When you’re concerned about web design, Denver businesses should take into consideration their customers over anything else. While you want to make sure your site is filled with all of the SEO enhancers that you can find, making a site that’s accessible and pleasant for customers is what will keep your traffic numbers up. Here are some tips to make sure you’re getting the most out of your web design.
Easy to read pages – When customers arrive at a web site that’s difficult to read, they tend to leave almost immediately. If you’re not presenting clear web design, Denver businesses will see a decrease in their traffic counts and thus their profits. To help ease the reading for the customers, it will help to have large lettering that is simple in style as well as clear links and menu designs that are easy to follow and access.
Fewer colors – While some web sites try to shock a reader into reading what they have to say, this isn’t the best technique.When it comes to web design, Denver web sites that use muted colors tend to attract more return customers. It’s just not easy to read fluorescent colored pages or pages with conflicting color patterns. But when you use simple black and white with muted color accents, you create a site that is inviting and easy to read.
Simple opt in functions – Too many other sites want to ‘show off’ what they know about web design. Denver web sites that keep things simple tend to fare better because they’re aren’t as complicated. Try to limit the features that your customers can use on each page as well as the steps that are required to use them.While you might want to offer new and exciting opt in functions, when your customer can’t figure out how to use them, they aren’t going to be successful. Also, try not to ask for too much information in the original opt in sections. Customers can be hesitant to provide this information, so they’ll avoid it altogether.
Multiple pages with continuous updates – When you continuously update your web pages, it shows your customers that you are as interested in the web site as they should be. In terms of web design, Denver sites that make sure that they have plenty of content are often the most visited by customers. Part of this is because of the fresh content, but another part is due to the fact that search engines rank these kinds of pages higher.
Links to relevant sites and content – By providing multiple venues for your customer to obtain the information they need, you’re increasing the efficiency and the usefulness of your web design. Denver businesses that include links to other pages will help customers feel as though you want them to succeed in their search, even if you can’t offer them what they need.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Improving The Quality Of Your Website With Good Graphic Design
Try to picture the websites you frequently visit. Now consider the graphics on those websites. Right away you might remember the color scheme and how it coordinates with the company’s logo. Or you might think of a particular image that displays a service that the company provides. Perhaps you think about the way products are displayed. And in some cases, you may not be able to picture any graphics at all. Madison graphic design varies in style and approach, but if you want to garner the best results from your website, you need to decide what you want out of your graphic design.
For great examples graphic design, Madison is an excellent place to begin. The websites of several Madison businesses make great use of this element in helping users to identify the business and get the most out of their online experience. And that’s the point of all this web development stuff, right? Your customer.
Good graphic design means different things to different people. But most professional graphic designers will base their designs on five basic elements.
Balance
One feature you will see in successful websites is their ability to balance information, navigation, and graphics on a page. The page should not feel very heavy on the left or right sides, nor should it be top heavy. It's true that you need to consider how people will see the page, taking into account the tendency not to scroll if they don’t have to, but when you look at the page as it comes up on the partial screen, does it look balanced or does one thing overpower?
Rhythm
You might be thinking to yourself, “Rhythm in a website?” Yes, this is a vital part of good web design. How do your elements move from one to the other? Is there an effortless flow of information? As your eye moves across the page, think on how you come across one item and then the next and assess if you have good rhythm.
Proportion
This is imperative to websites that are user-friendly. If you have ever been to a site with tiny hard to read text that blends in with the background, you know that proportion is vital to return visitors. On the contrary, don’t cram huge graphics on a page. You can either shrink them or remove them.
Dominance
While you want there to be balance and proportion, you also need to make it clear what the important elements are on the page. If you want to draw attention to the navigation bar with links to affiliates, you need to highlight this. If you want the customer to take note of the great search feature you installed at the top of the page, put it in a prominent spot and use effective graphics to make it a dominant element in its field.
Unity
If your page looks like a jumble of content from five different sites, you may have trouble getting your main point across. Similarly, if each successive page has a different format or color scheme than your homepage, you lose the unity of the site. Stick to a uniform color scheme, graphics style, and font.
For great examples graphic design, Madison is an excellent place to begin. The websites of several Madison businesses make great use of this element in helping users to identify the business and get the most out of their online experience. And that’s the point of all this web development stuff, right? Your customer.
Good graphic design means different things to different people. But most professional graphic designers will base their designs on five basic elements.
Balance
One feature you will see in successful websites is their ability to balance information, navigation, and graphics on a page. The page should not feel very heavy on the left or right sides, nor should it be top heavy. It's true that you need to consider how people will see the page, taking into account the tendency not to scroll if they don’t have to, but when you look at the page as it comes up on the partial screen, does it look balanced or does one thing overpower?
Rhythm
You might be thinking to yourself, “Rhythm in a website?” Yes, this is a vital part of good web design. How do your elements move from one to the other? Is there an effortless flow of information? As your eye moves across the page, think on how you come across one item and then the next and assess if you have good rhythm.
Proportion
This is imperative to websites that are user-friendly. If you have ever been to a site with tiny hard to read text that blends in with the background, you know that proportion is vital to return visitors. On the contrary, don’t cram huge graphics on a page. You can either shrink them or remove them.
Dominance
While you want there to be balance and proportion, you also need to make it clear what the important elements are on the page. If you want to draw attention to the navigation bar with links to affiliates, you need to highlight this. If you want the customer to take note of the great search feature you installed at the top of the page, put it in a prominent spot and use effective graphics to make it a dominant element in its field.
Unity
If your page looks like a jumble of content from five different sites, you may have trouble getting your main point across. Similarly, if each successive page has a different format or color scheme than your homepage, you lose the unity of the site. Stick to a uniform color scheme, graphics style, and font.
Why You Need Good Writers for Your Web Design Goals
When you’re interested in successful Denver web design, you need to understand what your customers want and what search engines are looking for – everyone realizes this. But when it comes to the details of just how to appease your customer, you’re going to find many more questions with each answer you encounter. There is one piece of advice that can help you with your web design, no matter what kind of business you run – find good writers. And here’s why.
If you’re trying to optimize your web site (and who isn’t?), you need to think about hiring proficient writers for your Denver web design. By giving them a list of the keywords that you want included on each page, they will craft an article or other content that includes that keyword at your desired density levels. Instead of having to do this work yourself, you can allow the professionals to do it.Many online writers are used to providing clients with specific keyword density needs, and can also advise you as to keyword densities that have worked in the past for them.
Since many of these writers are already familiar with the idea of a keyword, they are better able to create relevant content for your web site.And in Denver web design, this is imperative. While you might hire a new writer to create a keyword article, they might think that they can write the same article over and over, but just use different words to do so. This isn’t relevant content that will entice a customer to visit your site. But experienced writers understand that each article needs to present new and compelling information to their readers in order to increase the SEO.
By hiring a team of writers to handle your Denver web design, you can also have continuous web site updates that are favored by search engines. It can help to hire a few different writers for your website to keep the tone from becoming too monotonous.But when you find a writer whose style you like, you may as well hire them on to do repeated sets of content. Many other web sites like to update weekly, if not daily. The only stipulation is that the content needs to be interesting in order to pull customers in time and time again.
Finding good writers for your Denver web design is much easier than you think. You can either look for online freelance writing boards – Elance, Guru, etc.Or you may want to post your needs on classified ad web sites and your local paper advertisements. To choose the right writer, be sure that you are looking for experience, knowledge, and flexibility. You need someone that will be able to handle your needs, but also be ready to complete any revisions that you feel are necessary. Writing is a collaborative process that you will both need to participate in. But with a seasoned internet writer, they already understand this need for cooperation.
If you’re trying to optimize your web site (and who isn’t?), you need to think about hiring proficient writers for your Denver web design. By giving them a list of the keywords that you want included on each page, they will craft an article or other content that includes that keyword at your desired density levels. Instead of having to do this work yourself, you can allow the professionals to do it.Many online writers are used to providing clients with specific keyword density needs, and can also advise you as to keyword densities that have worked in the past for them.
Since many of these writers are already familiar with the idea of a keyword, they are better able to create relevant content for your web site.And in Denver web design, this is imperative. While you might hire a new writer to create a keyword article, they might think that they can write the same article over and over, but just use different words to do so. This isn’t relevant content that will entice a customer to visit your site. But experienced writers understand that each article needs to present new and compelling information to their readers in order to increase the SEO.
By hiring a team of writers to handle your Denver web design, you can also have continuous web site updates that are favored by search engines. It can help to hire a few different writers for your website to keep the tone from becoming too monotonous.But when you find a writer whose style you like, you may as well hire them on to do repeated sets of content. Many other web sites like to update weekly, if not daily. The only stipulation is that the content needs to be interesting in order to pull customers in time and time again.
Finding good writers for your Denver web design is much easier than you think. You can either look for online freelance writing boards – Elance, Guru, etc.Or you may want to post your needs on classified ad web sites and your local paper advertisements. To choose the right writer, be sure that you are looking for experience, knowledge, and flexibility. You need someone that will be able to handle your needs, but also be ready to complete any revisions that you feel are necessary. Writing is a collaborative process that you will both need to participate in. But with a seasoned internet writer, they already understand this need for cooperation.
Getting Great Web Design in New York
Who you choose to design and maintain your website is of the utmost importance when it comes to generating results for your business venture. At Web Design New York we specialize in building websites that generate results and that is what a website is supposed to do and we have a well established track record in producing results that is recognized world wide.
Web Design New York is based in Rockefeller Center, Central Manhattan in the heart of the business district and we have represented nationally and internationally recognized names in business with great success. At Web Design New York we work closely with our clients through out the entire process of designing, constructing and maintaining their website and this insures that all work is done to their exact specifications.
In the end, its results that truly matter and at Web Design New York we have the experience that is the first prerequisite for designing and building websites that produce traffic and interest that inevitably translates into direct results. Our custom design team work together closely and have a proven system that truly works ands our client list includes leading, well recognized firms in medical and dental fields, engineering, accounting as well as architectural and construction just to name a few.
This means that no matter what business you are in, at Web Design New York we most likely already have a broad level of experience and familiarity with its particulars. It is important that your website have that certain something that sets it apart from all of the other websites that are out there, because the competition is stiff on the net and at Web Design New York we are well aware of that fact. If you are interested in a website that will stand out from the crowd and will showcase your venture in its most positive light, then let Web Design New York show you how this can be done.
Web Design New York is based in Rockefeller Center, Central Manhattan in the heart of the business district and we have represented nationally and internationally recognized names in business with great success. At Web Design New York we work closely with our clients through out the entire process of designing, constructing and maintaining their website and this insures that all work is done to their exact specifications.
In the end, its results that truly matter and at Web Design New York we have the experience that is the first prerequisite for designing and building websites that produce traffic and interest that inevitably translates into direct results. Our custom design team work together closely and have a proven system that truly works ands our client list includes leading, well recognized firms in medical and dental fields, engineering, accounting as well as architectural and construction just to name a few.
This means that no matter what business you are in, at Web Design New York we most likely already have a broad level of experience and familiarity with its particulars. It is important that your website have that certain something that sets it apart from all of the other websites that are out there, because the competition is stiff on the net and at Web Design New York we are well aware of that fact. If you are interested in a website that will stand out from the crowd and will showcase your venture in its most positive light, then let Web Design New York show you how this can be done.
Web Design - Strategise to Sell
Optimisation of a website is paramount for online businesses aiming at higher rankings and increased sales. This optimisation should also be visible in the design of your site, as much as in content, meta elements, links, etc. You have to take care of the minutest of details and ensure that important search engine guidelines are dealt with.
As a professional website designer, you can consider the following points when designing a site for your clients:
1) According to experts, it is advisable to avoid the excessive use of banner advertisements on your site. Most web users are uninterested in such flashy ads, and you'll actually be wasting your time, money and web space. Instead, use some important images or relevant content that'll actually help in pepping up your search engine rankings.
2) Avoid the use of splash pages on your website. These are the first pages displayed when one arrives at a website – example, the 'Welcome' page, or the 'Click Here to Enter Site' page, etc. These pages, more often than not, turn users off, making them return from your site without delving further. If you wish to convert visitors into buyers, it is better to display the homepage of your site directly.
3) Design your site's navigation in such a way that your visitors know which part of the site they are in and what to expect from it. If your internal linking is complicated, users will not be interested in scouting for information, and will simply move on to some other website.
4) Avoid having an overload of images, flash or frames. All these elements increase the download time of your pages and are of no help in the search engine indexing process.
5) Content matter plays a big role in website design. Text should be evenly spread on a page, and it should also be easily readable and comprehensible. And, more than anything else, it should be relevant to and informative about your product/service.
6) Just like content, colours, fonts and shapes should also be finely distributed all through the page. This will bring in uniformity as well as help users identify with the feel of your site.
7) As far as the coding part is concerned, a professional website design would be one that eases the process of crawling by making web pages accessible to search engines and users alike.
Paying attention to these tidbits will ensure that your website has all the ingredients of a competitive and saleable business site. Devise design strategies that sell, and you'll feel the difference almost instantaneously.
As a professional website designer, you can consider the following points when designing a site for your clients:
1) According to experts, it is advisable to avoid the excessive use of banner advertisements on your site. Most web users are uninterested in such flashy ads, and you'll actually be wasting your time, money and web space. Instead, use some important images or relevant content that'll actually help in pepping up your search engine rankings.
2) Avoid the use of splash pages on your website. These are the first pages displayed when one arrives at a website – example, the 'Welcome' page, or the 'Click Here to Enter Site' page, etc. These pages, more often than not, turn users off, making them return from your site without delving further. If you wish to convert visitors into buyers, it is better to display the homepage of your site directly.
3) Design your site's navigation in such a way that your visitors know which part of the site they are in and what to expect from it. If your internal linking is complicated, users will not be interested in scouting for information, and will simply move on to some other website.
4) Avoid having an overload of images, flash or frames. All these elements increase the download time of your pages and are of no help in the search engine indexing process.
5) Content matter plays a big role in website design. Text should be evenly spread on a page, and it should also be easily readable and comprehensible. And, more than anything else, it should be relevant to and informative about your product/service.
6) Just like content, colours, fonts and shapes should also be finely distributed all through the page. This will bring in uniformity as well as help users identify with the feel of your site.
7) As far as the coding part is concerned, a professional website design would be one that eases the process of crawling by making web pages accessible to search engines and users alike.
Paying attention to these tidbits will ensure that your website has all the ingredients of a competitive and saleable business site. Devise design strategies that sell, and you'll feel the difference almost instantaneously.
6 Key Ways to Make Money with Web Site Design
Websites are essentially popping up like mushrooms on the Internet, selling anything from ringtones to clothing and eBooks. These websites are some of the best moneymakers around, and you too can cash in on the Internet money-making bandwagon with a website of your own. There are a lot of ways you can increase your chances to make money out of designing websites and here are few of them:
1. Sell your services on a freelance site. You can get people to use your skills as a website designer if you sell your services on a freelance site that has a list of IT professionals that companies can tap.
2. Have your own website design site. You can promote your craft through your own website that deals with website design problems and jobs for other people. You can place samples or links to your work on your site.
3. Advertise your site. You can then create traffic that may convert into revenues by advertising on Google’s pay per click campaign. This can also be done with a little Adsense.
4. Link it up. Linking with other websites that either sell different IT services similar to yours, like web content writing, can benefit you web designing business a lot. It will increase your traffic.
5. Tie it up. You can also tie in your services with an outsourcing company that deals with IT concerns like SEO and web design troubleshooting. You can offer your services as a freelancer or as a subcontractor for their company.
6. Enter contests. There are a few website design contests you can join, and whether or not you win anything from it, the main idea is to get your work noticed by the people who matter: those that will use your services as a web site designer.
1. Sell your services on a freelance site. You can get people to use your skills as a website designer if you sell your services on a freelance site that has a list of IT professionals that companies can tap.
2. Have your own website design site. You can promote your craft through your own website that deals with website design problems and jobs for other people. You can place samples or links to your work on your site.
3. Advertise your site. You can then create traffic that may convert into revenues by advertising on Google’s pay per click campaign. This can also be done with a little Adsense.
4. Link it up. Linking with other websites that either sell different IT services similar to yours, like web content writing, can benefit you web designing business a lot. It will increase your traffic.
5. Tie it up. You can also tie in your services with an outsourcing company that deals with IT concerns like SEO and web design troubleshooting. You can offer your services as a freelancer or as a subcontractor for their company.
6. Enter contests. There are a few website design contests you can join, and whether or not you win anything from it, the main idea is to get your work noticed by the people who matter: those that will use your services as a web site designer.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
An Index for Web Designing
For every web designer getting their work recognized is the most important thing. They are always striving to do better than before. The web design directory is one way which could help all the web design professionals.
Defining a web design directory
These directories are really helpful for all the prospective web designers those who want some new tips regarding their field. There are directories those are area specified, or a state particular. It is beneficial as it lets you to approach the potential clients as compared to offering a particular website to a common business index.
Most of the times the web designers are not aware of the fact that from where I am supposed to get these directories. The most preferred way is typing the keyword in the Google.com with the keyword web design directory and you will get a list of it. You have lots of choices to choose from and to decide where your website will get better response. To get better results it is preferable to search in other search engines also keeping the keyword same probably you will get the results in the form of web designer listings or web firm directory.
The amount of users that your website will be getting is nothing with the fact that it is registered if some of the directories ask for the shared link. It is against the ethics of a designer to introduce other’s symbols, catchphrases at your website as it would look shoddy and indecent. In the majority of the cases nobody asks for the symbols and signs but just in case they ask for it then it is up to the discretion of the web designer.
It is always better to introduce a text link as compared of putting an index picture at your website that you are linking for. It would be more than sufficient as they will be getting the link and you will get your registration. If you are a web designer then shared links will suit you. There is another method of introducing links at your website and it is to introduce an associate link on the contact page. Through this method, before the user could visit the shared link he had to go through your website. You should not interrupt the inventive value of your website by introducing a link on your index page.
Before starting off with the submission procedure you must keep ready the URL, the contact details, and the keywords as you just have to paste in the online form. During the submission it might ask repeatedly so it is always better to keep the details ready. You should also keep ready the shorter details as backup if the website does not accept long details.
Guidelines for submission
You should be patient after you have made a submission as it might take months. You should not get restless if you do not see your link after a week time. If it is taking too long then you should approach the administrator and ask him about the link. There is nothing wrong in asking as you are also doing business for them with the addition of their link at your website. In the case where you do not get any feedback you can delete their link from your pages and should go for shared link that will bring prospective users.
Defining a web design directory
These directories are really helpful for all the prospective web designers those who want some new tips regarding their field. There are directories those are area specified, or a state particular. It is beneficial as it lets you to approach the potential clients as compared to offering a particular website to a common business index.
Most of the times the web designers are not aware of the fact that from where I am supposed to get these directories. The most preferred way is typing the keyword in the Google.com with the keyword web design directory and you will get a list of it. You have lots of choices to choose from and to decide where your website will get better response. To get better results it is preferable to search in other search engines also keeping the keyword same probably you will get the results in the form of web designer listings or web firm directory.
The amount of users that your website will be getting is nothing with the fact that it is registered if some of the directories ask for the shared link. It is against the ethics of a designer to introduce other’s symbols, catchphrases at your website as it would look shoddy and indecent. In the majority of the cases nobody asks for the symbols and signs but just in case they ask for it then it is up to the discretion of the web designer.
It is always better to introduce a text link as compared of putting an index picture at your website that you are linking for. It would be more than sufficient as they will be getting the link and you will get your registration. If you are a web designer then shared links will suit you. There is another method of introducing links at your website and it is to introduce an associate link on the contact page. Through this method, before the user could visit the shared link he had to go through your website. You should not interrupt the inventive value of your website by introducing a link on your index page.
Before starting off with the submission procedure you must keep ready the URL, the contact details, and the keywords as you just have to paste in the online form. During the submission it might ask repeatedly so it is always better to keep the details ready. You should also keep ready the shorter details as backup if the website does not accept long details.
Guidelines for submission
You should be patient after you have made a submission as it might take months. You should not get restless if you do not see your link after a week time. If it is taking too long then you should approach the administrator and ask him about the link. There is nothing wrong in asking as you are also doing business for them with the addition of their link at your website. In the case where you do not get any feedback you can delete their link from your pages and should go for shared link that will bring prospective users.
Finding the Right Web Design Agency
Having a clear idea of what you want your web site to accomplish is important in finding the right Web design agency. These goals will allow you to better focus on the characteristics and individual qualities that each web design agency is capable of.
Basically, there are four objectives that designing a web site can accomplish in basic business. The right web design agency will help you accomplish all these objectives by introducing your products to new markets and increasing the awareness of the product. A design agency should also reduce the amount of paperwork and help you gain new customers while retaining the old ones.
It is probable that the web design agency will achieve all of the goals but planning your web site with clear objectives will show you which goal should be of most importance. As this may change, so will your web design.
After determining the main objective of your web site, your goal should be finding the right web design agency that will help you obtain this goal. As time goes on you may or may not choose the same web design agency. Goals will change, as will the design needs of your web sites. It may be beneficial to utilize the web design agencies with the most experience with the certain part of web design that you are trying to obtain.
Whichever web design agency you choose, having clear objective and goals will make the web design process go a lot more smooth. The exact details of the web design might not be known but that is why your are hiring a design agency to aid you with the task. Take the time to outline your philosophy and goals with the agency. This will ensure that the site reflects your business in the quickest amount of time
Basically, there are four objectives that designing a web site can accomplish in basic business. The right web design agency will help you accomplish all these objectives by introducing your products to new markets and increasing the awareness of the product. A design agency should also reduce the amount of paperwork and help you gain new customers while retaining the old ones.
It is probable that the web design agency will achieve all of the goals but planning your web site with clear objectives will show you which goal should be of most importance. As this may change, so will your web design.
After determining the main objective of your web site, your goal should be finding the right web design agency that will help you obtain this goal. As time goes on you may or may not choose the same web design agency. Goals will change, as will the design needs of your web sites. It may be beneficial to utilize the web design agencies with the most experience with the certain part of web design that you are trying to obtain.
Whichever web design agency you choose, having clear objective and goals will make the web design process go a lot more smooth. The exact details of the web design might not be known but that is why your are hiring a design agency to aid you with the task. Take the time to outline your philosophy and goals with the agency. This will ensure that the site reflects your business in the quickest amount of time
10 Easy Ways to Handle Constructive Criticism
Surveys are a great way to do market research and to understand the preference of your target market. Besides that, in web design and development we have usability testing too. The test is a way to spot not only website usability weaknesses but the effectiveness of a well designed user interface (UI).
Advertising agencies on the other hand have design surveys to help identify if the new loge they may be proposing works with the target audience. With the Internet, many designers now find their feedback from blogs, forums, social networking sites and online portfolios. But I’ve seen many come under the pressure of the harsh comments or sweet compliments. So how do you keep your cool and handle it well?
What is constructive criticism? Constructive criticism is the process of offering valid and well-reasoned opinions about the work of others, usually involving both positive and negative comments, in a friendly manner rather than an oppositional one. In collaborative work, this kind of criticism is often a valuable tool in raising and maintaining performance standards. Source: Wikipedia
How can you tell or filter out the constructive criticism from normal comments? To be honest, there isn’t a way to do this. That’s why the pressure is high when you ask a dozen other designers to comment on your own design. In my humble opinion, constructive criticism is as the line from Wikipedia states - criticism often…in raising and maintaining performance standards.
So if you came under the pressure, you don’t have to blow your top and eventually find acne somewhere on your face because of this. Here are 10 easy ways to help you (especially in web design) handle constructive criticism at your favourite forum or even blog.
10. Analyze the criticism or review made There will be those who are easily satisfiable while there are those with high expectations. Before you do anything, just take your time to read through their comments. And if you have to, read it over again.
9. Answer their questions (if any) It’s polite to answer the person who’s given you a question. You should also be more worried if they didn’t ask you a question because it would mean they didn’t understand or you weren’t clear on your request for criticism.
8. Do NOT involve your emotions You requested for the criticism by saying, “please comment my…” or “please review this…”. If a critic didn’t have any nice things to say, thank them and reply you will try your best to satisfy their expectation in future. By venting your emotions towards them is a personal attack and worst of all, is unprofessional.
7. Reply offensive comments in a mature manner If someone only said, “you suck..” or something along the lines don’t be on the offensive and try to bash them in return. Instead, pause and think about it for a moment. Think about what to say which will empower you in a better position to the offensive comment left behind. Another advice is, thank the person again and end it there.
6. Do NOT be afraid to apologize Many are afraid to apologize when they are in the wrong. It could be ego or it could be some other God given reason they are abusing. Instead of just being humble, try using an apology as your nuclear bomb as your nuclear bomb next time. After all, you know you can’t satisfy everyone in the world.
5. Do NOT be an elitist (or think like you’re the last person on Earth) As I have said, you are not the only person in the world. Although you may be in a cult who executes others who do not comply with your life principles, it does not mean they do not have a fair share of criticism. Don’t try turning them your way but educate them to understand your way.
4. No two individuals speak the same way Internet communication (without voice) is an easily misinterpreted medium. Even if I left “Ha ha ha…” some would mistake it as sarcasm while others would see it as a laugh. Therefore, do not assume everyone is criticizing the same thing in the same way.
3. If it is a lost cause, do NOT pursue the problem Generally, lost causes to me are scenarios where I have done my best to educate the person but they still refuse to be educated. Therefore, I would apologize and just say I will try to satisfy their requirements in the future. By claiming you have a solution planned, it will help you end the problem early without more emotional damage.
2. Do NOT judge a group you are asking for criticism A very good example is when a designer said, “…I’ve been doing html website since u guys start learning html…” Never ever ever generalize your critics as it will follow you till the end. In addition to that, you will only self-inflict emotional damage to yourself later. Instead of making such a remark, maturely handle the situation with one of the earlier tips I said.
Advertising agencies on the other hand have design surveys to help identify if the new loge they may be proposing works with the target audience. With the Internet, many designers now find their feedback from blogs, forums, social networking sites and online portfolios. But I’ve seen many come under the pressure of the harsh comments or sweet compliments. So how do you keep your cool and handle it well?
What is constructive criticism? Constructive criticism is the process of offering valid and well-reasoned opinions about the work of others, usually involving both positive and negative comments, in a friendly manner rather than an oppositional one. In collaborative work, this kind of criticism is often a valuable tool in raising and maintaining performance standards. Source: Wikipedia
How can you tell or filter out the constructive criticism from normal comments? To be honest, there isn’t a way to do this. That’s why the pressure is high when you ask a dozen other designers to comment on your own design. In my humble opinion, constructive criticism is as the line from Wikipedia states - criticism often…in raising and maintaining performance standards.
So if you came under the pressure, you don’t have to blow your top and eventually find acne somewhere on your face because of this. Here are 10 easy ways to help you (especially in web design) handle constructive criticism at your favourite forum or even blog.
10. Analyze the criticism or review made There will be those who are easily satisfiable while there are those with high expectations. Before you do anything, just take your time to read through their comments. And if you have to, read it over again.
9. Answer their questions (if any) It’s polite to answer the person who’s given you a question. You should also be more worried if they didn’t ask you a question because it would mean they didn’t understand or you weren’t clear on your request for criticism.
8. Do NOT involve your emotions You requested for the criticism by saying, “please comment my…” or “please review this…”. If a critic didn’t have any nice things to say, thank them and reply you will try your best to satisfy their expectation in future. By venting your emotions towards them is a personal attack and worst of all, is unprofessional.
7. Reply offensive comments in a mature manner If someone only said, “you suck..” or something along the lines don’t be on the offensive and try to bash them in return. Instead, pause and think about it for a moment. Think about what to say which will empower you in a better position to the offensive comment left behind. Another advice is, thank the person again and end it there.
6. Do NOT be afraid to apologize Many are afraid to apologize when they are in the wrong. It could be ego or it could be some other God given reason they are abusing. Instead of just being humble, try using an apology as your nuclear bomb as your nuclear bomb next time. After all, you know you can’t satisfy everyone in the world.
5. Do NOT be an elitist (or think like you’re the last person on Earth) As I have said, you are not the only person in the world. Although you may be in a cult who executes others who do not comply with your life principles, it does not mean they do not have a fair share of criticism. Don’t try turning them your way but educate them to understand your way.
4. No two individuals speak the same way Internet communication (without voice) is an easily misinterpreted medium. Even if I left “Ha ha ha…” some would mistake it as sarcasm while others would see it as a laugh. Therefore, do not assume everyone is criticizing the same thing in the same way.
3. If it is a lost cause, do NOT pursue the problem Generally, lost causes to me are scenarios where I have done my best to educate the person but they still refuse to be educated. Therefore, I would apologize and just say I will try to satisfy their requirements in the future. By claiming you have a solution planned, it will help you end the problem early without more emotional damage.
2. Do NOT judge a group you are asking for criticism A very good example is when a designer said, “…I’ve been doing html website since u guys start learning html…” Never ever ever generalize your critics as it will follow you till the end. In addition to that, you will only self-inflict emotional damage to yourself later. Instead of making such a remark, maturely handle the situation with one of the earlier tips I said.
Using an Agency to Design Your Website
Hiring an agency to create a custom web site design can be a huge benefit for your business. Most people will not return to your web site without having an agency designed web site. In order to achieve ideal results, it would work to your benefit to hire a web design agency because the best possible outcome for the company's profits will be produced.
In order to broaden the increasing amount of customers, web agency designs will benefit and increase the marketing horizons. On top of reaching more people, having a web design agency create your web site will give your business a more professional and credible reputation. First impressions are sometimes the only impressions so a web design agency will work to your benefit if you wish to compete with other companies with similarities and services.
If you want your web site to be more unique and creative it may be beneficial to have a custom web design as opposed to a business web design. Custom web designs will benefit your business and will stick out in the minds of the potential customers. You will be able to focus your web design on a clear objective.
There are numerous web design software programs that are on the market but none of them will produce a unique design because of the common templates used. A design agency will take your individual and professional preferences and show it on your web site. To get an edge in such a competitive business world, a web design agency is a must.
The agency will benefit your web site by allowing you to have a great deal of input and creativity to your design. This uniqueness will stand out to potential customers and give you an advantage over your competitors and benefit your bottom line.
In order to broaden the increasing amount of customers, web agency designs will benefit and increase the marketing horizons. On top of reaching more people, having a web design agency create your web site will give your business a more professional and credible reputation. First impressions are sometimes the only impressions so a web design agency will work to your benefit if you wish to compete with other companies with similarities and services.
If you want your web site to be more unique and creative it may be beneficial to have a custom web design as opposed to a business web design. Custom web designs will benefit your business and will stick out in the minds of the potential customers. You will be able to focus your web design on a clear objective.
There are numerous web design software programs that are on the market but none of them will produce a unique design because of the common templates used. A design agency will take your individual and professional preferences and show it on your web site. To get an edge in such a competitive business world, a web design agency is a must.
The agency will benefit your web site by allowing you to have a great deal of input and creativity to your design. This uniqueness will stand out to potential customers and give you an advantage over your competitors and benefit your bottom line.
The Benefit of Using Dreamweaver CS3 Templates
In the early days of the Internet, users were hot to design their own websites. While there are many methods of writing websites, the most ubiquitous was simply opening the notepad application and writing the website in pure HTML. While there were many programs that came along that made this HTML coding unnecessary, a lot of them were simply unusable or inefficient or otherwise had problems.
Many times, what appeared to be normal and working fine in the user's browser would begin acting up once it was published to the Internet. This detachment of HTML coding and actual content, in what is referred to as a WYSIWYG editor, led to problems later on, as users thinking that they had effectively built a perfect website found that once published to the web, the elements of their website would move around independently and break anchor text. This breakage of anchors and refusal to follow the rules of HTML was a necessary byproduct of the WYSIWYG HTML editors.
This lack of reliability among Web authoring software led to many problems, as users were either forced to use the HTML, a boring and trying experience at best, or they could continue to use the WYSIWYG editor, which was basically a luck of the draw situation, where users were hoping to get the best results and consistent use from a somewhat inferior product. The WYSIWYG editors never seemed to do their job exactly right, as there was always some element that would be in the wrong spot or willing simply pop out after extended use or extended viewings, without warning.
But eventually, a new product hit the market called Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver was able to do a great deal of things, and embraced the HTML right on the desktop, rather than hiding it all behind a WYSIWYG editor. For the first time, users could see the HTML right up close and see what effect it was having as they moved elements around in the WYSIWYG editor. It was a revolution in HTML editing software and users flocked to the software offering that would allow them to do so much with so little.
Using Dreamweaver CS3 templates, users can save a tremendous amount of time by simply whipping out their favorite template, choosing some colors and publishing. The elegant Dreamweaver CS3 templates include a version of a template for every possible combination of themes that any user could ask for. A wealth of these templates makes it a very simple task to publish a beautiful and stunning Web page in just a matter of minutes, with some help from the Dreamweaver templates and judicious editing.
Many times, what appeared to be normal and working fine in the user's browser would begin acting up once it was published to the Internet. This detachment of HTML coding and actual content, in what is referred to as a WYSIWYG editor, led to problems later on, as users thinking that they had effectively built a perfect website found that once published to the web, the elements of their website would move around independently and break anchor text. This breakage of anchors and refusal to follow the rules of HTML was a necessary byproduct of the WYSIWYG HTML editors.
This lack of reliability among Web authoring software led to many problems, as users were either forced to use the HTML, a boring and trying experience at best, or they could continue to use the WYSIWYG editor, which was basically a luck of the draw situation, where users were hoping to get the best results and consistent use from a somewhat inferior product. The WYSIWYG editors never seemed to do their job exactly right, as there was always some element that would be in the wrong spot or willing simply pop out after extended use or extended viewings, without warning.
But eventually, a new product hit the market called Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver was able to do a great deal of things, and embraced the HTML right on the desktop, rather than hiding it all behind a WYSIWYG editor. For the first time, users could see the HTML right up close and see what effect it was having as they moved elements around in the WYSIWYG editor. It was a revolution in HTML editing software and users flocked to the software offering that would allow them to do so much with so little.
Using Dreamweaver CS3 templates, users can save a tremendous amount of time by simply whipping out their favorite template, choosing some colors and publishing. The elegant Dreamweaver CS3 templates include a version of a template for every possible combination of themes that any user could ask for. A wealth of these templates makes it a very simple task to publish a beautiful and stunning Web page in just a matter of minutes, with some help from the Dreamweaver templates and judicious editing.
Find Out How To Make Your Own Website
Making your own website is easier nowadays than it ever has been.
You don't even need your own hosting space, although if you do go down that route it's cheap and gives you more control.
A lot of people nowadays want to make their own website so that they can publish their diary to the world, share their mood with their friends and let people add their own comments to the diary, blog or "space".
If you just want to use the internet to keep in touch with friends, this is ideal. All you need to do is sign up with a service like Blogger or FaceBook and you can make your own website in minutes.
Whilst you can use these kind of services for commercial purposes, it is often frowned upon, so you may decide to take your website design skills to the next level.
The next level up of website design uses custom-designed blog style services. These are tailor made for you to run loose with your creative juices whilst ensuring that the design doesn't look as though it's been done by a color blind five year old. Services like Squidoo allow you to create a web page quickly and easily. They are designed to be easy to update and are also designed to allow you to make money from your pages.
Finally, for less than $10 a month (plus around $10 a year for your domain name) you can host your own website. Again, these come with lots of tools that allow you to make your own website at the click of a button or by filling in a few boxes on a form. This solution is the most flexible and costs very little money for the extra flexibility you get.
You don't even need your own hosting space, although if you do go down that route it's cheap and gives you more control.
A lot of people nowadays want to make their own website so that they can publish their diary to the world, share their mood with their friends and let people add their own comments to the diary, blog or "space".
If you just want to use the internet to keep in touch with friends, this is ideal. All you need to do is sign up with a service like Blogger or FaceBook and you can make your own website in minutes.
Whilst you can use these kind of services for commercial purposes, it is often frowned upon, so you may decide to take your website design skills to the next level.
The next level up of website design uses custom-designed blog style services. These are tailor made for you to run loose with your creative juices whilst ensuring that the design doesn't look as though it's been done by a color blind five year old. Services like Squidoo allow you to create a web page quickly and easily. They are designed to be easy to update and are also designed to allow you to make money from your pages.
Finally, for less than $10 a month (plus around $10 a year for your domain name) you can host your own website. Again, these come with lots of tools that allow you to make your own website at the click of a button or by filling in a few boxes on a form. This solution is the most flexible and costs very little money for the extra flexibility you get.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Profitable Web Site Design - Advanced Ways to Make More Money With Web Site Design
Web site design is just growing bigger and more profitable by the second with the booming number of websites that are mushrooming on the web every single day; the web is growing larger and can accommodate everyone. Using your website to attract other opportunities is the crux of profitable web site design.
1. If you are a good graphics designer or know how to make website templates you can indeed make a profit selling graphics and templates. If you are interested in learning to create your own graphics and templates you can learn good graphic creation software like Photoshop for example.
2. You can also participate in affiliate programs. There are many sites who will give you a percentage of their profits if your site points to theirs and that helps them make a sale.
3. You can also design entire sites for people, including the graphics. For that all your need to know is basic HTML and if you wish to pursue this on a professional level you can also learn the workings of popular shopping cart software for people who have small businesses and need a good site designer.
4. If you have good, quality content on your website you can restrict access to a certain part of your site for which you can charge a membership fee. This is of course only after you have enjoyed a certain amount of success with your content that you can expect people to pay for your content.
5. You can also offer a pay-per-use service. Renting a service is equally popular as is selling one and you can have customers coming back or recommending others.
1. If you are a good graphics designer or know how to make website templates you can indeed make a profit selling graphics and templates. If you are interested in learning to create your own graphics and templates you can learn good graphic creation software like Photoshop for example.
2. You can also participate in affiliate programs. There are many sites who will give you a percentage of their profits if your site points to theirs and that helps them make a sale.
3. You can also design entire sites for people, including the graphics. For that all your need to know is basic HTML and if you wish to pursue this on a professional level you can also learn the workings of popular shopping cart software for people who have small businesses and need a good site designer.
4. If you have good, quality content on your website you can restrict access to a certain part of your site for which you can charge a membership fee. This is of course only after you have enjoyed a certain amount of success with your content that you can expect people to pay for your content.
5. You can also offer a pay-per-use service. Renting a service is equally popular as is selling one and you can have customers coming back or recommending others.
How To Make Your Website More Interactive
The best sites these days are the ones with the most interactive features. Taking cues from the larger sites, think of the interactive features that now bring in high numbers of customers. Using blogs, polls, forums, ratings, feedback, reviews, etc., a site can become more of a reflection of the people who use it, giving the users a reason to come back again and again to help shape the site.
Most of us have bought items from Amazon, that paragon of all affiliates. Think back to the first interactive features- the media reviews. Amazon lagged in the beginning, taking several years to even turn a profit. As they added more and more interactive features, the site became a community, and buyers stuck around both for content that they trusted and to leave content of their own. This includes not just the reviews, but now ranked review levels that reviewers try to attain. There are also now customer written lists of their favorite items, blogs, places for book authors to chime in about their books, interviews, and more. All of these features make the site feel less like a corporate sales machine and more like a hang out. Use a combination of features to achieve your own hang out status.
Polls are a good way to brig people in and keep them coming back. People love to vote for things, and you can bet they will come back to see how other people voted. Add to that a blog, comments that you can leave about the blog, and a place to talk to other users of the site, and you have an interactive meeting place, not just an ecommerce site.
Forums are one of the most popular parts of any interactive site. These can be very subject-focused forums that pertain only to the topic of the site, or anything-goes forums that allow users to talk about any topic they like. Many forums have a combination of both- places to discuss the products and keep people thinking about them, and places to discuss their private lives and meet up with friends. The most effective forums have both of these elements. When the readers are tired of talking about the given topic, they will still come back to ‘see’ people they know. This brings them back to your site again and again, creating the best environment for repeat sales.
One feature that has begun to be used more often is to give a rank to users based on their usage of the interactive features. Think of Amazon’s reviewer program, giving a special icon to their top reviewers. Many people strive to review as many items as they can in order to get those coveted titles, which cost nothing and don’t give them any special privileges. This type of program can actually be harnessed to greater benefit for larger sites. Yahoo now has an area where users can answer the questions of other users. Answering questions get the user points. Other users rate both the questions and answers, and getting good rating for your answers get the user more points. The points don’t mean a thing, but everyone seems to want them. There are likely much fewer questions being routed through the customer service channels now that the site’s users are willing to answer them in exchange for points. It also brings back customers in order to see how their answers and points are faring.
Taking a lesson from this model, think of ways to assign points or rankings to users of your site, and they will be back to improve those rankings. The rankings can be as simple as an icon, a number, or a special title. Giving the site’s users something, even a silly title, will show them that you appreciate them being and want them to keep coming back.
Most of us have bought items from Amazon, that paragon of all affiliates. Think back to the first interactive features- the media reviews. Amazon lagged in the beginning, taking several years to even turn a profit. As they added more and more interactive features, the site became a community, and buyers stuck around both for content that they trusted and to leave content of their own. This includes not just the reviews, but now ranked review levels that reviewers try to attain. There are also now customer written lists of their favorite items, blogs, places for book authors to chime in about their books, interviews, and more. All of these features make the site feel less like a corporate sales machine and more like a hang out. Use a combination of features to achieve your own hang out status.
Polls are a good way to brig people in and keep them coming back. People love to vote for things, and you can bet they will come back to see how other people voted. Add to that a blog, comments that you can leave about the blog, and a place to talk to other users of the site, and you have an interactive meeting place, not just an ecommerce site.
Forums are one of the most popular parts of any interactive site. These can be very subject-focused forums that pertain only to the topic of the site, or anything-goes forums that allow users to talk about any topic they like. Many forums have a combination of both- places to discuss the products and keep people thinking about them, and places to discuss their private lives and meet up with friends. The most effective forums have both of these elements. When the readers are tired of talking about the given topic, they will still come back to ‘see’ people they know. This brings them back to your site again and again, creating the best environment for repeat sales.
One feature that has begun to be used more often is to give a rank to users based on their usage of the interactive features. Think of Amazon’s reviewer program, giving a special icon to their top reviewers. Many people strive to review as many items as they can in order to get those coveted titles, which cost nothing and don’t give them any special privileges. This type of program can actually be harnessed to greater benefit for larger sites. Yahoo now has an area where users can answer the questions of other users. Answering questions get the user points. Other users rate both the questions and answers, and getting good rating for your answers get the user more points. The points don’t mean a thing, but everyone seems to want them. There are likely much fewer questions being routed through the customer service channels now that the site’s users are willing to answer them in exchange for points. It also brings back customers in order to see how their answers and points are faring.
Taking a lesson from this model, think of ways to assign points or rankings to users of your site, and they will be back to improve those rankings. The rankings can be as simple as an icon, a number, or a special title. Giving the site’s users something, even a silly title, will show them that you appreciate them being and want them to keep coming back.
The Best Page Layout and Design for Content Websites
I was chatting to a veteran print publisher, who had been producing magazines for over thirty years.
He shook his head in despair, as he told me that every year he sees new magazines hit the newsstands with the publications' titles placed vertically on the magazine cover.
"Whenever I see this," he said, "I know it has been produced by a new publishing company that does not understand the industry. Anyone with any experience of periodical publishing knows that publications with vertical titles fail, or at least have to change quickly to survive. The market has taught us this lesson hundreds, if not thousands of times, but still people make the same mistake."
This message is just as relevant to website layout as it is to magazine design. The web has been around for long enough that rules and best practise have emerged from years of trial error by thousands of website owners. You can either go with the flow and be grateful that you can learn from the experience of others, or you can swim against the tide and try to convince the market that you are right and they are wrong.
I would suggest that swimming downstream is far easier and will give you a much greater chance of success.
To understand which layouts work you only need to look at the industry gorillas. These are the online content publishers who have been around for years, and who have tested just about every layout combination. You will quickly start to recognise elements of the page layouts which are common across all these sites. Just as with print newspapers and magazines, these are the layouts that have proven to sit most comfortably with the reader and with the way online users want to consume content.
The key design and layout elements which should remain constant are: Masthead across the top – the masthead is where the logo goes and usually imagery that supports the subject matter on the website.
Left hand column should contain all the primary navigation, which should remain constant across the whole website. It should list all the main categories of the website, so users can find their way around from every page.
Right hand column on the homepage should provide navigation to individual pages in the site which you want to highlight. Or it can be used for small applications, such as email newsletter sign-up, scrolling news headlines, links to the forum, etc. This column tends to disappear on the content pages to leave more space for the article and images.
Top menu bar – some sites have most of their navigation in the top menu bar which goes across the page under the masthead (take a look at www.guardian.co.uk or www.forbes.com as examples). I don't like this for two reasons. First it restricts the number of menu links that you can have. Second it usually means that the site has flash based drop down menus to enable them to accommodate more links. Flash menus are not user friendly. They force your reader to search for links to the content they are looking for. Don't make your user work for their answers. Also search engines find it harder to index sites with flash menus
Bottom menu bar – This strip at the foot of every page tends to contain links to the sites terms and conditions, privacy statement, sitemap, etc.
The central column contains the content. On the homepage this can be a combination of an introduction to the website and teasers to articles. On the content pages, the articles and images sit in the central column.
Search top right on every page – this is the search box used to search the content of the website. This is a less rigid placement than it used to be, but you can't go wrong if you place it top right.
Time and date – usually placed on the right hand side under the masthead. This is optional, but does give readers the impression that the site is up-to-date.
Within this layout there is a great deal of flexibility to add your own personality and styles, particularly when you overlay your design on the basic page structure. However, at all times your number one goal should be constant; that is to make your website simple and intuitive, for every reader that visits. To achieve this learn from those sites that have a lot of experience.
He shook his head in despair, as he told me that every year he sees new magazines hit the newsstands with the publications' titles placed vertically on the magazine cover.
"Whenever I see this," he said, "I know it has been produced by a new publishing company that does not understand the industry. Anyone with any experience of periodical publishing knows that publications with vertical titles fail, or at least have to change quickly to survive. The market has taught us this lesson hundreds, if not thousands of times, but still people make the same mistake."
This message is just as relevant to website layout as it is to magazine design. The web has been around for long enough that rules and best practise have emerged from years of trial error by thousands of website owners. You can either go with the flow and be grateful that you can learn from the experience of others, or you can swim against the tide and try to convince the market that you are right and they are wrong.
I would suggest that swimming downstream is far easier and will give you a much greater chance of success.
To understand which layouts work you only need to look at the industry gorillas. These are the online content publishers who have been around for years, and who have tested just about every layout combination. You will quickly start to recognise elements of the page layouts which are common across all these sites. Just as with print newspapers and magazines, these are the layouts that have proven to sit most comfortably with the reader and with the way online users want to consume content.
The key design and layout elements which should remain constant are: Masthead across the top – the masthead is where the logo goes and usually imagery that supports the subject matter on the website.
Left hand column should contain all the primary navigation, which should remain constant across the whole website. It should list all the main categories of the website, so users can find their way around from every page.
Right hand column on the homepage should provide navigation to individual pages in the site which you want to highlight. Or it can be used for small applications, such as email newsletter sign-up, scrolling news headlines, links to the forum, etc. This column tends to disappear on the content pages to leave more space for the article and images.
Top menu bar – some sites have most of their navigation in the top menu bar which goes across the page under the masthead (take a look at www.guardian.co.uk or www.forbes.com as examples). I don't like this for two reasons. First it restricts the number of menu links that you can have. Second it usually means that the site has flash based drop down menus to enable them to accommodate more links. Flash menus are not user friendly. They force your reader to search for links to the content they are looking for. Don't make your user work for their answers. Also search engines find it harder to index sites with flash menus
Bottom menu bar – This strip at the foot of every page tends to contain links to the sites terms and conditions, privacy statement, sitemap, etc.
The central column contains the content. On the homepage this can be a combination of an introduction to the website and teasers to articles. On the content pages, the articles and images sit in the central column.
Search top right on every page – this is the search box used to search the content of the website. This is a less rigid placement than it used to be, but you can't go wrong if you place it top right.
Time and date – usually placed on the right hand side under the masthead. This is optional, but does give readers the impression that the site is up-to-date.
Within this layout there is a great deal of flexibility to add your own personality and styles, particularly when you overlay your design on the basic page structure. However, at all times your number one goal should be constant; that is to make your website simple and intuitive, for every reader that visits. To achieve this learn from those sites that have a lot of experience.
All About Myspace Graphics
A myspace account is somewhere that you can sign into, on your own name and just do what you want to do. You can customize your account to describe your personality or you can just have certain backgrounds because you admire it. You can have backgrounds of your favorite movie, actor or actress, cars, animated characters, anime, sports, etc. There are many different kinds to choose from. You can also have top flash toys like a crystal ball, fancycube, fortune cookies, roses, angels and more. It’s better to have your myspace account bright and colorful than having it plain and boring; it really does tell a lot about you.
Myspace graphics are also a part of the decoration to your account. The graphics are in headings of cartoons, comments, dividers, blinkies, glitter, dolls, kisses and hearts. The cartoons are colorful characters like Winnie the pooh, tiger, ninja turtles, south park, pink panther and more. The comments are sayings in pictures or air bubbles and things like that. The glitter dividers are different patterns of different colors. The dolls are character images of different animated girls and you can choose the one that best describes you. The glitter graphics are really pretty; it is cute moving pictures with a shiny glitter effect. The hearts and kisses also have the shiny glitter effect and look just as awesome. They are in different colors and sizes.
All of these graphics are great for your myspace account and you can tell someone so much without having to say a word. Sending them pictures will tell them exactly what they need to know. Everything you can customize on the account has got to do with you; so people know what kind of a person you are before you even meet them properly! It is a great way to communicate with your friends and an even better way to make new friends.
Myspace graphics are also a part of the decoration to your account. The graphics are in headings of cartoons, comments, dividers, blinkies, glitter, dolls, kisses and hearts. The cartoons are colorful characters like Winnie the pooh, tiger, ninja turtles, south park, pink panther and more. The comments are sayings in pictures or air bubbles and things like that. The glitter dividers are different patterns of different colors. The dolls are character images of different animated girls and you can choose the one that best describes you. The glitter graphics are really pretty; it is cute moving pictures with a shiny glitter effect. The hearts and kisses also have the shiny glitter effect and look just as awesome. They are in different colors and sizes.
All of these graphics are great for your myspace account and you can tell someone so much without having to say a word. Sending them pictures will tell them exactly what they need to know. Everything you can customize on the account has got to do with you; so people know what kind of a person you are before you even meet them properly! It is a great way to communicate with your friends and an even better way to make new friends.
Choosing A Great Myspace Layout
If you have created a myspace account, you will know how awesome it is, there is so much you can do with it. Myspace is for adults as well as teenagers, you can do what you want with it, express yourself, be free and creative. There are also many websites that allow you to create a myspace account and you will not have to pay a cent. It is so easy, all you need to do is sign up and fill out a quick form; if you wish to add a photo of yourself you may do so if you have one on your computer or you could do it at a later stage. Once that is done you can send an email to all your friends telling them how to sign up, or if they already have an account you can add them to your friends list.
When that is all sorted you can customize your profile to make it suit you. First you can decorate it with a background. There are hundreds of different backgrounds to choose from that go under the headings of: girly layouts, cute layouts, retro layouts, and new layouts which are all different ones like colors and pictures. If you do not find a layout there that you like you can choose from a different list, this list includes, celebrity layouts, anime layouts, sexy layouts, movie layouts, pink layouts, music layouts, playboy layouts and much, much more. You are guaranteed to find one that you absolutely adore. Once you get bored of that layout, you could always change it to another one that you like.
So now you can be creative and only the people you want to see your myspace account will be able to see it. Millions of people use myspace all over the world.
When that is all sorted you can customize your profile to make it suit you. First you can decorate it with a background. There are hundreds of different backgrounds to choose from that go under the headings of: girly layouts, cute layouts, retro layouts, and new layouts which are all different ones like colors and pictures. If you do not find a layout there that you like you can choose from a different list, this list includes, celebrity layouts, anime layouts, sexy layouts, movie layouts, pink layouts, music layouts, playboy layouts and much, much more. You are guaranteed to find one that you absolutely adore. Once you get bored of that layout, you could always change it to another one that you like.
So now you can be creative and only the people you want to see your myspace account will be able to see it. Millions of people use myspace all over the world.
Myspace Layouts To Decorate the Profile
There are many different things you can do to make your myspace account look good. But the best and most efficient way to describe your personality or your favorite thing is by choosing a myspace layout. The layouts are used to decorate your page, it’s like a background and there are different ones to choose from. Some of them going under the headings of cars, anime, sport, celebrities, comics, movies, models, and just about what ever else you can think of. If you choose a celebrity layout, you will have your favorite celeb on your page. Comics will give you Spiderman, superman, batman etc. You can have a picture from your favorite movie, actor or actress. Also have your favorite anime character as your layout. By choosing a layout instead of having your page blank, you will give others an idea of what sort of things you like and what kind of personality you have.
To have a myspace account is great; it lets you do so many things and allows you to chat to your friends. You can also look at other people’s profiles if they will allow it and maybe you can make new friends. Myspace lets you talk and express your feelings as you want to, you can let out your creative side too. Remember that if you decide two create a myspace accounts, it’s always nice to have a picture of yourself in the space that’s allocated. When you meet new people you’d also like to see who you are talking to!
Many people around the world have a myspace account. It is so easy to get one, all you have to do is log on to the internet, type it in the search engine and sign up for a myspace account. Once you have signed up you will be able to customize it to the way you want it.
To have a myspace account is great; it lets you do so many things and allows you to chat to your friends. You can also look at other people’s profiles if they will allow it and maybe you can make new friends. Myspace lets you talk and express your feelings as you want to, you can let out your creative side too. Remember that if you decide two create a myspace accounts, it’s always nice to have a picture of yourself in the space that’s allocated. When you meet new people you’d also like to see who you are talking to!
Many people around the world have a myspace account. It is so easy to get one, all you have to do is log on to the internet, type it in the search engine and sign up for a myspace account. Once you have signed up you will be able to customize it to the way you want it.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Pros and Cons of Flash-Based Sites
Flash-based sites have been a craze since the past few years, and as Macromedia compiles more and more great features into Flash, we can only predict there will be more and more flash sites around the Internet. However, Flash based sites have been disputed to be bloated and unnecessary. Where exactly do we draw the line? Here's a simple breakdown.
The good:
Interactivity
Flash's Action script opens up a vast field of possibilities. Programmers and designers have used Flash to create interactive features ranging from very lively feedback forms to attractive Flash-based games. This whole new level of interactivity will always leave visitors coming back for more.
A standardized site
With Flash, you do not have to worry about cross-browser compatibility. No more woes over how a certain css code displays differently in Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera. When you position your site elements in Flash, they will always appear as they are as long as the user has Flash Player installed.
Better expression through animation
In Flash, one can make use of its animating features to convey a message in a much more efficient and effective way. Flash is a lightweight option for animation because it is vector based (and hence smaller file sizes) as opposed to real "movie files" that are raster based and hence much larger in size.
The bad and the ugly:
The Flash player
People have to download the Flash player in advance before they can view Flash movies, so by using Flash your visitor range will decrease considerably because not everyone will be willing to download the Flash player just to view your site. You'll also have to put in additional work in redirecting the user to the Flash download page if he or she doesn't have the player installed.
Site optimization
If your content was presented in Flash, most search engines wouldn't be able to index your content. Hence, you will not be able to rank well in search engines and there will be less traffic heading to your site.
Loading time
Users have to wait longer than usual to load Flash content compared to regular text and images, and some visitors might just lose their patience and click the Back button. The longer your Flash takes to load, the more you risk losing visitors.
The best way to go is to use Flash only when you absolutely need the interactivity and motion that comes with it. Otherwise, use a mixture of Flash and HTML or use pure text if your site is purely to present simple textual and graphical information.
The good:
Interactivity
Flash's Action script opens up a vast field of possibilities. Programmers and designers have used Flash to create interactive features ranging from very lively feedback forms to attractive Flash-based games. This whole new level of interactivity will always leave visitors coming back for more.
A standardized site
With Flash, you do not have to worry about cross-browser compatibility. No more woes over how a certain css code displays differently in Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera. When you position your site elements in Flash, they will always appear as they are as long as the user has Flash Player installed.
Better expression through animation
In Flash, one can make use of its animating features to convey a message in a much more efficient and effective way. Flash is a lightweight option for animation because it is vector based (and hence smaller file sizes) as opposed to real "movie files" that are raster based and hence much larger in size.
The bad and the ugly:
The Flash player
People have to download the Flash player in advance before they can view Flash movies, so by using Flash your visitor range will decrease considerably because not everyone will be willing to download the Flash player just to view your site. You'll also have to put in additional work in redirecting the user to the Flash download page if he or she doesn't have the player installed.
Site optimization
If your content was presented in Flash, most search engines wouldn't be able to index your content. Hence, you will not be able to rank well in search engines and there will be less traffic heading to your site.
Loading time
Users have to wait longer than usual to load Flash content compared to regular text and images, and some visitors might just lose their patience and click the Back button. The longer your Flash takes to load, the more you risk losing visitors.
The best way to go is to use Flash only when you absolutely need the interactivity and motion that comes with it. Otherwise, use a mixture of Flash and HTML or use pure text if your site is purely to present simple textual and graphical information.
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) for the Layman
HTML is the language that deals with the layout of websites. It tells what goes where and how it works. In the past at the birth of the internet and HTML, HTML also detailed the design or the look and feel of websites. However, this trait has become depreciated with the advent of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Furthermore, with the advances of technology and programming your old five page website of pure information about a business is going the way of VHS with more and more companies--and customers as well--demanding highly interactive and informational websites. Most server-script languages support the use of HTML internally and many websites you may visit have the suffix ".asp" or ".php" for its respective server-script. That doesn't mean you'll never see the classic ".html" again any time soon. The demise of HTML is way off and even when it gets fully out-moded it will still remain present in modern server scripting languages in the sense that server script deals with information control but HTML will still be required as part of the information network.
HTML and other web related languages are governed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) which governs all such languages in the same manner the World Trade Organization governs international tariffs. There is a standard of code which all HTML documents must reference and adhere to and furthermore the web browsers themselves must abide by. If it weren't for this level of organization, there would be chaos in internet technology. Further, it sets precedent and grapples with the ever changing web design market with the advent of technologies like CSS.
The W3C requires two parts to your HTML document, the doctype declaration and the primary structure. There are four HTML tags which comprise the primary HTML structure and must be present within your HTML document in addition to the doctype declaration. An HTML tag is any command which consists of a word enclosed in ‹›. The four primary tags are the HTML tag, which is the lettering HTML within two ‹› typed ‹HTML›, the HEAD tag, typed ‹HEAD›, the TITLE tag, and the BODY tag all with appropriate closing tags. All html tags are started as ‹TAG› and end as ‹/TAG›. They are called opening and closing tags respectively. You may recognize these from my main pages down the left side and my various links disguised as these tags. If you look back, that is the basic primary structure of a website.
You could think of all HTML tags as a sandwich. You have your first slice ‹HTML›, some information, then your second slice of bread ‹/HTML›. Furthermore, the overall structure of the website is similar. You have ‹HTML›, ‹HEAD›, ‹TITLE›, the title of your site, ‹/TITLE›, ‹/HEAD›, ‹BODY›, the layout and other info of your website, ‹/BODY›, ‹/HTML›. That may look something like the following in a real HTML document:
‹HTML› ‹HEAD› ‹TITLE›AAF Consulting, Web Design‹/TITLE› ‹/HEAD›
‹BODY› Welcome to My Website! ‹/BODY› ‹/HTML›
The doctype declaration tells the web browser which version of HTML you are using and which level of strictness and/or type. There is 1.0 and 2.0 as well as XHTML. Also, each of those has the Strict type, Transitional type, and the Frameset type. The doctype declaration must be the first thing in your HTML document, even before the opening HTML tag. For a list of these doctype declarations, visit he W3C Website and lookup doctype declarations.
If you forget to include a doctype declaration or are not sure what to do with it when you get one, its okay. Most web browsers default to HTML 2.0 Transitional and your website will display fine anyways. However, keep in mind that you may upset your next web designer because this will cause extra work for the designer and increase your final invoice.
If you don't think you're quite ready to hand code HTML on your own, that's perfectly fine. There's a lot more to it than simply laying out the primary structure. There are many simple to use resources out there at your disposal. The easiest but most expensive is to contact your Web Designer or Web Master. However, you may purchase software to aid in your creation. Some of these programs are well designed and you don't ever look at code, only your design, such as Microsoft FrontPage. Others are meant more for the professional web designer such as Macromedia Dreamweaver. Also, if you are using a webhost such as Yahoo! or GooglePages--Google's GooglePages is still in beta--it has free tools for your web design and provides free webhosting.
HTML and other web related languages are governed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) which governs all such languages in the same manner the World Trade Organization governs international tariffs. There is a standard of code which all HTML documents must reference and adhere to and furthermore the web browsers themselves must abide by. If it weren't for this level of organization, there would be chaos in internet technology. Further, it sets precedent and grapples with the ever changing web design market with the advent of technologies like CSS.
The W3C requires two parts to your HTML document, the doctype declaration and the primary structure. There are four HTML tags which comprise the primary HTML structure and must be present within your HTML document in addition to the doctype declaration. An HTML tag is any command which consists of a word enclosed in ‹›. The four primary tags are the HTML tag, which is the lettering HTML within two ‹› typed ‹HTML›, the HEAD tag, typed ‹HEAD›, the TITLE tag, and the BODY tag all with appropriate closing tags. All html tags are started as ‹TAG› and end as ‹/TAG›. They are called opening and closing tags respectively. You may recognize these from my main pages down the left side and my various links disguised as these tags. If you look back, that is the basic primary structure of a website.
You could think of all HTML tags as a sandwich. You have your first slice ‹HTML›, some information, then your second slice of bread ‹/HTML›. Furthermore, the overall structure of the website is similar. You have ‹HTML›, ‹HEAD›, ‹TITLE›, the title of your site, ‹/TITLE›, ‹/HEAD›, ‹BODY›, the layout and other info of your website, ‹/BODY›, ‹/HTML›. That may look something like the following in a real HTML document:
‹HTML› ‹HEAD› ‹TITLE›AAF Consulting, Web Design‹/TITLE› ‹/HEAD›
‹BODY› Welcome to My Website! ‹/BODY› ‹/HTML›
The doctype declaration tells the web browser which version of HTML you are using and which level of strictness and/or type. There is 1.0 and 2.0 as well as XHTML. Also, each of those has the Strict type, Transitional type, and the Frameset type. The doctype declaration must be the first thing in your HTML document, even before the opening HTML tag. For a list of these doctype declarations, visit he W3C Website and lookup doctype declarations.
If you forget to include a doctype declaration or are not sure what to do with it when you get one, its okay. Most web browsers default to HTML 2.0 Transitional and your website will display fine anyways. However, keep in mind that you may upset your next web designer because this will cause extra work for the designer and increase your final invoice.
If you don't think you're quite ready to hand code HTML on your own, that's perfectly fine. There's a lot more to it than simply laying out the primary structure. There are many simple to use resources out there at your disposal. The easiest but most expensive is to contact your Web Designer or Web Master. However, you may purchase software to aid in your creation. Some of these programs are well designed and you don't ever look at code, only your design, such as Microsoft FrontPage. Others are meant more for the professional web designer such as Macromedia Dreamweaver. Also, if you are using a webhost such as Yahoo! or GooglePages--Google's GooglePages is still in beta--it has free tools for your web design and provides free webhosting.
Cascading Stylesheets (CSS) for the Layman
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are another way for web designers to tell the web browser how the website should look. HTML does this already but CSS has greater advantages.
With HTMl you would normally describe a paragraph with the ‹font› tag followed by the specifiers such as color, size, face, et ct. If you wanted other changes to the font, they aren't logically a font tag specifier. They would have their own tag such as ‹b› for bold or ‹i› for italics.
CSS defeats the poor logic behind the original design of the people who created HTML. In CSS you could describe font for a paragraph by using something like the following:
p{ color:black; text-align:center; font-size:large; font-family:arial; font-weight:bold; }
As you can see, we defined the paragraph tag with the "p" before the "{," described what the text should look like then how the font should be manipulated and closed everything with "}." This is more logical being that the look of the writing was described by "text" specifiers--text being defined as the written word and therefore its look--and the typesetting and size manipulated by "font" specifiers--font being defined as a complete set of type of one size and face.
Now let's dissect the above. To start a CSS entry, we must tell the web browser what we are defining. This would normally be an HTML tag. The one above defines the paragraph tag "p" but you could also do the span tag "span" or any table tag such as "td." After telling what we are defining, we must open the script dialog. We do this by putting "{." We may then enter our definitions.
HTML is very limited in definitions. One may only specify bold, size, and color. With CSS we may define not just bold but how bold. We may define not just size in terms of pitch but also, percentages, pixels, width, height, et ct. We may also define the what the text does such as letter spacing or even blinking.
Type all the specifiers you'd like in the form shown above. Name of the specifier and the specification separated by a colon then ended with a semicolon. Each entry should be on a separate line and all closed off with a "}." For a list of available CSS specifiers please visit W3School's CSS Reference Page
Sometimes one could not just define HTML tags but can set up generic descriptions. For example you want all font to be a certain size and color but you want headers to have a different color and to be bold. You would do this by the use of "selectors." You would define one as follows:
.header{ font-size:larger; font-weight:bolder; }
Note specifically that there is a period in front of a word. The word is clearly not a tag. You may use any word you wish. The period tells the browser to look for HTML tags with the word embedded inside the "class" specifier. When it finds the word it uses that design instead of the default.
Besides advanced design capability, there are other practical purposes for CSS. When you write HTML it will take up space. Of course web page will have a file size, right? Well, as people look at your site they download the information and it takes up "bandwidth" and certain webhosts may limit this. Not only that but even if you host your site with your own server then you would worry about bandwidth because it increases employment expenses as well as many other problems. CSS helps because it reduces the many HTML tags defining the same basic design into just defined once. Also, because of that it reduces the many web pages file size saving bandwidth. On top of that, web visitors can download the CSS file once to view all pages. Lastly, the separate CSS file can be set to define all web pages on your site. That means you make one change on a single document and your whole web site will look different. Now that's fantastic!
To recap, with CSS one can describe how many things should look. HTML can only describe one thing at a time. CSS can be embedded anywhere inside a webpage. HTML must be embedded right next to what it describes. CSS can not only describe many things but on many number of pages; HTML cannot. You could create a single document with the extension ".css" which will control all your web pages on your site; HTML cannot. If you need to make changes to your site, it will only take one change with CSS in one place but many on all pages with HTML.
With HTMl you would normally describe a paragraph with the ‹font› tag followed by the specifiers such as color, size, face, et ct. If you wanted other changes to the font, they aren't logically a font tag specifier. They would have their own tag such as ‹b› for bold or ‹i› for italics.
CSS defeats the poor logic behind the original design of the people who created HTML. In CSS you could describe font for a paragraph by using something like the following:
p{ color:black; text-align:center; font-size:large; font-family:arial; font-weight:bold; }
As you can see, we defined the paragraph tag with the "p" before the "{," described what the text should look like then how the font should be manipulated and closed everything with "}." This is more logical being that the look of the writing was described by "text" specifiers--text being defined as the written word and therefore its look--and the typesetting and size manipulated by "font" specifiers--font being defined as a complete set of type of one size and face.
Now let's dissect the above. To start a CSS entry, we must tell the web browser what we are defining. This would normally be an HTML tag. The one above defines the paragraph tag "p" but you could also do the span tag "span" or any table tag such as "td." After telling what we are defining, we must open the script dialog. We do this by putting "{." We may then enter our definitions.
HTML is very limited in definitions. One may only specify bold, size, and color. With CSS we may define not just bold but how bold. We may define not just size in terms of pitch but also, percentages, pixels, width, height, et ct. We may also define the what the text does such as letter spacing or even blinking.
Type all the specifiers you'd like in the form shown above. Name of the specifier and the specification separated by a colon then ended with a semicolon. Each entry should be on a separate line and all closed off with a "}." For a list of available CSS specifiers please visit W3School's CSS Reference Page
Sometimes one could not just define HTML tags but can set up generic descriptions. For example you want all font to be a certain size and color but you want headers to have a different color and to be bold. You would do this by the use of "selectors." You would define one as follows:
.header{ font-size:larger; font-weight:bolder; }
Note specifically that there is a period in front of a word. The word is clearly not a tag. You may use any word you wish. The period tells the browser to look for HTML tags with the word embedded inside the "class" specifier. When it finds the word it uses that design instead of the default.
Besides advanced design capability, there are other practical purposes for CSS. When you write HTML it will take up space. Of course web page will have a file size, right? Well, as people look at your site they download the information and it takes up "bandwidth" and certain webhosts may limit this. Not only that but even if you host your site with your own server then you would worry about bandwidth because it increases employment expenses as well as many other problems. CSS helps because it reduces the many HTML tags defining the same basic design into just defined once. Also, because of that it reduces the many web pages file size saving bandwidth. On top of that, web visitors can download the CSS file once to view all pages. Lastly, the separate CSS file can be set to define all web pages on your site. That means you make one change on a single document and your whole web site will look different. Now that's fantastic!
To recap, with CSS one can describe how many things should look. HTML can only describe one thing at a time. CSS can be embedded anywhere inside a webpage. HTML must be embedded right next to what it describes. CSS can not only describe many things but on many number of pages; HTML cannot. You could create a single document with the extension ".css" which will control all your web pages on your site; HTML cannot. If you need to make changes to your site, it will only take one change with CSS in one place but many on all pages with HTML.
Rich Fonts In Your Web Sites
Font selection is perhaps on of the biggest deciding factors in the success of any given design. Using CSS we have the ability to modify existing fonts significantly. Unfortunately, we're still limited to a small number of browser safe fonts.
The sIFR typography module uses flash actionscripts and javascript to replace existing fonts with rich typography. It's an incredibly powerful tool. The module is free and available under a general public liscense.
How does it work?
sIFR downloads flash .swf files containing a custom font that is then held in the browser cache. This means you can effectively patch your user's browser with a new font that doesn't exist in their computer's font library. Crucially sIFR can handle dynamic content since the .swf is a font library, rather than a simple static flash movie.
Degradation/Compatibility
sIFR degrades gracefully into default CSS fonts for those users who have their Javascript of flash disabled. It's also fully accessible to screenreaders and other assistive technologies. Matt May from the W3C has fully endorsed it as an accessible method to create rich typography on the web.
In terms of compatibility, sIFR works on Firfox, IE5+, Opera 7+, Safari and many other browsers. 90% of machines are said to be compatible. On non-compatible machines the module simply does not take effect.
Limitations
I've found there to be some minor speed issues. It's generally advisable only to use the module on small headlines etc rather than whole paragraphs. Loading speeds are excellent though if used properly, and are invisible to the user.
Overall impression
I love this module. I'll be using it in many of my future websites. This tool can make your websites stand out from the crowd by displaying fresh looking typography. It's important though to remember that small proportion of people who can't run the module, and make sure that the default CSS styles are also up to today's high standards.
I think that sIFR is an excellent stop-gap measure. It's badly needed as designer’s grapple with current font limitations. In the long-term however, browsers will have to find a way to support rich typography ranges.
The sIFR typography module uses flash actionscripts and javascript to replace existing fonts with rich typography. It's an incredibly powerful tool. The module is free and available under a general public liscense.
How does it work?
sIFR downloads flash .swf files containing a custom font that is then held in the browser cache. This means you can effectively patch your user's browser with a new font that doesn't exist in their computer's font library. Crucially sIFR can handle dynamic content since the .swf is a font library, rather than a simple static flash movie.
Degradation/Compatibility
sIFR degrades gracefully into default CSS fonts for those users who have their Javascript of flash disabled. It's also fully accessible to screenreaders and other assistive technologies. Matt May from the W3C has fully endorsed it as an accessible method to create rich typography on the web.
In terms of compatibility, sIFR works on Firfox, IE5+, Opera 7+, Safari and many other browsers. 90% of machines are said to be compatible. On non-compatible machines the module simply does not take effect.
Limitations
I've found there to be some minor speed issues. It's generally advisable only to use the module on small headlines etc rather than whole paragraphs. Loading speeds are excellent though if used properly, and are invisible to the user.
Overall impression
I love this module. I'll be using it in many of my future websites. This tool can make your websites stand out from the crowd by displaying fresh looking typography. It's important though to remember that small proportion of people who can't run the module, and make sure that the default CSS styles are also up to today's high standards.
I think that sIFR is an excellent stop-gap measure. It's badly needed as designer’s grapple with current font limitations. In the long-term however, browsers will have to find a way to support rich typography ranges.
Domain Registration and Web Hosting
The costs associated with these have considerably come down. Gone are the days when one needed to spend hundreds of dollars on internet domain registration and domain hosting. Under certain circumstances, one can have these even free now. In any case, even if one is paying for the same, these are very cheap.
Any website has to have a name. For this, one has to register a domain name. After registering, one needs to host a website. The question arises whether both of them should be with the same company or they should be at two different places.
For many people including me, cost is one of the main considerations, given least differences in quality. Every dollar saved is a dollar earned. If one can get some savings by aligning with two companies, then one should register with two. Of course one has to be prepared for a bit of inconvenience by keeping two accounts at two places.
For example, in my case, my website name is registered with one company and hosted with another. By doing this, I have been able to make some savings. Of course, different people have different reasons when dealing with companies. Reliability and up time availability are two main factors to be considered.
As time goes by, domain names and web hosting are going to be even further cheaper. One marked tendency amongst companies is to allow unlimited hosting packages with one account. For example, with one hosting account, one is allowed to host an unlimited number of websites.
One more trend witnessed is that of lifelong hosting. Some companies have come up with this idea with a one time fee and with all the features.
With a plethora of domain name and hosting companies coming up, competition is intensifying every day. The result has been a downward pressure on domain registration and web hosting fees.
However, while selecting, one should pay special attention to the different features that each company offers. Where the intention is hosting of a simple website, one need not to bother much about too many features. Price appears to be the leading factor in this scenario.
If the intention is to host a website with all the whistles, then one has to give attention to the various features that a company provides as a package. Price may not be the only consideration in that case.
If one wants to build a number of websites in future, one may go for a package which allows unlimited hosting of websites in one price. This is suitable for those who want to make most of their internet earnings from Adsense. There are people who have dozens and even hundreds of Adsense websites hosted. Anyone can do that.
Another facility closely associated with the above is the availability of a website builder. One should have one of one’s own. One should not use website builder software of the hosting company, as one will get stuck with that particular company. Fortunately we have a free website builder available.
Any website has to have a name. For this, one has to register a domain name. After registering, one needs to host a website. The question arises whether both of them should be with the same company or they should be at two different places.
For many people including me, cost is one of the main considerations, given least differences in quality. Every dollar saved is a dollar earned. If one can get some savings by aligning with two companies, then one should register with two. Of course one has to be prepared for a bit of inconvenience by keeping two accounts at two places.
For example, in my case, my website name is registered with one company and hosted with another. By doing this, I have been able to make some savings. Of course, different people have different reasons when dealing with companies. Reliability and up time availability are two main factors to be considered.
As time goes by, domain names and web hosting are going to be even further cheaper. One marked tendency amongst companies is to allow unlimited hosting packages with one account. For example, with one hosting account, one is allowed to host an unlimited number of websites.
One more trend witnessed is that of lifelong hosting. Some companies have come up with this idea with a one time fee and with all the features.
With a plethora of domain name and hosting companies coming up, competition is intensifying every day. The result has been a downward pressure on domain registration and web hosting fees.
However, while selecting, one should pay special attention to the different features that each company offers. Where the intention is hosting of a simple website, one need not to bother much about too many features. Price appears to be the leading factor in this scenario.
If the intention is to host a website with all the whistles, then one has to give attention to the various features that a company provides as a package. Price may not be the only consideration in that case.
If one wants to build a number of websites in future, one may go for a package which allows unlimited hosting of websites in one price. This is suitable for those who want to make most of their internet earnings from Adsense. There are people who have dozens and even hundreds of Adsense websites hosted. Anyone can do that.
Another facility closely associated with the above is the availability of a website builder. One should have one of one’s own. One should not use website builder software of the hosting company, as one will get stuck with that particular company. Fortunately we have a free website builder available.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Basic Tips For Website Design
Website building has become a common and essential knowledge to many people. Businesses, organisations and individuals have created websites either for profit, or for personal recreational purposes.
When it comes to website building, one should pay extra attention to the fine details. This is to make sure that it performs optimally. Here are some important tips to observe to make sure your website serves its function properly.
1. Display simple and clear navigational menu
Provide a simple and easy to understand navigation menu so that even someone who is not internet savvy will know how to use it. It is best to stay away from complicated multi-tiered dropdown menus. If your visitors don't know how to navigate the site confidently, they will eventually leave it.
2. Avoid using flash
Where appropriate, avoid using flash, especially for the first introduction page. People have to download the Flash player beforehand before they can view Flash movies. Because of this, the number of visitors will decrease considerably because not everyone will be willing to download the Flash player just to view your website.
3. Avoid using large graphic images Large graphic files take a long time to download and display. Usually, visitors do not have the patience to wait for more than several seconds for the site to display itself. For this reason, keep the graphic files as small as possible. It is a good practice to optimise images before uploading them onto the server. I use GIMP, the free image editor for reduction of image file size.
4. Avoid using audio on your site
Audio is subjective and therefore not all will like the kind of music that is playing on a website. However, if you insist on adding audio, make sure the visitor can control the volume, stop or pause the music.
Well, these are some tips. They are by no means exhaustive, though. The key is to make the trip to your site as easy and as pleasant to the visitor as possible.
When it comes to website building, one should pay extra attention to the fine details. This is to make sure that it performs optimally. Here are some important tips to observe to make sure your website serves its function properly.
1. Display simple and clear navigational menu
Provide a simple and easy to understand navigation menu so that even someone who is not internet savvy will know how to use it. It is best to stay away from complicated multi-tiered dropdown menus. If your visitors don't know how to navigate the site confidently, they will eventually leave it.
2. Avoid using flash
Where appropriate, avoid using flash, especially for the first introduction page. People have to download the Flash player beforehand before they can view Flash movies. Because of this, the number of visitors will decrease considerably because not everyone will be willing to download the Flash player just to view your website.
3. Avoid using large graphic images Large graphic files take a long time to download and display. Usually, visitors do not have the patience to wait for more than several seconds for the site to display itself. For this reason, keep the graphic files as small as possible. It is a good practice to optimise images before uploading them onto the server. I use GIMP, the free image editor for reduction of image file size.
4. Avoid using audio on your site
Audio is subjective and therefore not all will like the kind of music that is playing on a website. However, if you insist on adding audio, make sure the visitor can control the volume, stop or pause the music.
Well, these are some tips. They are by no means exhaustive, though. The key is to make the trip to your site as easy and as pleasant to the visitor as possible.
Profitable Web Site Design - 4 Keys to Make More Profit With Web Site Design
Web site design is an incredibly popular and lucrative profession in this increasingly technological society. There is no reason why you shouldn’t take advantage of this fact by enhancing your skills and knowledge to put profitable website design in your reach. Here are just a few keys to making more profit with website design:
Be Bold. A well designed site sells for more, that much is obvious. A striking design is one of the best and most externally obvious ways to enhance your reputation as website designer and thus, earn yourself more profit.
Advertise. Make sure that all your clients include a link to your home page where you advertise your services. That way, anytime someone looks at your client’s site, they are directed to yours. And, because they are looking directly at your product, they know exactly how good your sites can be. Also, why not try some article marketing, and maybe making a few postings in a forum? These can direct even more traffic to your homepage, making your website design even more profitable.
Hunt Down Clients. Don’t be passive. If you have friends with businesses, work the angle. Tell them that their site is boring, outdated. Let them know you can do a better job, and then do it. They will be very likely to recommend you to other businesses, and since no business these days is complete without a website, you’ll have an increasing amount of clients, and thus, an increasing amount of profitable website design.
Always use Media. Include video, music, and pictures on your websites. This multi-media content can be a selling point for many people who want their websites to be interactive. If you don’t have a copy of Flash studio, you may want to invest in a copy, because creating dynamic, interactive websites is the best way to make more profit with your website design.
Be Bold. A well designed site sells for more, that much is obvious. A striking design is one of the best and most externally obvious ways to enhance your reputation as website designer and thus, earn yourself more profit.
Advertise. Make sure that all your clients include a link to your home page where you advertise your services. That way, anytime someone looks at your client’s site, they are directed to yours. And, because they are looking directly at your product, they know exactly how good your sites can be. Also, why not try some article marketing, and maybe making a few postings in a forum? These can direct even more traffic to your homepage, making your website design even more profitable.
Hunt Down Clients. Don’t be passive. If you have friends with businesses, work the angle. Tell them that their site is boring, outdated. Let them know you can do a better job, and then do it. They will be very likely to recommend you to other businesses, and since no business these days is complete without a website, you’ll have an increasing amount of clients, and thus, an increasing amount of profitable website design.
Always use Media. Include video, music, and pictures on your websites. This multi-media content can be a selling point for many people who want their websites to be interactive. If you don’t have a copy of Flash studio, you may want to invest in a copy, because creating dynamic, interactive websites is the best way to make more profit with your website design.
Really Bad Beginner Website Design Mistakes To Avoid
Just what is the difference between a bad site and one that is truly outstanding? You'll know when you see them. I'm sure you've seen examples of several great websites on the internet - and also remember examples of those you'll never want to revisit. If you want your visitors to come back then you've got to do a lot to impress them in an extremely short time. First impressions are really important. You only have about 20 seconds to make that first impression count so you want to do the best that you can.
Many individuals or small business owners often opt to design and build their own websites. Without proper experience or website design background many mistakes are made. If you are a beginner then there are several things you should keep in mind to avoid before designing your website.
Here are several common mistakes which should be avoided when designing your new website.
1. Slow Loading Pages
Problem: Have you ever gone to a website and waited and waited for it to load?
Solution: Optimize your images at a lower resolution to achieve faster loading pages. Keep your page sizes well under 60 KB.
2. Page Layout
Problem: Websites that have the navigation in different places throughout the site. It looks cluttered and unprofessional.
Solution: Be consistent and be organized in your websites layout. Make sure all your web pages look the same and the websites navigation is in the same location on each page.
3. Wild and Crazy Color Schemes
Problem: Have you ever visited a website that has a background with a bright, neon color and can't read the content because the colors are so loud? What's the point?
Solution: Think "easy to read." Avoid dark backgrounds with light colored fonts. White background with black text is best for the general public.
4. Spelling and Grammar Errors
Problem: Spelling and grammar errors just jump off the page.
Solution: Always spell check.
5. Text on the Page
Problem: Most internet users don't read web pages - they scan them.
Solution: Make sure your page is easy to read. Break text into manageable pieces, use sub-headings, short paragraphs, highlighted keywords and bullet points.
6. Font Styles and Sizes
Problem: Serif fonts such as Times New Roman are more difficult to read on a computer monitor. Also, text that is too small or way too big are hard to read.
Solution: It's a good idea to use non-serif fonts such as Verdana or Arial for web pages that will be read online. Your page will look much better, more professional, and will be much easier for your visitor to read.
7. Not Enough "White Space"
Problem: Too many words on a web page can be overwhelming.
Solution: Make your page easy to read by breaking the text into smaller, more manageable pieces. Also, use sub-headings and bullet points.
8. Cheesy Music that the User Cannot Control
Problem: Bad background music on a site. Next, not being able to shut it off.
Solution: If you think you need to use music on your website for some reason, then make sure you offer your visitors the option to turn it off, or on, quickly and easily.
9. Poor Layout and Design
Problem: Have you ever been to a website that is simply just "too much"? It's like they are trying to fill every available pixel of space on the entire page.
Solution: Don't overdo it when designing your pages. Just because you can add something doesn't mean you have to. Leave plenty of white space between your text and images.
10. Overly Long Pages
Problem: Ever been to a website with a page that just scrolls down forever?
Solution: Most people will never scan down to the bottom of really long pages. It's better to have several short pages vs. a few really long pages.
11. Non-Standard Links
Problem: You go to a website and aren't sure which words are really links because the link colors have been changed.
Solution: Don't confuse your users. Keep the link colors as they are.
12. Under Construction signs
Problem: Have you ever been to a website and found a page with no content of any type but a big "Under Construction" sign instead?
Solution: Don't use "Under Construction" signs on your website.
13. Didn't Test Your Web Site
Problem: Ever been to a website that just looks like a mess? Maybe you saw text overlapping images, weird alignment, etc.
Solution: Always check to see what your site looks like in multiple browsers and change accordingly before uploading your site to the web.
14. Unclear Navigation
Problem: You don't enjoy broken links, error pages or too many moving objects - neither do your websites visitors. If navigation is too difficult to follow, visitors won't return.
Solution: Make sure that your navigation is easy to read, find and to follow. Also, make sure that it is in the same spot on all of your websites pages.
15. Sloppy Web Site Copy
Problem: Have you ever visited a website with missing words, bad grammar, or it just didn't make sense?
Solution: Always remember, "Content is King" on the internet, so make sure there is plenty of good, focused information for your visitors.
16. Never Updating Your Site
Problem: Ever go to a website that hasn't been changed at all over the last few times that you've visited it?
Solution: You should always update the content on your site frequently.
17. Too Many Clicks
Problem: Have you ever gone to a website, found something you're interested in checking out, and then had to click, click, click before you found the item you were looking for (if you didn't give up first)?
Solution: Don't test the patience of your visitors. Make sure that everything can be found on your site within 3 clicks or less.
18. No Privacy Policy
Problem: No Privacy Policy page is listed on a website.
Solution: Post a Privacy Policy on your website. Make sure that your customers know that you will not share their addresses with anyone.
19. No Company Contact Information
Problem: A company with no address or contact information is not one you necessarily want to give your money to.
Solution: Email addresses or phone numbers are most often seen as contact information on websites, however, having a physical mailing address on your web site adds another key credibility factor.
20. Using Free Web Hosting
Problem: You visit a web page that has a name so long you'll never remember it because it is from one of those free website hosts.
Solution: If you want to be taken seriously as far as your internet business is concerned, avoid using free web hosting. This all adds to the issue of credibility.
21. Using Free E-mail Addresses
Problem: You visit a website and try to send an email to them, however the email addresses are not associated with the domain name.
Solution: Using a free email address, such as Hotmail, Yahoo or Gmail, is never appropriate for your website. On your website it is a good idea to always use an email addresses that is associated with your domain name for your business.
22. Advertisements
Problem: You've come to a website where the pages are cluttered with a lot of different advertisements.
Solution: A lot of people are using advertisements to earn extra money. That's fine, just don't overdo it.
23. Bad Images
Problem: How many times have you seen a web page with missing graphics files or misshaped images?
Solution: Always optimize your images and use the height and width attributes of the image tag. Additionally, save the files in the right image formats: JPG for Photographs and GIF for artwork.
24. This Website Best Viewed on .....
Problem: This is often seen on many beginner websites.
Solution: Simply don't use this on your website.
25. No Prices
Problem: Websites that don't have product prices listed clearly.
Solution: If you're selling a product on your website, ALWAYS include a price with the item description.
Last but not least, here's a list of things that you should just avoid, simply because it's the right thing to do concerning website design. And here they are:
Frames, Hit counters, Orphan pages, Anything "Cutesy", Pop ups, Fancy Fonts, Don't overuse Flash, Avoid Javascript links, Blinking text , Animated GIFs, Missing Meta Tags, Horizontal (sideways) Scrolling, Don't underline or color normal text, Don't forget functional links on your footer, Don't forget about your Marketing Strategies, Don't forget to include anchor text on your links, Never subscribe a visitor for anything without his consent, Don't leave the home page title as "Welcome to Mysite.com", Avoid using all the "Bells And Whistles" simply because you can, Not Taking Advantage of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) on your website
Whether you have created your own website or are working with someone else on creating your website, I hope all these ideas above will help you build a better website that steadily attracts visitors. If you've never built a website on your own, I hope the tips above help you design the best site that you can and help you to avoid all these issues in the future. Knowledge is critical.
Many individuals or small business owners often opt to design and build their own websites. Without proper experience or website design background many mistakes are made. If you are a beginner then there are several things you should keep in mind to avoid before designing your website.
Here are several common mistakes which should be avoided when designing your new website.
1. Slow Loading Pages
Problem: Have you ever gone to a website and waited and waited for it to load?
Solution: Optimize your images at a lower resolution to achieve faster loading pages. Keep your page sizes well under 60 KB.
2. Page Layout
Problem: Websites that have the navigation in different places throughout the site. It looks cluttered and unprofessional.
Solution: Be consistent and be organized in your websites layout. Make sure all your web pages look the same and the websites navigation is in the same location on each page.
3. Wild and Crazy Color Schemes
Problem: Have you ever visited a website that has a background with a bright, neon color and can't read the content because the colors are so loud? What's the point?
Solution: Think "easy to read." Avoid dark backgrounds with light colored fonts. White background with black text is best for the general public.
4. Spelling and Grammar Errors
Problem: Spelling and grammar errors just jump off the page.
Solution: Always spell check.
5. Text on the Page
Problem: Most internet users don't read web pages - they scan them.
Solution: Make sure your page is easy to read. Break text into manageable pieces, use sub-headings, short paragraphs, highlighted keywords and bullet points.
6. Font Styles and Sizes
Problem: Serif fonts such as Times New Roman are more difficult to read on a computer monitor. Also, text that is too small or way too big are hard to read.
Solution: It's a good idea to use non-serif fonts such as Verdana or Arial for web pages that will be read online. Your page will look much better, more professional, and will be much easier for your visitor to read.
7. Not Enough "White Space"
Problem: Too many words on a web page can be overwhelming.
Solution: Make your page easy to read by breaking the text into smaller, more manageable pieces. Also, use sub-headings and bullet points.
8. Cheesy Music that the User Cannot Control
Problem: Bad background music on a site. Next, not being able to shut it off.
Solution: If you think you need to use music on your website for some reason, then make sure you offer your visitors the option to turn it off, or on, quickly and easily.
9. Poor Layout and Design
Problem: Have you ever been to a website that is simply just "too much"? It's like they are trying to fill every available pixel of space on the entire page.
Solution: Don't overdo it when designing your pages. Just because you can add something doesn't mean you have to. Leave plenty of white space between your text and images.
10. Overly Long Pages
Problem: Ever been to a website with a page that just scrolls down forever?
Solution: Most people will never scan down to the bottom of really long pages. It's better to have several short pages vs. a few really long pages.
11. Non-Standard Links
Problem: You go to a website and aren't sure which words are really links because the link colors have been changed.
Solution: Don't confuse your users. Keep the link colors as they are.
12. Under Construction signs
Problem: Have you ever been to a website and found a page with no content of any type but a big "Under Construction" sign instead?
Solution: Don't use "Under Construction" signs on your website.
13. Didn't Test Your Web Site
Problem: Ever been to a website that just looks like a mess? Maybe you saw text overlapping images, weird alignment, etc.
Solution: Always check to see what your site looks like in multiple browsers and change accordingly before uploading your site to the web.
14. Unclear Navigation
Problem: You don't enjoy broken links, error pages or too many moving objects - neither do your websites visitors. If navigation is too difficult to follow, visitors won't return.
Solution: Make sure that your navigation is easy to read, find and to follow. Also, make sure that it is in the same spot on all of your websites pages.
15. Sloppy Web Site Copy
Problem: Have you ever visited a website with missing words, bad grammar, or it just didn't make sense?
Solution: Always remember, "Content is King" on the internet, so make sure there is plenty of good, focused information for your visitors.
16. Never Updating Your Site
Problem: Ever go to a website that hasn't been changed at all over the last few times that you've visited it?
Solution: You should always update the content on your site frequently.
17. Too Many Clicks
Problem: Have you ever gone to a website, found something you're interested in checking out, and then had to click, click, click before you found the item you were looking for (if you didn't give up first)?
Solution: Don't test the patience of your visitors. Make sure that everything can be found on your site within 3 clicks or less.
18. No Privacy Policy
Problem: No Privacy Policy page is listed on a website.
Solution: Post a Privacy Policy on your website. Make sure that your customers know that you will not share their addresses with anyone.
19. No Company Contact Information
Problem: A company with no address or contact information is not one you necessarily want to give your money to.
Solution: Email addresses or phone numbers are most often seen as contact information on websites, however, having a physical mailing address on your web site adds another key credibility factor.
20. Using Free Web Hosting
Problem: You visit a web page that has a name so long you'll never remember it because it is from one of those free website hosts.
Solution: If you want to be taken seriously as far as your internet business is concerned, avoid using free web hosting. This all adds to the issue of credibility.
21. Using Free E-mail Addresses
Problem: You visit a website and try to send an email to them, however the email addresses are not associated with the domain name.
Solution: Using a free email address, such as Hotmail, Yahoo or Gmail, is never appropriate for your website. On your website it is a good idea to always use an email addresses that is associated with your domain name for your business.
22. Advertisements
Problem: You've come to a website where the pages are cluttered with a lot of different advertisements.
Solution: A lot of people are using advertisements to earn extra money. That's fine, just don't overdo it.
23. Bad Images
Problem: How many times have you seen a web page with missing graphics files or misshaped images?
Solution: Always optimize your images and use the height and width attributes of the image tag. Additionally, save the files in the right image formats: JPG for Photographs and GIF for artwork.
24. This Website Best Viewed on .....
Problem: This is often seen on many beginner websites.
Solution: Simply don't use this on your website.
25. No Prices
Problem: Websites that don't have product prices listed clearly.
Solution: If you're selling a product on your website, ALWAYS include a price with the item description.
Last but not least, here's a list of things that you should just avoid, simply because it's the right thing to do concerning website design. And here they are:
Frames, Hit counters, Orphan pages, Anything "Cutesy", Pop ups, Fancy Fonts, Don't overuse Flash, Avoid Javascript links, Blinking text , Animated GIFs, Missing Meta Tags, Horizontal (sideways) Scrolling, Don't underline or color normal text, Don't forget functional links on your footer, Don't forget about your Marketing Strategies, Don't forget to include anchor text on your links, Never subscribe a visitor for anything without his consent, Don't leave the home page title as "Welcome to Mysite.com", Avoid using all the "Bells And Whistles" simply because you can, Not Taking Advantage of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) on your website
Whether you have created your own website or are working with someone else on creating your website, I hope all these ideas above will help you build a better website that steadily attracts visitors. If you've never built a website on your own, I hope the tips above help you design the best site that you can and help you to avoid all these issues in the future. Knowledge is critical.
How to Set up a Web Designer's Home Office
Setting up a web designer’s home office really is not that difficult as long as you know the key elements important to a web designer. Web design takes a lot of work sitting in front of a computer so one of the most important items is home office furniture that is comfortable. A comfortable and supportive chair is a given, but the rest of the office furniture should provide a cozy feeling to the office that makes it a nice place to work. Of course, web designers are on the go a lot as well because they have clients interested in their design skills so they will also need a car office. This might sound surprising, but web designers work a lot out of their car and so a car desk is of utmost importance to the success of a web designer.
When you are considering the home office as a whole you should also take into consideration the car office. You want to include complementary items so that when the web designer needs to work out of his car it is no problem and returning to the home office is easy as well. This requires knowing what is needed at home and what is needed on the road and these are not always the same things. For example, a pen drive would be an important part of the car office but it wouldn’t necessarily be the most important aspect of the home office although it is necessary. The furniture in the home office is a big deal, but the car office really just focuses on a desk where the designer can get some basic work done.
Remember as well that when you are designing a home office the colors that are used are very important. You want to use colors that reflect a positive work ethnic. You can do some research on how colors affect people and then you simply choose the colors that boost work and avoid those that promote sadness, idleness, or other similar traits. When you design a home office in this way and include comfortable furniture then you will create a great place to work that any web designer will love. Just always remember to include all the items the web designer likes to work with and make sure it is an environment that will match the owner’s personality and you have a winner!
When you are considering the home office as a whole you should also take into consideration the car office. You want to include complementary items so that when the web designer needs to work out of his car it is no problem and returning to the home office is easy as well. This requires knowing what is needed at home and what is needed on the road and these are not always the same things. For example, a pen drive would be an important part of the car office but it wouldn’t necessarily be the most important aspect of the home office although it is necessary. The furniture in the home office is a big deal, but the car office really just focuses on a desk where the designer can get some basic work done.
Remember as well that when you are designing a home office the colors that are used are very important. You want to use colors that reflect a positive work ethnic. You can do some research on how colors affect people and then you simply choose the colors that boost work and avoid those that promote sadness, idleness, or other similar traits. When you design a home office in this way and include comfortable furniture then you will create a great place to work that any web designer will love. Just always remember to include all the items the web designer likes to work with and make sure it is an environment that will match the owner’s personality and you have a winner!
Web Design Tips for Health Websites
Health websites have a special way in which they should be designed because web surfers anticipate a certain type of website. Web design is very important and while many companies were not aware of this for quite some time it is now catching on that a website selling medical imaging supplies should be designed differently than a website offering medical advice. It all comes down to people and their expectations. We all have them and whenever we walk in a doctor’s office we expect it to look a certain way. The same goes for a movie theatre, shopping mall, and other places of interest. We have expectations for the places we visit in person and the same goes for the websites we visit virtually. Websites selling medical surgical supplies should be conservative and informative and make it easy for you to buy products whereas another website that is about gossip can be colorful and fun.
There are quite a few web design tips for health websites. One tip for health websites is for them to be designed in conservative colors like blue, black, dark green, and other similar colors. People visit health websites for a reason and they want the website to feel like a serious place. Organization is also important when it comes to designing a health website because people will most likely be visiting for informational purposes. As a result you want to have the information placed in a very organized layout so that visitors can find what they are looking for with minimal effort. Web surfers want instant gratification and if they don’t find what they are looking for very quickly they will simply click off your page and head back to the search engine to try again. Because of this it is very important to have your website organized in a way that will keep visitors interested and on your page otherwise you will lose them.
So, make sure that when you are designing your health website you check out some other health websites that are popular and see what works and what doesn’t. When you can use other websites as references you should because it will allow you to create an even better website with a design that will be outstanding and keep the traffic coming in to your site. Just always keep in mind that simple and straightforward is a lot better than creative and confusing.
There are quite a few web design tips for health websites. One tip for health websites is for them to be designed in conservative colors like blue, black, dark green, and other similar colors. People visit health websites for a reason and they want the website to feel like a serious place. Organization is also important when it comes to designing a health website because people will most likely be visiting for informational purposes. As a result you want to have the information placed in a very organized layout so that visitors can find what they are looking for with minimal effort. Web surfers want instant gratification and if they don’t find what they are looking for very quickly they will simply click off your page and head back to the search engine to try again. Because of this it is very important to have your website organized in a way that will keep visitors interested and on your page otherwise you will lose them.
So, make sure that when you are designing your health website you check out some other health websites that are popular and see what works and what doesn’t. When you can use other websites as references you should because it will allow you to create an even better website with a design that will be outstanding and keep the traffic coming in to your site. Just always keep in mind that simple and straightforward is a lot better than creative and confusing.
Make Your Site Easy for Your Visitors to Navigate
I had a good laugh the other day while researching this topic when I read that websites should be designed so even your grandmother or grandfather can find their way through it. I laughed since I am a grandfather which indicates that the site must be REALLY easy to navigate. - LOL.
What caused me to focus on this subject came from working on a particular website. Like most websites, it started with only a few pages and was easy to navigate. And like most websites, it grew and became more complex which complicated the site navigation.
The original site navigation pattern was a circular pattern where the reader would follow the links from one page to the next until he/she arrived back at the starting page. This works fine as long as there is never a break. However, we all know that during surfing, you have to get up and tend to something or you go off on a tangent to another page. When you return, it is sometimes difficult to determine exactly where you were. If the reader has to follow several page links back to the continuation point, frustration sets in and "click" the reader is gone.
To solve this site navigation problem, a navigation bar was added to the pages on the website.
A navigation bar ("nav bar"), is the basic tool for site navigation. Navigation bars are usually some form of java script. They are text, buttons, or boxes usually placed on the top or left side of every page. This allows the reader to quickly link to the main pages of the site. A feature that is usually incorporated in the nav bar is the nav bar entry for the current page is indicated by a change of color or appearance to indicate where you are currently located in the site.
Some HTML editors will build your navigation bar for you. When you build a page, you specify if you want the page included on the nav bar and if you want a nav bar on the page.
The best web host builds your nav bar for you. When you create a web page, you are given options if you want the page listed in the nav bar and if so, what the text on the nav bar should say.
As an aside ... if you have a landing page on your site where you want the reader to take only one action (click to buy or click to subscribe), do not put any external links or a nav bar on that page. You do not want to give the reader a means of escape except to close the window.
If you include the nav bar on each content page, it gives the reader a uniform way to get from the current page to any other main page with one click which is desirable. A theory of site navigation says a reader should be no more than two clicks from any other page.
In summary, always consider how your reader will navigate your site. If navigation is easy, your reader will dig deeper and deeper into your site. If navigation is confusing or difficult, your reader will click away from your site and will not return. Work to make that navigation easy and keep your readers happy. Especially for grandmothers and grandfathers!
What caused me to focus on this subject came from working on a particular website. Like most websites, it started with only a few pages and was easy to navigate. And like most websites, it grew and became more complex which complicated the site navigation.
The original site navigation pattern was a circular pattern where the reader would follow the links from one page to the next until he/she arrived back at the starting page. This works fine as long as there is never a break. However, we all know that during surfing, you have to get up and tend to something or you go off on a tangent to another page. When you return, it is sometimes difficult to determine exactly where you were. If the reader has to follow several page links back to the continuation point, frustration sets in and "click" the reader is gone.
To solve this site navigation problem, a navigation bar was added to the pages on the website.
A navigation bar ("nav bar"), is the basic tool for site navigation. Navigation bars are usually some form of java script. They are text, buttons, or boxes usually placed on the top or left side of every page. This allows the reader to quickly link to the main pages of the site. A feature that is usually incorporated in the nav bar is the nav bar entry for the current page is indicated by a change of color or appearance to indicate where you are currently located in the site.
Some HTML editors will build your navigation bar for you. When you build a page, you specify if you want the page included on the nav bar and if you want a nav bar on the page.
The best web host builds your nav bar for you. When you create a web page, you are given options if you want the page listed in the nav bar and if so, what the text on the nav bar should say.
As an aside ... if you have a landing page on your site where you want the reader to take only one action (click to buy or click to subscribe), do not put any external links or a nav bar on that page. You do not want to give the reader a means of escape except to close the window.
If you include the nav bar on each content page, it gives the reader a uniform way to get from the current page to any other main page with one click which is desirable. A theory of site navigation says a reader should be no more than two clicks from any other page.
In summary, always consider how your reader will navigate your site. If navigation is easy, your reader will dig deeper and deeper into your site. If navigation is confusing or difficult, your reader will click away from your site and will not return. Work to make that navigation easy and keep your readers happy. Especially for grandmothers and grandfathers!
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Web Designing Course - It Pays to Get Your Colors Right
People who visit your website usually form an instant opinion about you and what your website offers. The opinion that is formed in this instantaneous way is done so subconsciously. This happens automatically, and you might wonder why. It has absolutely nothing to do with the text on your website. And yet your visitor will still form their instant opinion without even reading a single word of your costly copy.
It doesn't matter either, whether the quality of the images on your website are of the highest. Nor does your offer matter. You could be promoting a sensational deal, like selling dollars for dimes. But this too, will be overlooked by the site visitor. This is because the initial reaction to your website is instant, and occurs the moment the page appears in the browser of your visitor. You may have guessed there is something subliminal at work here. In a way, that is right. Immediate opinions are formed by visitors to every single website. What causes the instant opinion may be a surprise to you. It's color. Your visitor's instant opinion of your website is primarily due to the color scheme which you have used.
The spooky thing about this is that as a web page viewer we can do nothing about this. Colors evoke an intuitive reaction which we have no control over.' We can't help ourselves. Colors bring us these emotions and feelings whether we want them or not! Companies have known about this years. You will find they spend millions in developing the appropriate colors for their new products and marketing campaigns. Big companies realize that colors are a psychological feature, and they can influence our reception of their marketing. In their business propositions, the big companies understand that the use of appropriate colors is a key element. What webmasters have to realize, and this can be very important, is that the same color psychology applies to our web pages.
By the psychological power you could encourage your website visitors to leave your page the instant they see it. No matter what your website is about, it may simply be unsuccessful due to the colors you're using. Forget the text, it might never be read! But don't despair. By using a different color scheme it is quite possible to influence your web page visitor to react positively to you and your offering. This color psychology is nothing new. It's been around with us for decades. No matter who we are, emotions are conveyed to our subconscious through the use of colors.
The trick is in conveying the right feeling. A certain color combination might convey a nice feeling. Yet another, could convey bad feeling. Your choice with your color selections is to send a sense belonging, trust and warmth. The last thing you would want to do is convey feelings of rejection, distrust and coolness. The following list gives an idea of the emotions associated with their respective colors:
RED Strength, sense of power, love, danger, leadership, energy, excitement etc
ORANGE Courage, cheerfulness, friendliness, playfulness, confidence, comfort, steadfastness etc
YELLOW Joy, brightness, amusement, curiosity, intelligence, caution, organization etc
GREENHealth, harmony, life, money, food, nature, healing etc
BLUETranquility, acceptance, patience, trustworthiness, peace, love, stability etc
PURPLENobility, royalty, dignity, luxury, ambition, wisdom, independence etc
BROWNNature, primitive, durability, earthiness, tribal, reliability, comfort etc
BLACKDramatic, power, health, style, elegance, formality, sophistication etc
WHITEPurity, innocence, goodness, easy, fresh, cleanliness, simplicity etc
Finally, be aware that your website color scheme should reflect the product or offering you make. What happens is that the subconscious mind of your visitor will attempt to reconcile the colors with the message. If it can't, it will lose interest. And you may never see them again. It is important therefore that your website uses the right color scheme. If you do this, your website will produce the results you're looking for. Be aware, your color scheme can cause your website to make a profit or a loss.
It doesn't matter either, whether the quality of the images on your website are of the highest. Nor does your offer matter. You could be promoting a sensational deal, like selling dollars for dimes. But this too, will be overlooked by the site visitor. This is because the initial reaction to your website is instant, and occurs the moment the page appears in the browser of your visitor. You may have guessed there is something subliminal at work here. In a way, that is right. Immediate opinions are formed by visitors to every single website. What causes the instant opinion may be a surprise to you. It's color. Your visitor's instant opinion of your website is primarily due to the color scheme which you have used.
The spooky thing about this is that as a web page viewer we can do nothing about this. Colors evoke an intuitive reaction which we have no control over.' We can't help ourselves. Colors bring us these emotions and feelings whether we want them or not! Companies have known about this years. You will find they spend millions in developing the appropriate colors for their new products and marketing campaigns. Big companies realize that colors are a psychological feature, and they can influence our reception of their marketing. In their business propositions, the big companies understand that the use of appropriate colors is a key element. What webmasters have to realize, and this can be very important, is that the same color psychology applies to our web pages.
By the psychological power you could encourage your website visitors to leave your page the instant they see it. No matter what your website is about, it may simply be unsuccessful due to the colors you're using. Forget the text, it might never be read! But don't despair. By using a different color scheme it is quite possible to influence your web page visitor to react positively to you and your offering. This color psychology is nothing new. It's been around with us for decades. No matter who we are, emotions are conveyed to our subconscious through the use of colors.
The trick is in conveying the right feeling. A certain color combination might convey a nice feeling. Yet another, could convey bad feeling. Your choice with your color selections is to send a sense belonging, trust and warmth. The last thing you would want to do is convey feelings of rejection, distrust and coolness. The following list gives an idea of the emotions associated with their respective colors:
RED Strength, sense of power, love, danger, leadership, energy, excitement etc
ORANGE Courage, cheerfulness, friendliness, playfulness, confidence, comfort, steadfastness etc
YELLOW Joy, brightness, amusement, curiosity, intelligence, caution, organization etc
GREENHealth, harmony, life, money, food, nature, healing etc
BLUETranquility, acceptance, patience, trustworthiness, peace, love, stability etc
PURPLENobility, royalty, dignity, luxury, ambition, wisdom, independence etc
BROWNNature, primitive, durability, earthiness, tribal, reliability, comfort etc
BLACKDramatic, power, health, style, elegance, formality, sophistication etc
WHITEPurity, innocence, goodness, easy, fresh, cleanliness, simplicity etc
Finally, be aware that your website color scheme should reflect the product or offering you make. What happens is that the subconscious mind of your visitor will attempt to reconcile the colors with the message. If it can't, it will lose interest. And you may never see them again. It is important therefore that your website uses the right color scheme. If you do this, your website will produce the results you're looking for. Be aware, your color scheme can cause your website to make a profit or a loss.
Cool Web Designs - Why Color is the Key Element
You may not realize it, but many of your website visitors form an immediate opinion about you and your website. They can't help themselves. Their instant opinion is formed in their subconscious mind. You might wonder why this happens. This reaction comes regardless of the words and text on your web pages. The visitor need not read a single word, and yet they will form their instant opinion.
You might also have invested in some really great pictures or images on your site. I'm afraid this will carry zero influence on your visitor's instant opinion. You might think if you make an unrepeatable offer, that your visitor is bound to be swayed by that! I'm sorry, the instant opinion clicks in, and your brilliant offer lies unseen. This is because the second your page is displayed your subconscious mind goes to work, and the instant opinion begins to form. By now, you are probably wondering just what it is that has this power. Exactly what can have an immediate reaction in your site visitors. You may have already worked out that the answer is colors. It is the color scheme used on your website which causes your page visitors to create that instant opinion.
The reason this happens is because we all react psychological and intuitively to colors. There isn't anything we can do about this. Colors has an affect on each of us. As you will know, millions are spent by big companies in deciding the correct colors of new products and in their marketing campaigns. What they fully understand is the psychological power of colors. And they use this to the maximum in their promotions. The right colors can be the critical factor in the success of big company products. What webmasters have to realize, and this can be very important, is that the same color psychology applies to our web pages.
The color scheme on your web pages can tell your visitor different things. The colors could convey a negative message, in which case be prepared for your visitors to leave your site very quickly. If you're selling a product from your web page, it wouldn't matter how smart your sales messages are, it's possible that they won't be read anyway. The good news, however, is that you can use colors to engender a really positive reaction. This isn't a new discovery. The psychological power of colors is well known in the offline marketing world. It's been around with us for decades. No matter who we are, emotions are conveyed to our subconscious through the use of colors.
What we need to do in our website design is to ensure the color combination on our web pages convey a positive feelings. If you do this, then you will be conveying a trust, sense of belonging and warmth. The last thing you would want to do is convey feelings of rejection, distrust and coolness. The following list of colors indicates the feelings and emotions with which they are associated:
RED Excitement, sense of power, leadership, love, danger, energy, strength etc
ORANGE Cheerfulness, courage, confidence, comfort, steadfastness, playfulness, friendliness etc
YELLOW Organization, caution, amusement, brightness, curiosity, intelligence, joy etc
GREEN Money, food, health, healing, nature, life, harmony etc
BLUE Acceptance, tranquility, patience, peace, trustworthiness, stability, love etc
PURPLE Ambition, dignity, royalty, independence, wisdom, luxury, nobility etc
BROWN Tribal, earthiness, nature, durability, comfort, primitive, reliability etc
BLACK Sophistication, style, elegance, health, formality, power, dramatic etc
WHITE Simplicity, innocence, purity, fresh, cleanliness, easy, goodness etc
In summary, the color scheme you use on your web pages need to be reflected by the product or offering you make. What happens is that the subconscious mind of your visitor will attempt to reconcile the colors with the message. If it can't, it will lose interest. And you will lose your visitor. You should spend time in determining what are the right colors for your web pages. Try and make sure your colors and message are in harmony. If you do this, your website will produce the results you're looking for. Be aware, your color scheme can cause your website to make a profit or a loss.
You might also have invested in some really great pictures or images on your site. I'm afraid this will carry zero influence on your visitor's instant opinion. You might think if you make an unrepeatable offer, that your visitor is bound to be swayed by that! I'm sorry, the instant opinion clicks in, and your brilliant offer lies unseen. This is because the second your page is displayed your subconscious mind goes to work, and the instant opinion begins to form. By now, you are probably wondering just what it is that has this power. Exactly what can have an immediate reaction in your site visitors. You may have already worked out that the answer is colors. It is the color scheme used on your website which causes your page visitors to create that instant opinion.
The reason this happens is because we all react psychological and intuitively to colors. There isn't anything we can do about this. Colors has an affect on each of us. As you will know, millions are spent by big companies in deciding the correct colors of new products and in their marketing campaigns. What they fully understand is the psychological power of colors. And they use this to the maximum in their promotions. The right colors can be the critical factor in the success of big company products. What webmasters have to realize, and this can be very important, is that the same color psychology applies to our web pages.
The color scheme on your web pages can tell your visitor different things. The colors could convey a negative message, in which case be prepared for your visitors to leave your site very quickly. If you're selling a product from your web page, it wouldn't matter how smart your sales messages are, it's possible that they won't be read anyway. The good news, however, is that you can use colors to engender a really positive reaction. This isn't a new discovery. The psychological power of colors is well known in the offline marketing world. It's been around with us for decades. No matter who we are, emotions are conveyed to our subconscious through the use of colors.
What we need to do in our website design is to ensure the color combination on our web pages convey a positive feelings. If you do this, then you will be conveying a trust, sense of belonging and warmth. The last thing you would want to do is convey feelings of rejection, distrust and coolness. The following list of colors indicates the feelings and emotions with which they are associated:
RED Excitement, sense of power, leadership, love, danger, energy, strength etc
ORANGE Cheerfulness, courage, confidence, comfort, steadfastness, playfulness, friendliness etc
YELLOW Organization, caution, amusement, brightness, curiosity, intelligence, joy etc
GREEN Money, food, health, healing, nature, life, harmony etc
BLUE Acceptance, tranquility, patience, peace, trustworthiness, stability, love etc
PURPLE Ambition, dignity, royalty, independence, wisdom, luxury, nobility etc
BROWN Tribal, earthiness, nature, durability, comfort, primitive, reliability etc
BLACK Sophistication, style, elegance, health, formality, power, dramatic etc
WHITE Simplicity, innocence, purity, fresh, cleanliness, easy, goodness etc
In summary, the color scheme you use on your web pages need to be reflected by the product or offering you make. What happens is that the subconscious mind of your visitor will attempt to reconcile the colors with the message. If it can't, it will lose interest. And you will lose your visitor. You should spend time in determining what are the right colors for your web pages. Try and make sure your colors and message are in harmony. If you do this, your website will produce the results you're looking for. Be aware, your color scheme can cause your website to make a profit or a loss.
Different Types Of Web Designers - From Large Companies And Affordable Freelancers?
There are lots of different types of web designer. In my experience working full time in SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) I come across all sorts.
Some web designers are part of massive companies, has many other people to go to for support on items from outside their sphere of expertise. They have all the resources, and can not only create fantastic websites, but whole online business solutions.
However, all these fantastic abilities and resources do have one downfall, they cost a large sum of money and many businesses in the UK don’t have the financial clout or marketing budget to employ these people’s services.
Another type of web designer can work in a smaller company with one or two other designers and a couple of programmers. They may not or may not be able to do the same quality job as the larger company, but they can only handle four or five jobs at a time, and may take a bit longer.
The websites from these designers are still likely to do an extremely good job, there might be a few less fancy features, but this website is still likely to cost several thousand pounds. This may be more obtainable for some smaller companies, and the investment may well be returned if the website is successful.
Despite business owners knowing how important a website is, these large kinds of investments are a risk, and although that risk could provide long term dividends, there are no guarantees of this success, and will first look for more affordable web designers.
Some web designers may have mountains of experience but still come cheap. I have worked with some of these as my SEO clients. However, mountains of experience and cheap probably just means that they are still designing sites made from tables.
Frankly websites made from tables are ugly. I’ve made some myself and I think that CSS is a fantastic thing, separating the style from the content and allowing you to beautify a page far more effectively than HTML could alone. It also creates cleaner code, meaning faster loading times for your visitors and is better for the optimisation of the site.
Some web designers are like me. They have studied different types of internet technology or have just enjoyed tinkering around with them like I did when I used to take computers apart.
We come cheap, have bags of potential, can create visually stunning designs and can borrow from the thousands of scripts that are available on the internet for the bits that we don’t know how to hard code ourselves.
We often have one skill that sets us apart from other contemporaries. For example, one of my friends who is another cheap freelance web designer is a great php programmer, and can do things with that, that I cannot imagine how to implement. However I know Search Engine Optimisation as well as website construction and being a search engine marketer has advantages for created websites that most would have to pay large sums of money for.
I am able to create sites that have all the on-page factors ready to be read by the search engines. By getting a few good quality links on the home page, you enable the site to be indexed quickly and if the content is of good enough quality, before too long you will be getting some traffic.
Having a website built buy one of these cheaper designers can still increase revenues and brand awareness, maybe not to the same degree that the larger outlay would get you, but this can be what gives you a platform to get the site of your dreams built.
At the end of the day, you will normally get what you pay for. Higher fees charged usually indicate that the designers have some ability. But just because a freelancers site is cheap, does not mean that the site that they would build for you would not provide your business or even hobby or charity an extremely vital marketing and revenue source.
Some web designers are part of massive companies, has many other people to go to for support on items from outside their sphere of expertise. They have all the resources, and can not only create fantastic websites, but whole online business solutions.
However, all these fantastic abilities and resources do have one downfall, they cost a large sum of money and many businesses in the UK don’t have the financial clout or marketing budget to employ these people’s services.
Another type of web designer can work in a smaller company with one or two other designers and a couple of programmers. They may not or may not be able to do the same quality job as the larger company, but they can only handle four or five jobs at a time, and may take a bit longer.
The websites from these designers are still likely to do an extremely good job, there might be a few less fancy features, but this website is still likely to cost several thousand pounds. This may be more obtainable for some smaller companies, and the investment may well be returned if the website is successful.
Despite business owners knowing how important a website is, these large kinds of investments are a risk, and although that risk could provide long term dividends, there are no guarantees of this success, and will first look for more affordable web designers.
Some web designers may have mountains of experience but still come cheap. I have worked with some of these as my SEO clients. However, mountains of experience and cheap probably just means that they are still designing sites made from tables.
Frankly websites made from tables are ugly. I’ve made some myself and I think that CSS is a fantastic thing, separating the style from the content and allowing you to beautify a page far more effectively than HTML could alone. It also creates cleaner code, meaning faster loading times for your visitors and is better for the optimisation of the site.
Some web designers are like me. They have studied different types of internet technology or have just enjoyed tinkering around with them like I did when I used to take computers apart.
We come cheap, have bags of potential, can create visually stunning designs and can borrow from the thousands of scripts that are available on the internet for the bits that we don’t know how to hard code ourselves.
We often have one skill that sets us apart from other contemporaries. For example, one of my friends who is another cheap freelance web designer is a great php programmer, and can do things with that, that I cannot imagine how to implement. However I know Search Engine Optimisation as well as website construction and being a search engine marketer has advantages for created websites that most would have to pay large sums of money for.
I am able to create sites that have all the on-page factors ready to be read by the search engines. By getting a few good quality links on the home page, you enable the site to be indexed quickly and if the content is of good enough quality, before too long you will be getting some traffic.
Having a website built buy one of these cheaper designers can still increase revenues and brand awareness, maybe not to the same degree that the larger outlay would get you, but this can be what gives you a platform to get the site of your dreams built.
At the end of the day, you will normally get what you pay for. Higher fees charged usually indicate that the designers have some ability. But just because a freelancers site is cheap, does not mean that the site that they would build for you would not provide your business or even hobby or charity an extremely vital marketing and revenue source.
Web Site Design- Use of Graphics and Fonts Part I
The use to which you put graphics and fonts in your web site design is more important than you might believe. It is more than just personal preference since they can not only affect the readability of your web pages, and hence the time that visitors stay on your site, but also your search engine listings.
Both graphics and the fonts that you use for your text should be chosen carefully, and not just because it looks good to you, or even different. You might think that your graphics look nice, but they should not dominate your web page. Graphics should complement a page, and be used intelligently to convey a message.
Website graphics are in either GIF or JPG format. JPG formats are generally better for photographs and GIFs for general website graphics such as buttons and menu bars. When inserting a graphic into a web page it is important that you state the dimensions as in: .
This is because it takes time to load a graphic, but if your browser knows how much space is going to be needed it can set that aside and continue loading the rest of the page. The whole page then appears to load faster than if the graphic size was not specified. Some graphics can take a long time to load and you will have to keep an eye on that. Animated graphics especially can take ages, and your visitors will tend to disappear since they are generally not very patient when they visit a site.
Both graphics and the fonts that you use for your text should be chosen carefully, and not just because it looks good to you, or even different. You might think that your graphics look nice, but they should not dominate your web page. Graphics should complement a page, and be used intelligently to convey a message.
Website graphics are in either GIF or JPG format. JPG formats are generally better for photographs and GIFs for general website graphics such as buttons and menu bars. When inserting a graphic into a web page it is important that you state the dimensions as in: .
This is because it takes time to load a graphic, but if your browser knows how much space is going to be needed it can set that aside and continue loading the rest of the page. The whole page then appears to load faster than if the graphic size was not specified. Some graphics can take a long time to load and you will have to keep an eye on that. Animated graphics especially can take ages, and your visitors will tend to disappear since they are generally not very patient when they visit a site.
Web Site Design- Use of Graphics and Fonts Part II
It is best to keep animation to an absolute minimum, if it is necessary at all, and you frequently see sites that allow you to click a button to skip the animated introduction. There’s not really much point in having it in that case! Studies have shown that visitors are more attracted by text than by graphics, and large banner ads are complete turn-offs. In many cases, therefore, your web page would perform better with more text and fewer graphics. Where graphics are necessary, because many sites do not look like right with none at all, try to keep away from Flash since they can take ages to load.
There are circumstances where graphics are useful, such as photographs of yourself or your products, and most online businesses like to display a logo. However, to help your search engine listing you should provide alternative text for two reasons. One is that if the browser fails to resolve the graphic for any reason, your reader will see a textual description rather than a blank, and also the search engines do not read graphics but read the HTML description of it.
There are circumstances where graphics are useful, such as photographs of yourself or your products, and most online businesses like to display a logo. However, to help your search engine listing you should provide alternative text for two reasons. One is that if the browser fails to resolve the graphic for any reason, your reader will see a textual description rather than a blank, and also the search engines do not read graphics but read the HTML description of it.
Web Site Design- Use of Graphics and Fonts Part III
Text, too, is important. There is no evidence that search engine algorithms have a text element, but easily readable text is useful in keeping visitors on your page. There is a big difference between reading on a screen and reading a book or magazine. Serif fonts are generally too fussy for on-screen reading, but are better than sans serif for paper text. The serif is the little tail that many letters have in fonts such as Times New Roman. If you must use a serif font online, Courier is better than Times.
However, sans serif (French for ‘without serif’) always wins hands down, and the two best are Verdana and Arial in that order. Arial tends to be a bit difficult to read in the smaller font sizes than Verdana, and most computer software have both available.
However, just in case, allow an option by phrasing your HTML thus: . The HTML will load the Verdana first, but if that is not available then it will load Arial. Your text should be crisp and easy to read, and rather go for fancy text and background colors, stick to black on white for the majority of your web page. You can use other combinations for specific highlighted areas, but not all over.
Finally, your text size should preferably be HTML size 2 or 3. Size 1 is too small and can even be penalized by search engine spiders if they think that you are trying to hide the text behind its size. The same applies to insufficient contrast, and if a spider reckons that you are trying to hide keyword stuffing by reducing the contrast between text and background, it will penalize you. Keep in mind that spiders have no eyes for color: they read only the HTML. Try to use only two font sizes on a page, one for the main text and the other for headlines and titles.
Intelligent use of graphics and fonts in your web site design can benefit you, both in the black and white view of spiders and in the eyes of your visitors who like attractive sites. Keep it simple and natural to succeed.
However, sans serif (French for ‘without serif’) always wins hands down, and the two best are Verdana and Arial in that order. Arial tends to be a bit difficult to read in the smaller font sizes than Verdana, and most computer software have both available.
However, just in case, allow an option by phrasing your HTML thus: . The HTML will load the Verdana first, but if that is not available then it will load Arial. Your text should be crisp and easy to read, and rather go for fancy text and background colors, stick to black on white for the majority of your web page. You can use other combinations for specific highlighted areas, but not all over.
Finally, your text size should preferably be HTML size 2 or 3. Size 1 is too small and can even be penalized by search engine spiders if they think that you are trying to hide the text behind its size. The same applies to insufficient contrast, and if a spider reckons that you are trying to hide keyword stuffing by reducing the contrast between text and background, it will penalize you. Keep in mind that spiders have no eyes for color: they read only the HTML. Try to use only two font sizes on a page, one for the main text and the other for headlines and titles.
Intelligent use of graphics and fonts in your web site design can benefit you, both in the black and white view of spiders and in the eyes of your visitors who like attractive sites. Keep it simple and natural to succeed.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Lucrative Web Site Designing
Developing a website for one’s business takes in a lot of time, investment s well as energy. So, what can be the ways which would guarantee a good return to your investment?
There are numerous ways which can ensure good profits. We see lots of small business websites which have cluttered backgrounds, unreadable fonts, and too many contrasts to color and shade, the most important factor in making a good impact to the consumer in the first glance is to keep the website as clean and in order as it can be. With consumers having enormous choice in front of them, it is also essential to capture their interest in the first 10 to 20 seconds. This time is usually very crucial, as in this time, consumers usually decide whether they would be looking deeper into the website or moving on to the next one. Therefore, try to keep the objective and the purpose of your website as clear and as exposed as possible, so that the prospective client would take some more time to browse thorough the website and find what they are looking for.
Websites which hold a lot of content on their first page generally take longer to load, with the attention and patience span of consumers becoming lesser and lesser due to the vast variety in front of them, hence, the first page of the website should be precise and concise. Lastly, a rightly designed website must be updated regularly with all the current and up to date information.
There are numerous ways which can ensure good profits. We see lots of small business websites which have cluttered backgrounds, unreadable fonts, and too many contrasts to color and shade, the most important factor in making a good impact to the consumer in the first glance is to keep the website as clean and in order as it can be. With consumers having enormous choice in front of them, it is also essential to capture their interest in the first 10 to 20 seconds. This time is usually very crucial, as in this time, consumers usually decide whether they would be looking deeper into the website or moving on to the next one. Therefore, try to keep the objective and the purpose of your website as clear and as exposed as possible, so that the prospective client would take some more time to browse thorough the website and find what they are looking for.
Websites which hold a lot of content on their first page generally take longer to load, with the attention and patience span of consumers becoming lesser and lesser due to the vast variety in front of them, hence, the first page of the website should be precise and concise. Lastly, a rightly designed website must be updated regularly with all the current and up to date information.
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