Successful Web Design Is Now At Your Fingertips

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Successful Web Design Is Now At Your Fingertips
There are a lot of people that are becoming more and more interested in web design. With that being said, there are a lot more people who are going to be your competition when you're trying to make a profit with web design. So go through this article and learn what you can to stay ahead of your competitors.

Avoid useless scripts. Scripts like counters and date/time scripts don't really serve any purpose, and since they are all JavaScript, can add a few kilobytes to the page's file size. Getting rid of these elements also frees up space on the homepage. Replace those useless scripts with useful content that keeps users coming back.

Avoid using frames. Most sites have abandoned frames on their own as better alternatives have become available, but there are still sites out there that are trapped in 1996. Alternatives to navigational frames include fixed-position navigation panels, having navigation in multiple areas (e.g. left and bottom) or simplifying page structure so that navigational links are never far away.

White space is an important part of web design, so don't be afraid to use it. Cluttering up your web pages with too many images or too much text, or using a distracting background, will only irritate your visitors. White space can make the important elements of your page more visible.

If you want your site visitors to spend as much time as possible on your site, make text easy to read. One of the most common design mistakes is using graphic backgrounds with patterns or dark colors; combine this with equally dark text and you have a recipe for disaster. Unless the text is clear and easy to read, your site will not be a success.

Choose your web host carefully. Some hosts require you to link to them, while others may force you to install their pop-ups. You should also test their performance using one of the many tools available for free online, as you do not want to host with someone who is consistently slow or crashing.

Learning some basic HTML will help you add some interesting extras to your site. For example, you can have words that follow your cursor, or a banner that flashes important information. Make sure to change the colors and fonts occasionally, so you seem more involved with the web site and its design.

When designing your website, you should utilize cascading style sheets, or CSS. These style sheets can be applied to every webpage on your website, and will ensure that the user experience is consistent throughout the website. They are also effective for making quick design changes to your website due to the fact that you only need to change the style sheet as opposed to making alterations on every webpage.

Make your fonts professional and readable. Check out a site's fonts to rate it's professional quality. Do not use Comic Sans, overly ornate fonts, or fonts that many computers might not have. In case your user's browser cannot display the font your website uses, a secondary font can be set. This could cause it to look bad.

If you are fortunate enough to have the funding for a major investment into your site, this does not mean that is a wise thing to host the site on your own. Even if you create the basic design yourself, do not fall into the trap of spending the inordinate amounts of time necessary to host it yourself.

Always make sure that your site design works well on every browser. Your coding might look great in Firefox, but it could be askew in Internet Explorer. You need to find out exactly how things look in all browsers and then code in a way that leaves your site looking the same on every popular browser.

You want to learn as much as you can about web design so you can be as competitive as possible and be better than everyone else. Use what you gained from this article, but be sure to always learn as much as you can about web design to reach the level of success you seek.