have been seeing a move towards more white space, and this trend is going to continue in 2013. Finally, web designers are recognizing that white space creates a clean design aesthetic and a much easier read for the surfer.
  • It’s All About Social Network Sharing
    There will be more integration with social media on websites. We’re not talking about ‘sharing buttons,’ as that’s old news already. This is going to be much more in-depth and include things like ‘pay by status,’ ‘single sign on,’ ‘Instagram,’ and other new types of social media content.

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Why You Should Include Easy Navigation in Your Web Design

Web design – there’s all kinds of discussion about what that should look like, but the one thing that seems to ring true across this discussion is that it should include easy navigation. In fact, professional web designers will confirm that your website navigation is a key element in determining your sites effectiveness. Let’s look at the important elements in website navigation.

For your site’s navigation to work it needs, to make sense to your visitors – remember that’s the average person. That doesn’t mean creativity needs to go out the window. There are all kinds of examples of creative, well designed websites that include an easy to use navigation layout in their web design.

Consider the purpose of your website and who your audience is when determining your navigation in your web design. Generally, it is to sell a product or service, other times it’s to inform visitors about a product or service, and many times, it is a combination of both.

Always remember the ‘three click rule.’ This is used by almost all pro web designers. What it means is that your visitor should never be more than three clicks away from getting the information they seek.

You should not use flash movies or other splash pages on your site. It’s better to keep your web design simple but attractive. It will load faster and keep your visitors happier. However, should you decide you must have Flash then make sure you use the Meta Refresh tag, which will automatically take the visitors to your home page after a couple of seconds.

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Is Your Web Design Annoying?

You designed your website, and never really thought any more about it; but have you considered whether your web design is annoying? Visitors arrive at websites and when there are things they dislike, they simply don’t come back again, and you are blissfully unaware. However, those lost visitors are potential customers that you’ve lost. Let’s look at 5 things you should exclude in your web design so as not to annoy your visitors.

1. Huge Font Size – When you use huge fonts, you are in essence yelling at your visitors. The same applies when you use all caps. People don’t like to be yelled at so use a font that’s no bigger than 14.2. Small Font Size – Just like huge fonts are annoying, small fonts are just as annoying. You want your message heard so don’t whisper. Speaking in a normal volume by using a font size between 10 and 14 points.
3. Background Music – Unless your website is related to music, perhaps sells mp3 files or CDs, maybe is an online radio station, etc. playing music in the background on a website. Not only does it becoming annoying, it’s extremely frustrating for anyone surfing later at night to suddenly have music blaring through their computer. If you want to keep the visitor on your site, eliminate music from your web design.
4. Popup Windows – Popups are annoying, because you can actually land up missing information that you should know, when popup blockers block the popup from your visitor. Make sure you put your important messages on your main page so your visitors don’t miss out.
5. Overlapping Layers – There are times when overlapping layers are useful but they are few. Don’t try to force your message down your visitors throat, they’ll just become annoyed faster and leave sooner.

Of course, there are other annoying web designs but this will certainly get you on the right track with web design that keeps visitors on your site and coming back.

Cross Browser Web Design Compatibility

There are hundreds of web browsers in use around the world, each making use of W3C document standards in a slightly different way. As a result, web designers fight with making their websites work properly in the various browsers.

Of course, it is impossible to make your web page design work properly in all the different browsers because they all implement W3C document standards differently. But it’s a good idea to make your web design work properly in the top browsers like Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, and Opera.

Each browser implements JavaScript, HTML, and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) slightly differently. Some of the differences are just cosmetic but other difference can actually break the page so that it does not load.

So what can you do in your web design process to make your site most accessible on the most number of browsers. Of course, you can’t be 100% compatible but it is possible for you to design your site so it works properly on the top browsers that we already mentioned. Conforming is a real challenge and will stop you from using some of the neater functionality and effects. Take advantage of online code validators to validate your HTML code, CSS, and also your links. It will check your code based on your web page doctype.

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How to Find a Good Web Designer

If you want to launch a website but don’t want to do the web design yourself, you’ll want to find a good website designer that’s affordable. This can be a wise decision, especially if you don’t have web design skills and are not sure what is needed to build a successful website. However, you also need to make sure that you get a good web designer that knows how to build a site that will do well.

To begin with, you should sit down and create an outline of what your business is, what products you sell, how you sell them, the various price points you have, your logo, colour schemes, etc. You need to have a clear picture of what it is you want to bring to your website and a collection of this information will make it easier for your web designer too.

Take some time to look at other websites. Note what you like and what you don’t like. Look at the layouts, the navigation, etc. and make notes of what you would like to see on your site. It’s a great way to get ideas that you can then pass on to your web designer for your quote.

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Web Design 101 – What You Should Know

If this is your first shot at web design, there are some things you should know before you proceed. First impressions are always the best impressions, and so it’s important for you to know how to make the most from your first impression. Let’s look at some basics to get you started.

#1 Make Full Use of the Space You Have
Your website shouldn’t be cluttered and should have white space, but it also shouldn’t look bare, and it certainly shouldn’t have more whitespace than content. Make use of images, text, and videos to bring your visitors the best experience. If you design your site right it will not look cluttered.

#2 Watch for Broken Links
It’s an easy mistake and it can cost you in the search engines and frustrate your visitors when links don’t work. Always take the time to check all of your links to make sure they do work and that you don’t get 404 errors as this can harm your website.

#3 Streamlined Navigation
Your website’s navigation needs to look good and be streamlined so that it is easy to use. There are numerous ways you can do this. Choose what works best with your web layout.

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