The Secrets Of Web Design: Tips For Building A Great Website

Does it take fancy programs and special knowledge to be a good web designer? The answer to this question varies according to what you are prepared to learn about the process. If you’re lazy with it, you’ll need to get a third party company or program to do your work. However, if you have the time and energy to put in to the project, then keep reading and be willing to take the plunge.

Preserve the personal information users submit on your site safely. 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. This information retention and re-use makes site transactions much easier, and many people will appreciate that.

Don’t overdo it with JavaScript. While it may offer many different ways to create a more transparent and responsive website, it can pose difficulties for some visitors. Web browsers are all different, and each comes out with new versions pretty regularly. Everyone who visits your site will not always have an up to date browser. Additionally, you need to realize many people disable the JavaScript function in their browser. Both of these factors can determine whether a user is able to access your site.

Utilize newsletters if you want repeat visitors. Giving your customers a reminder that you’re still online and have some great deals or new content that will bring them back to your site for more. Stick the sign-up form in a spot that’s out of the way, such as in a sidebar, and keep good records of those who sign up. You can avoid some reputation-damaging trouble by making sure that your newsletter only goes out to visitors who have explicitly requested it.

Don’t allow pop-ups on your website. You’ll only annoy your visitors with this type of content, regardless of how important the information in the pop-up windows is. If your visitors become frustrated enough with pop-ups, they may permanently leave your website.

Good meta tagging practices will help your website draw in larger numbers of visitors. Your site can show various search engines exactly what your site is all about when you have meta tags. Well-written meta tags will garner the most visitors to your site.

It’s vital that you test your web designs on multiple browsers. Since each browser works a little differently, your coding could be interpreted differently on each one, and in some instances it could cause the website to not function properly. There are a ton of resources you could use, so you are able to find out the browsers that currently have the most popularity. Make sure your website works in Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari and the major mobile browsers.

Monitor your site periodically for broken links. The best time to do this is just before you FTP the page over to the server. Links that lead to the wrong place or nowhere at all are frustrating and visitors will soon lose interest in your site and stop visiting it. So you don’t run into problems, make sure you check to see if everything works.

When designing your own site, you should remember that you do not have to make use of all the available free space. Making use of all the pixels and space makes the site look cluttered and feel overwhelming. Leave space between the different boxed and elements of your design, so your visitors can read through everything. There are many cases in which empty space is actually more valuable than other content.

Designing your own site isn’t as difficult as performing brain surgery. You do not have to enter a classroom, nor are you performing life-altering surgery on someone. If you can follow all the suggestions outlined above, you will be able to design a great looking website.

GoingClear Interactive is a leading Boston-based Interactive company that was founded in 2001 on the principle of simply being the clearest way to the web. O…