As a web designer myself, I can say that learning as much as I could
from experts was how I got started. I looked at their sites, checked out
their code, and even borrowed from their designs. Today there is a
great deal of information available to help you get into the game, and
this article is a great place to start learning.
Before you
publish any web page, check it carefully for broken links. Nothing is
more frustrating to a visitor than clicking on a link and being taken to
an error page. You can check your links manually, or there are programs
that will scan your site for you and report any broken links.
Break
up long text blocks. Having a huge wave of text is unnecessary for any
site, especially when you can break it up by using images, or even
separating it into different pages. Boring your viewers will only make
them leave, so keep things as simple and fresh as possible.
Proofread
all of the content on your site so that you don't look like you rushed
through it. You want people to breeze through it. When you have errors
on your site it really looks unprofessional and people won't take you or
your site seriously which can hurt it's reputation.
Allowing
guest content on your site is a good idea, but never, ever let someone
else get into your server to post it! You need to receive the content
via email. A lot of amateur site designers actually allow people to
access their host's server. Even if this doesn't lead to theft, it's
still a really bad idea.
Use good software to help you with
each aspect of designing your site. Software does not need to be
expensive, or cost anything at all, for that matter. Check out the
variety of free, open-source software available to you, including GIMP,
Audacity, Skype, FoxItReader, and more. The quality of your pages will
benefit from all the tools at your finger tips.
Try to make
sure that any music or pictures that you're linking to is hosted on
your own web server. Do not hotlink to any other website images. This
can be construed as bandwidth theft and it could put you in violation of
a copyright too. It's not worth the risk.
Limit the amount
of content you start out with on a given page to small amounts when you
first start out. You don't want to add a bunch of stuff that is going
to fluster you because this can make your visitors confused as well when
they come visit your site.
Test your website before it
goes live. There's nothing worse then launching your new website and
having to take it down right away due to bugs or other issues. Get a
group of people together who are using different web browsers and
computer platforms, and ask them to use a beta version of your website,
writing down any issues they come across.
To help you learn
how to create your first webpage, you should read about tips and tricks
online. Educating yourself on web page design from experts online is
the quickest way to learn how to build a quality website. Without the
proper education from a skilled expert, you will end up creating poorly
designed web pages that nobody will want to see.
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.
Make
sure your website uses a consistent font throughout. Some websites
change fonts willy-nilly without any design reason to do so. This makes
the content difficult to process for visitors. Most websites, especially
business websites, will do just fine sticking to basic fonts like
Arial, Veranda, or even Times New Roman.
Now that I've been
designing websites for over a decade, I feel that I can give some
advice back. Use the tips in this article, continue learning as much as
you can, and stay on top of trends to ensure your websites stand out in
the crowd. If I can do it, anyone can!
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