Web Design Guidelines For The Novice Website Designer

Building a website is a fun adventure. You can save yourself a nice chunk of change if you can design your own site. But, you need to know what you are doing. Use these tips below and you can start designing websites like the professionals.

Choosing the right graphics can either make or break a website. Keep in mind that bitmaps don’t usually work well, while PNGs do. You have two choices for your non-photographic images. An image using 256 colors or more works well as a PNG, GIF works for the others. For photos, you can use JPEG images.

Do not use JavaScript more than you have to. Even though it can give your website a more transparent and responsive look, it can give some users problems. Each web browser is different, and each has a new version on a regular basis. Some visitors will have older versions of their browser, which doesn’t support the latest JavaScript. Also, consider that JavaScript isn’t regularly enabled in everyone’s browser. Either of these problems can make the visitor unable to use your site.

Check your webpages for broken links before publishing them. A visitor will get very annoyed when they click on a link that takes them to either a blank page or one that gives them an error. Either use a program to check for broken links or check each link manually.

Your background is the keystone of your design. Some sites have moving GIF backgrounds, which can be great at times, but can make your text difficult to read at other times. Choose backgrounds that coordinate with your site, rather than clashing with it, and your message will be much more clear to your visitors.

Try the common “newsletter” technique to keep your readers reminded of your services. Let your customers sign up for important events and updates so that they return to your site. Place the form for signup in a sidebar or at the top of the pages in your site, and track those who sign up. Make sure the newsletter only goes to those who actually asked for it, or you’re going to get some serious blowback.

Hopefully this article has provided you with enough useful information to infuse you with confidence and inspiration. As long as you constantly seek new information to enhance your knowledge, your web design skills should quickly improve.