Make Your Website Visually Appealing

October 23, 2008

Gone are the days when only a handful of people have bragging rights to being able to create a website. Those were the days when HTML were coded manually using notepad.  With technological advancements, web designing was simplified that even the Internet-challenged can quickly make their own websites in just a few mouse clicks. Nowadays, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out how to create a website. While the systems and processes have changed dramatically over the years, the guidelines in effective web design remain unchanged. The web design tips back then are still being applied and followed to a T even today. Of course, there have been additional knowledge and inputs, but the basics in creating a website were left unchanged.

The web design tips that you will be reading shortly are not just for professional websites; it can be used for personal or fun websites as well. The very first thing to do is to decide what program or application to use in creating your site. There are many programs out there that will help you design your website. It’s important to use a web development application that you find easy to use and does not require reading a thick manual. The more comfortable you are in using the application, the easier for you to get your website up and running in no time. Once you figure that out, take time to conceptualize. Know the direction that the owner wants the website to take. You should be able to communicate and be on the same book as the owner so that the goals and objectives of the site will be achieved.

Once the concept has been chosen, it’s time to get on with the actual design process. Regardless of the type of website (online shop, flash-based, etc.), it is important to make the site user-friendly. This involved designing a site that is easy to navigate. Keep in mind that not all users can easily find the links that interest them. It just doesn’t work that way. A cluttered layout can easily turn off a visitor and would probably vow not to visit the site again. Keeping it simple by making use of short and precise words and highlighting important links can make a huge impact. Flashy websites can attract visitors but with a poorly designed flashy site, you will have difficult keeping visitors in the site. Try to avoid fancy fonts that are not usually available on most computers. They will just appear messed up in other people’s computers.

It is also important to always keep visitors in mind when designing a website. This means that you need to put yourself in their shoes. If you hate long load time, then most likely your visitors will hate it too. So, make sure that you minimize use of unnecessary images with large file size. Cleaning up your HTML and script code will help you optimize the load time. It’s also necessary to make your site compatible with commonly used browsers (IE, Firefox, Netscape, etc.). While you’re at it, also make sure that your website is designed for all screen resolutions. This makes your website more visually attractive. These are just a few of web design tips that that can get you started­