When it comes to web design, you will find it important to ensure that you are reading the best advice around. Use the advice provided here if you want to make your website look great and compete with other professional ones. There is quite a bit to learn, and this article is a perfect way to start off.
Include a link to the homepage on every page of your site. One of the best ways to do this is to make a graphic title for your page that can be included on all pages. Web users are used to clicking on a graphic to return home so there won't be a learning curve to navigating your site.
Be wary of web hosting companies who claim that they offer unlimited bandwidth to their customers. Usually there is something that is written in the small print that is far different than that. In many cases people end up having problems when it comes to fair use policies.
Keep your website fresh and free of dated content. For example, if your web page is promoting some event that occurred a year ago, you've probably lost a lot of your readers. Internet users want to have access to the latest information and read websites with regular updates. Create a regular schedule for updating the content of your page, and weed out anything that has become irrelevant.
Use a style sheet to stay consistent. There is almost nothing more disconcerting than being sent to a page that looks at nothing like the site you were just looking at, even if it is concerning the same subject. Style sheets help with saving your formatting, so each page looks similar to the rest.
Ensure people can easily scan your information. Most website visitors do not really read online content. They just scan it looking for interesting tidbits of information. Use sub-headers to break text into sections your readers will appreciate. Additionally, keep your most important info at the top of the page. This all leads to an experience that is more satisfying to your visitors as they can always find what they are looking for quickly and easily.
Keep personal information handy in the event that it must be re-entered by a repeat visitor of your website. For instance, if someone filled in their name and address when creating an account, pre-populate this information when the customer fills out an order form. With this \sticky\ information, you create a simpler, easier experience for your users, which will prompt them to stay on-site longer.
Educate yourself with regard to shortcuts, and make ample use of them. Nearly all facets of web design have shortcuts you can take, so the time you take to learn them once can save you time on everything over and over in the future. There are some codes in HTML that allow for faster changes to each page than re-uploading each one.
When designing your website, you should avoid using too many different types of fonts. Also, think about the way various fonts look on a standard screen. Little serif fonts (such as Times New Roman) can be difficult to read. Verdana is one of those popular fonts that is readable in all sizes and colors.
Use ALT tags on your images. These tags are used to describe the images they accompany in case the image is not displayed, such as when a user disables graphics or is visually impaired and uses transcription software to translate images and read them aloud. Should your images serve as links, these ALT tags will offer a means to describe the link's behavior also. ALT tags are also used by crawlers for search engines, so they can even boost your search ranking.
Use relevant meta tags to increase site traffic. Having meta tags that are quality will help show the search engines what your site is about. Non descriptive or inaccurate meta tags will result in low visibility for your website.
Keep load times to a minimum of your site. Visitors are not going to wait around for a slow site. Reduce graphics, scripts and Flash consoles on your web page, optimize HTML and utilize SSI files.
The more you practice and learn, web design will be easier and more comfortable for you. So, go ahead and start up some simple pages with HTML and C+ to see if you have some of the fundamentals down. Practice has to start sometime, so get to it sooner than later.
To summarize, it is critical that you give yourself a good base of web design knowledge before trying to start your own site. Hopefully you were able to find these tips well written and relevant. Implement these tips and you will find that you will love new experience that you are going to have with web design.