Entries Tagged 'Website Design' ↓

1. Web designers are marketers per se. Web sites are all about advertising products, ideas and services. Thus, a web designer has to understand the mindset of marketers in order to create a design that sell.

2. Read, read and read. We do not experience everything. Thus, our tendency is to learn from others. Reading web design books, newsletters and tips are pretty valuable since they can save you time and effort. Basically, books are more conclusive than newsletters and tips however, they are for free and mostly updated.

3. Narrow down your target market. You cannot please everybody same thing that you cannot be good at everything. Thus, this fact calls for the narrowing of your target market. Even in the interface of the so-called web design, a designer cannot claim that he is an expert at anything or everything about the needs of a website. It is better to pick a certain audience and try to be good at catching their attention, preference and choice. This practice allows you to be best at a given area thus developing expertise.

4. Answer your target audience’s needs. In order to answer the visitor’s needs, web designers must know what kind of visitors his site is welcoming. Do they belong to the younger generation or otherwise? What do they want from your site? Are these information, details and pleasures in your site in order to get their undivided attention and loyalty? Bear in mind that colors, font size, style of graphics, contents and the entirety of the site affects viewer’s decision and choice.

5. Know the basics of SEO and copywriting. Though Search Engine Optimization and copywriting are not directly related to designing, still, designers must have basic knowledge about them. This is because web designing is intertwined with marketing, use of keywords and visibility.

Aside from that, designers must also have knowledge of the programming basics. If not, the tendency is waste time or to create a mediocre or unsatisfactory design to the detriment of the sites.

6. The primacy of functionality. If ever you are faced to make a decision between a web site’s aesthetic form and its functionality, you have to be firm in upholding the latter. Not everything that is pretty is ‘saleable’. Besides, you don’t create web sites for the sake of making it nice-looking.

Above anything else, the site must be functional so as to cater to every visitor’s wants and needs. Appearance is a means to catch visitor’s attention nevertheless, it is not the end. If a designer prioritizes appearance alone without considering its primary consideration the web site’s marketability will suffer.

7. Know when to break the rules. Rules are only guidelines, if you feel that the rules are inappropriate for a certain creation follow your heart’s desire and venture on an experimental adventure.

Originally posted 2009-05-28 16:37:26. Republished by Old Post Promoter

Copyright 2005 Nathan Sire

Web site design has certainly, in the past decade, evolved tremendously. More clients now are demanding custom design, as opposed to the ‘cookie cutter’ sites of yesteryear.

Where once there existed a limit as to the types of fonts used, the types of coding languages used, and the styles themselves, there is now the possibility for more variety in Web site design than ever before. This has come about because of the advances in technology that did not exist even a few years ago, and it has opened up many creative avenues for Web site designers in the creation of custom designs.

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Originally posted 2005-08-30 22:06:49. Republished by Old Post Promoter

Author: Michael Kralj

The time it takes to load your site can make or break a visitor’s first impression of your site. If your site takes too long to load, the visitor will click “Stop” or “Back” and leave your web site. If you are a business and offering people important information, it is critical to have a nice design, with a quick load time.

You may want to check out the load time of your page, to indeed see if your site loads quick enough for the average user. A great site tool can be found at http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/ where you are able to enter your site and it displays a report on the time it takes to load your site on different connections, in addition to tips to decrease load time.

Upon doing a speed test, if your first page takes a great time to load in the visitor’s browser, it is in the best interest to do some redesigning to decrease load time and increase the number of visitors that will not click back on the browser. We must remember that not everyone is running on DSL or Cable modem. Many users still dial up using a 56K connection. As web designers and site maintainers, we want to ensure our site’s load quickly, as to not lose potential visitors to your site.

Images, Sounds & Animations are the major menaces to download time. While these add nicely to a site, they may take up a lot of time to load. If you may avoid large sized files, please do. Many images may be optimized to look the same, however taking up less space, and download more quickly. Many image editors such as Adobe Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro can perform these tasks.

Sounds & Videos should be avoided on your main page, as they take up most time to load. Keep these for inner pages if possible. Videos and sound files can be from 100 KB to 1 MB in size or larger. If the user needs to load a 500 KB video file on a 56 K modem, it will take upwards to 89 seconds to complete. This definitely could turn the user away from your site. So keep these files to a fairly small size, or avoid if possible.

Text can also play a significant role in the load time. If you have a large amount of HTML code and large amount of content on your main page, it will also increase the load time. Text however is not as significant, as the entire text you have on the site may not be even the same size as a couple of pictures combined.

So limit the large sized graphics on your web sites. Your visitors will appreciate the fast loading site with the information being presented that they are looking for!

About the author: Michael Kralj is owner of Emenki Web Solutions and Domains at Retail. Emenki Web Solutions are web site designers and programmers based in Hamilton, Ontario, providing businesses with an informative and strategic approach to establishing an online presence on the web.

Please visit Emenki Web Solutions on the web http://www.emenki.com Please visit Domains at Retail on the web: http://www.domainsatretail.com

Originally posted 2005-03-29 16:48:43. Republished by Old Post Promoter

Six Fatal Design Flaws “Newbie” Web Designers Make:These Mistakes Will Kill Your First Website Baby

Author: Mitone Griffith

Even if you’re not an accomplished webmaster you can still have a professional looking website. You may be like I was five years ago—you’re teaching yourself web design and you’re starting to catch on to that HTML stuff. You’re so excited about your new bag of tricks—but slow down partner, sometimes less is more. In fact the only time more is more is when it concerns chocolate cheesecake or something like that. (I can never get enough chocolate!)

You’ve worked hard to get the traffic—now don’t drive them away.

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Originally posted 2005-04-13 11:32:19. Republished by Old Post Promoter

Web Design: Use it to Showcase the Message

Author: Nick Usborne

If you are designing a web site for which the achievement of high conversion rates is a priority, focus your design efforts on showcasing and highlighting the content and copy.

For sites where conversion rates are a priority, the primary purpose of design should be to present the message in such a way that it delivers the maximum impact.

So “good” design doesn’t matter?

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Originally posted 2005-04-23 23:31:06. Republished by Old Post Promoter

Author: Abdillahi Abdillahi

Everyday hundreds of web sites are launched by people all over the world .There are millions of reasons which make us launch new websites.Let me mention three of them in here by supposing .

1 : If you have any kind of business then sooner or later you will need a web presence in order to boost your business and to offer your services to people from all over the world .

2: Lets suppose you work for a company and that company asked you to make a website for them or make one for boosting business and communicating well with your co-workers.

3: Maybe you go to school and your school asked you to make one for them or for their journal or maybe you want to make one for your favorite movies etc .

So like I said there are millions of reasons but those three are some of the main ones. Today in this article I will try to explain all you need to build your home on the web today . Believe it or not within 24-hours you could have a website up and running .Lets get started then .

What are url , website, servers, intranet, internet, http,www and domain names, WYSIWYG?

You might already know the basics and the answers of the above questions but I will still write up a short introduction and answers to them so if you don’t know it can then get you started.

Url : stands for Uniform Resource Locator and it tells the web browser what to do and where to go when you type it into the address bar of your web browser.

Website: is a location on the world wide web(www) and has a start page or home page which is the first thing you see when you visit it.It contains many files and owned by an individual or organization. And today you are going to make one

Servers : are like the normal computers but they have a lot of disk space and are connected to the internet 24-hours a day , 7 days a week, 365 days, a year . Servers serve data such as web pages , pictures , applications and run many different types of programs in order to handle many different types of files.

Intranet : is more like the internet but restricted to a certain organization .Organizations exchange information easily using intranets. They can do anything that can be done on the internet like participating in discussion groups, viewing documents and revising them etc.

Internet :is a global network which is connected to millions of computers and it is not owned or run by a special company and it has vast collection of resources, information.

HTTP: stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol and is a set of standards and tell the servers how to handle web pages , for example when you type a url into the address bar it then tells the domain name which you typed to serve(display) a web page .

www: stands for World Wide Web and is a system of internet servers that support documents formatted in special way. Documents are formatted in HTML (HyperText Markup Language) which can link to other documents,audio and multimedia and graphics.

Domain Name : is the name of the server hosting the website . There are many different types of domain names such us .com for commercial , .net for networks and ISPs(Internet Service Providers) ,.gov for government sites , .edu for educational institutes and .org for non-profit organizations . The most widely used one is the .com one.

WYSIWYG: stands for what you see is what you get and applications which have WYSIWYG enable you to see what is displayed on the screen exactly when you print the document or publish it. There are many WYSIWYG editors which enable you to easily create a website and the best and most popular ones include Microsoft® FrontPage® and Macromedia® Dreamweaver® MX . If you know how to use Microsoft® Word® then you can use those two because they are more alike .

That was a short explanation of some of the things you will need to know when you want to build your website . But you can search the internet and get more information and definitions about what is covered in here and what is not .

Prepare your site files.

Most of the time when I make a website for a client or a friend they don’t bring everything that is needed to get the website up and running. It is better it prepare all the files which you will use for your site in a specific folder in your personal computer. Prepare all the files you need before you start making your website.

Plan the Concept of your Site

That is right. You need to plan the concept of your site before you go into designing it. You can make a sketch of how it will look and then try to implement that .When making the concept your site it is better to use real text that will appear on the site so that will help you a lot .

Start Designing Your Site using WYSIWYG editor.

Now that you have prepared and planed the concept of your site then it is time to start designing it .You can use any WYSIWYG editor to design it.If you don’t want to start designing it but you want something ready that you can change the text then you can buy a professional template which will cost you like $10-$30 .

Also there are many free templates which you can use . Just make a search in Google™ and you will get millions of sites for downloading free site templates .

Shop for hosting and domain name

Now that you have built your site and it is on your personal computer then you will need to rent a remote server and get a domain name so it can be accessible to all people from the world. Before you start shopping for hosting you have to make a list of what you want like special features, bandwidth , storage space etc. If you are building a small personal website then I guess 50 mb space and 1-5 Gigabyte of data transfer . Of course you can later upgrade to a bigger plan.

Also hosting companies many other features along with space and bandwidth such as control panel where you can manage your website easily .If you don’t want to get a professional hosting or you can afford it then you can get free hosting which some companies offer and is ad supported and has a lot of restrictions.

Also you will need to register a domain name for your site . Domain names cost from $6.00 to $35 yearly . There are many great domain registrars which you can use to register your domain name. If you don’t to register a domain name then you get a sub domain but you will have to make sure that your hosting company can offer you a sub domain which will be like the following your-site-name.hosting-company-site.com When you register your domain name you will have to wait 24-48 hours before it can be fully working . But before that you can still upload your site files because your hosting company will give you an IP which you can use for uploading your site files.

Conclusion

There you have it. Just follow them well and You could be running your own website within 24 hours. Of course this was a short article but at least it provides you some of the basic information you need to know. Also you can visit many sites online which can provide you a more detailed tutorials and website enhancements. Until next time, try to build your home on the web today and good luck .

About the author: Abdillahi Abdillahi is a web designer, founder and president of http://kooshin.com , a company providing affordable web hosting and web design solutions to small to medium sized businesses and individuals. For more information , please visit http://kooshin.com

Originally posted 2005-03-30 17:35:46. Republished by Old Post Promoter

Copyright 2006 Mark Nenadic

We’ve all run into them, the dreaded “404 File Not Found” error page. When you land there, there are a few things that you can do next. On average, what do you usually do first when you hit one of those pages:

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Originally posted 2006-06-27 17:09:18. Republished by Old Post Promoter

Author: Nigel Lew

Ten Easy Steps to a Useable Website

Building a useable website can seem daunting. Here is a quick guideline to help you on your way. It’s all about your content

To get your website listed appropriately the content of your website needs to be nested between the tags. This way it gets read by the search engines. Your content also needs to be unique and get your point across.What is it about your product or service that is better and different from your competitions. This is called your usp or unique selling proposition and should be conveyed clearly and immediately upon hitting the page. Make effective use of your title and description tags

These are your two most important tags when it comes to referencing your page content. Meta keywords rarely have any impact what so ever on your pages listings. Make sure content is well formatted

It is very important to break up your content with italics, bold text, bulleted lists, etc. Well formatted content makes your pages more accessible to visitors but the search engines also. Visitors scan across your page rather than read it so it makes sense to format your page so it can be browsed yet still convey your message. Proper code

Having proper progamming in place is quite simply a must. Web standards have changed substantially over the years and it is important to make sure your pages validate both html and css. Think of it this way. How effective could you get your point across if you were talking swahili. Your code is no different. Why make it difficult for the search bots to index your content. Do not use Front Page, Dreamweaver, or any other WYSIWYG editor.

While accurate, MS Front Page, for example, makes it easy for just about anyone to throw up a web page it doesn’t take W3C compliancy into account Hence the code it outputs is an absolute train wreck. This is terminal for your website as you need a strong code base (foundation) or your site will never stand up to the competitions. Don’t design in Flash

Seemingly technical in nature or “neat” perhaps flash animation only serves to distract visitors from what they came to your site for in the first place, your product or service. Your services are what visitors are interested in not a blinking, noisy, website. Flash also creates major problems with getting it properly indexed. There is no way for the search engines to extract content from your website as it is all contained with in the swf. If you absolutely must have a flash page it is imparitive to offer an html version as well. Easy on the eyes

Graphical elements play a huge role in a website design as well. You need to make sure you don’t have any extreme contrasts between colors and that you don’t use really bright colors as they are quite hard on the eyes. Your logo or brand should be clearly displayed on the home page and in more than one place. Instill a sense of well being with ease of use

Make sure you have all legal documents in place such as privacy and return policies. It is also important to have all of your contact information pricing etc. displayed in a manner that conveys legitimacy. It should be very easy to contact you for any questions your visitors may have. Include an opt-in newsletter

A great way to generate return customers is to offer an opt-in newsletter. This allows for direct marketing to people who you know are already interested in your product or service. What better way is there to keep customers abreast of new products or changes in the services you offer. Use a trademark or tag line

In our case we trademarked the manipulated at symbol with the phrase bringing e-solutions to you, thereby effectively increasing the strength of our brand. We are now able to effectively convey who we are but give a good creative idea as to what we do.

About the author: Nigel is the owner and E-Commerce Project Manager for Ultimatech Computer Consultancy located in Aspen Colorado.

Originally posted 2005-03-30 18:02:00. Republished by Old Post Promoter

Why accessibility is important to you

Author: John S. Britsios

Accessibility is becoming increasingly critical to the Internet experience. Is your site accessible to people with disabilities? Is it compatible with browsers other than Internet Explorer?

Continue reading to discover how accessibility can benefit you, as well as your visitors.

What is accessibility

It is a term that is more associated with architectural thought, rather than Web Site Design. There is a legislation, which determines the minimum standards for new buildings. As a result, new buildings today often have wheelchair ramps, accessible lifts and disability parking spaces, allowing anyone with disabilities to gain access to a building, use the provided services, buy the products, and talk with the people inside.

With web sites, the term traditionally refers to the development of sites that are accessible to “all” users who may want to access them — in other words, “Universal Web Sites.” Tim Berners-Lee, W3C director and inventor of the World Wide Web, defines it as “access by everyone, regardless of disability.”

Even though the World Wide Web is continuously growing, many users:

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Originally posted 2005-04-24 17:35:38. Republished by Old Post Promoter

Author: Anik Singal

What the heck is going on lately? Most internet websites I go to now, all I see are pretty graphics everywhere. I see moving images, I see crazy JAVA, things flying around.

Don’t get me wrong, some of these graphics are truly amazing – I love to see them! But, that’s the problem! I only love to look at them, when I’m done looking at them, I LEAVE! Lately, there’s been a disturbing trend of everyone spending huge amounts of money on web graphics. The problem? There is NO proof that this really helps your sales!

As a matter of fact, one of my biggest money makers is a consulting service…

www.SingalMarketing.com/consultingte.html

…I put that page up in 5 minutes (after writing my copy). Believe it or not, but even being such a high priced service – that page converts about 2.5% – of course I get very targeted traffic…

LOOK AT HOW UGLY IT IS!!!

BUT, it has content! It has great copy, it’s got my face, my voice and a great service – the ACTUAL key ingredients to making a website that sells…Now, the problem is that most people are very logical – you would THINK that a good looking site should sell more – it makes sense right?

You expect that a good looking site probably increases your credibility – I mean, come on, it shows your visitor that you REALLY mean business, yadda yadda yadda…But, again, look at MY site – I’m selling a high priced consulting service to business owners – I’m actually selling my expertise in the internet business world. Yet, the site design (or lack there of) seems to have NO influence.

Just so you know, I DID try a nice fancy design for that page. You want to know what happened to my conversion? It plummeted down to 1.4%! Now, that I’ve got your attention, let’s look at why it is that a prettier site probably sells less:

1. More graphics take longer to load.

Not everyone has fast internet yet – actually, most people don’t. No one wants to wait for hours for a site to upload!

2. More graphics distract your visitors from your message.

Your graphics can actually work against you because your visitors spend more time focusing on them than they do focusing on your copy! Remember, it’s your COPY that sells – so if the visitor isn’t reading the copy – he/she is NOT going to buy. Period.

3. Some visitors may not like the colors, you may be sending the wrong message to different cultures.

Just because YOU love the colors of your graphics and you love the color scheme of your website does NOT mean that your visitors do too. There it is, those are the three MAIN reasons to keep your website AS neutral AS possible.

So, remember, PRETTY does NOT always equal more sales!

Ugly sites DO sell and will continue to do so. What matters is what you’re selling, your own expertise, and your copy writing. In the end, the best way to know what works best for your visitors is to TEST, TEST, and TEST some more!

Until next time,

Anik Singal http://www.AffiliateClassroom.com

About the author: This article is written by Anik Singal, founder of AffiliateClassroom.com. Anik Singal has developed his own affiliate system that helped him earn well over $10,000 in just 60 days. Now, he’s looking for a few students to train one step at a time.

http://www.AffiliateClassroom.com

Originally posted 2005-03-29 16:37:46. Republished by Old Post Promoter