Internet site Style and design - Some Fundamentals of a Good quality Internet site Design For your Hertfordshire Business

Today I'm going to speak about some Do's and Don'ts of site style and design. As a website designer in hertfordshire, this is 1 topic I am passionate about. So please, bear with me if I start to ramble on a bit. I want to share as considerably useful internet site design and style data as achievable (without dull you to death) but when it comes to the topic of creating web sites, I could talk for hours. So let's start... For starters, I think your web site design should represent your individual or company philosophy, your values, and the overall "seem and really feel" of who you and your organization are (or who you want to be)   When men and women see your web site for the initial time, they're going to get an instant impression of you and your company... What do you want them to see? Take my most recent internet site for example (you can examine it out by following the hyperlink at the finish of this report)... When I intended this website, I wished it to be basic, crisp, and stylish. The black background represents authority. And it also takes away some of the eye strain you may well get, from searching at a vivid white keep track of, whilst attempting to read what's in front of you. What values does it represent..? The values of authority, or an individual who understands what they're carrying out. It also shows my concern for your comfort (decreased eye strain whilst you're reading through)   Then, I wished to give you one thing a bit more entertaining to search at, so I additional a number of flash banners to the pages. What is the philosophy behind this..? To give you good quality details, from the words you happen to be reading through, but not bore you with a static site design that has nothing at all but words on the web page. Finally, I put all the primary navigation back links in the same location on each web page (Left hand side of web page) This is so you may know precisely the place to uncover the backlinks, no matter which page you happen to be on. I also sprinkled a number of links all through the text, so if you want far more details about something, you can click on the link, and move on to what ever you're interested in. So, what do you want to impress your website guests with? Do you want a corporate presence that is all organization..? Or do you want a website design that exhibits you are an sincere person, with hometown values (and not just a faceless corporation)..? Or possibly you want a site design that exhibits folks you are a enjoyable loving person, with a sense of humor..? Maybe you just want a internet site to showcase your hobbies, skills, or personal opinions..? There are almost as numerous answers to this query as there are men and women reading this web page right now. My principal philosophy is to maintain your website design straightforward. There are some huge corporate sites on the world wide web that are quite complicated (and usually very confusing to navigate) and most of the guests they obtain, click away without acquiring anything. This is fine, if you have hundreds of thousands of dollars to devote, driving enormous amounts of targeted traffic to your site. (If 10,000 individuals a day are going to your web site, you don't thoughts when only 1 out of each and every 200 actually make a purchase. You may even now make 50 revenue a day)   But for us mere mortals, who only see a few hundred visitors a day, we'd considerably instead have a increased rate of conversion from our internet sites. You also never want to make your web site design and style also cluttered or too distracting. Tons of animated images or flashing banners could seem awesome, but your visitors will turn into distracted, and quite possibly neglect why they came to your website in the first place. Also, also several moving images makes your web site load a lot slower, so some guests could click away before they ever see your web site pages at all (No one wants to develop old waiting for a internet site to load)   Pop up windows are another factor... 1 pop up is O.K. (to present a unique offer or an e-mail sign up form). But you do not want far more than 1 on any page, and make sure your visitors can close it right away if they want to. Those pop up windows that block out component of the page, and won't allow you close them for a particular amount of time, only irritate most folks. And if you irritate your visitors... they are going to click away from your website, and by no means come back. So when your pondering about what variety of web site design you'd like, maintain in thoughts who your building your world wide web presence for... your visitors. Retaining your web site easy to navigate is a single of the most critical elements of a good website design and style. If your visitors get baffled seeking for something on your website, they are going to click away from your internet site and seem somewhere else. We live in an attention deficit society, and most folks want instant benefits from their inquiries. If you do not give it to them, they are going to look elsewhere. You also want a website design that will effortlessly enable the search engines to navigate your site, so they can index it in their search listings. (You do want your web site to display up in the search engines, don't you?)   But what about Flash internet sites? It's true... Flash websites represent some of the latest technologies in web site style... They move and flow, and they can make your visitors say "WOW, NEAT Web site". But total flash internet sites are hard for search engines to index, due to the fact search engines only read HTML code and web page text. If the search engines can not inform what your web site is about, they will have a tough time indexing your web site for your certain keywords. I do like the look of Flash internet sites, and if you'd like me to develop you one, then we also require to speak about off web page site promotion. (methods to get real individuals to your site, whilst we're waiting for the search engines to figure out in which to index your internet site)   Now never get me incorrect... Huge flashy sites are a designers dream. It gives us a possibility to genuinely get innovative with flash animations, dynamic pop up windows, and car loading video clips. but they can often be extremely perplexing to navigate, and they can also be quite distracting to your visitors. If your visitors get also distracted by all the flash animations, they will often get baffled or frustrated, and probably even irritated. Don't forget... irritating your internet site visitors is one of the quickest methods to get them to leave your site in a hurry. How about pure CSS internet sites? CSS web site patterns are an additional up and coming site technology. There are many CSS evangelists who would have you feel it's the only way to go. CSS web sites use an external file (CSS file), as a substitute of tables, for the seem of your site layout. A lot of men and women think they give a more steady appear for a internet site when viewed by means of diverse net browsers (Firefox, Net Explorer, Safari, and so forth.) They also tend to load a bit more rapidly due to the decreased code on every single individual page. But CSS sites also have their limitations. In certain, when it comes to centering specific fonts and photos on the web page. Apart from... table layouts, when carried out appropriately, will also give you a consistent appear through all main net browsers. CSS web sites also permit you to globally modify the search of your website by editing a single file rather of changing every page individually. This is wonderful if you want to continually make alterations to your web site style, but if you previously have a internet site style you're happy with, then this point is not really needed. Also, if you want to have different headers, or fonts, or photos, on various pages, then you'll require to entry each and every web page of your internet site one particular-at-a-time anyway. What about PHP internet sites? PHP web sites are the only genuine way to go if you want a dynamic database driven website, (like a complete e-commerce store, or a community internet site, or a website. Fundamentally any website exactly where you want to preserve your guests details, so they can log into an region of your web site with their title and password. Or if you want to let your guests to leave feedback on your website). But PHP web sites tend to load slower than common HTML internet sites. So if you merely want a quick loading internet site, to bring your organization to the internet, HTML is the way to go. You can still market products and services from an HTML website, but they never have to go by way of a database to retrieve any info. ---   So there you have it... My principles for a high quality web site design and style. I could go on for another hour, but this report is already commencing to get a bit extended. (in truth... This web page utilized to be almost twice as long) But then my close friends and family informed me you may possibly not be as enthusiastic as I am about the subject. So I shortened it up a bit. The challenging element was editing the content with no leaving out some of the items I needed to say. I comprehend this entire approach can be a bit of a challenge, trying to set up a net presence that will be up to date with modern technologies... a single that will easily be indexed by the search engines... and a internet site style that will also be easy adequate to permit your visitors to make the selection of carrying out organization with you. So your finest bet is to just browse the web and search at some other site styles that are attractive to you. When you see a couple of that you like the look of, it will give you a commencing point for your very own site style   In summary... The style and design of your web site says a great deal about you and your company. A clean effective website design tells your guests you run a clean, efficient organization. By contrast, a cluttered or perplexing site design and style tells your guests you are cluttered and perplexing. If your guests cannot fully grasp your internet site, or if they can not effortlessly navigate your internet site, then they will possibly click away as quickly as they arrive... never to return once more. When individuals see your site for the initial time, they're going to get an instant impression of you and your company, and the 1st impression they are going to get will be primarily based on your site style... What do you want them to see? Feel about it...