Jyoti Mali asked:


When it comes to effective web site design as part of your Web 2.0 efforts, a couple of things need to be kept in mind. If you want your website to be stunning and effective, here are some web 2.0 web design tips to help you get started.

Keep it simple Having too many features can take away from the central purpose of the site. That does not imply bare, simple design. Instead it means using the minimum features required to achieve your objective. As part of quality custom web design you need to ensure this. Central positioning When your web site design is built centrally it is more likely to give out an honest impression of your brand. Besides the brand messaging, it also is far more easy on your budget as you need lesser pixels or content. Less number of columns The fewer columns you use, the more readability you infuse into your website. If you are hiring high quality web designers they will quickly tell you that cramming too much information on a page is always a bad idea. Making navigability easy You don’t want your website visitors to keep hunting for information on your site! Any section on web 2.0 web design tips will advise you to keep navigation obvious and easy to reach. Text size As a way of infusing better readability it is also important to have bigger sized text. As part of good website design tips you can highlight important elements with a larger font size. Differentiating sections You can also employ the usage of bright colors as part of your custom web design. This can help demarcate areas on the site and make it easier for readers to understand different sections. Rich aesthetic appeal You want your site to look stunning. As part of that effort your web site design need to use good quality aesthetic elements. Aspects like drop shadows or reflections can really help jump start the look and feel of your website! Self explanatory icons You can also use innovative icons which explain the concept better than plain text. Today the focus is on lesser usage of icons and more text. However, web designers tend to use such icons sparingly only in high value areas of the site. Labels You can also use star shaped labeling in order to draw the visitor’s attention to something. For example in your web site design you may want to showcase a special promotional discount etc. However, use these sparingly as over-usage sends out a ‘cheap’ signal to visitors. Large logo design One of the aspects of web 2.0 web design tips is to use bold and large logos to draw more attention and create a statement.

SeoDesignOnline.com

Josh Hughes asked:


Navigation is Everything

It actually is the website. With bad navigation and poor site structure your site will be confusing and hard to navigate. Otherwise, you might as well just scan in a brochure and have that be your website.

Keep Your Message Short

Studies show that over 80% of people online don’t read, but they scan. Take the text you planned on using for your website and cut it in half, then take that and try to cut it in half again. Only include important and relevant information.

People Like to Watch TV

Since most of the users won’t be reading your message anyway, why not let them sit back and watch or listen to your message. Video and audio is a great way to set your site apart.

Less is More

Your design, especially the homepage, should be clean and not cluttered. If your site is too busy it may scare off or confuse the user. Web users are busy and they want to get straight to the facts or order a product. (see billboard design)

Billboard Design

You want your homepage to be like a billboard. Imagine driving down the highway and spotting a billboard, you only have a few seconds to look at it, process the information, decide if it is for you and what to do next; call or visit their website. Your homepage should be the same way; the user should know what you are about within a few seconds.

Nice Address

You will want to try to get a domain name that is either short, easy to spell, or easy to remember. Also, try to buy the .net .us .info etc. extensions if your budget permits.

Tie it All Together

You want your website to match and flow with your current identity and other materials. Additionally, you will want to put your website address on all of your printed materials.

You Get What You Pay For

You could have your neighbor or secretary design your website, but owning a computer doesn’t make them designers, just as owning a first aid kit does not make someone a doctor. It’s best to leave design and programming to a professional who knows what they are doing.

Spiders See Things Different

Your website may look easy to comprehend on the outside, but to a search engine spider it looks completely different. A website should be both people friendly, (Good Design, Usability, Navigation, and Content) and search engine friendly, (Keyword Density, Page Names, Site Structure, META Tags, Links, Site Maps and more). High ranking on a search engine can be a huge asset to your website.

Where is the Party

With hundreds of millions of individuals now online, the internet has formed into groups called Social Networks. To attract groups, try starting a newsletter, blog, or even create your own podcast. Let your creative side show with these emerging technologies and let the party begin.

by Joshua Hughes
© 2007 Digital Skratch Inc. | http://www.digitalskratch.com

Website Optimization

Chris King asked:


In this article, I include four graphics tips that I learned the hard way.

TIP #1. Be sure to use the ALT parameter. The ALT parameter is the descriptive text that should be included with the image tag. The reasons are that often visitors have set their browsers to not display graphics, if a link is broken the visitor will only see a box with a red x, and those who are visually impaired will have no idea what is being included on the page (they now have programs that read the text to them as they surf, so they will hear the description in the ALT tags). In addition, the browsers of today show a box with the ALT text when one rolls their mouse over the image. This is a big help if you rely upon buttons for your navigation.

TIP #2. Don’t rely upon graphics for presenting your content. Many graphic designers who have come to the Internet from print work have been disappointed by the lack of having the usual variety of fonts they have enjoyed in the past. To circumvent this scarcity, they develop graphics using fonts of their choice to broadcast their message. The problem is that search engines judge a site and pages by the words that appear. They do not read the words on a graphic, so you will miss out on placement. My suggestion is to use the fonts available.

TIP #3. Use excellent photographs. I prefer to take my own. If that is impossible, ask for original prints to scan or high resolution digital images. After enhancing with the graphics program of your choice, use that program to do as much compressing of file size as possible without losing all of the detail. Most users today are in too much of a hurry to wait for lengthy downloads.

TIP #4. Make sure that the graphic images that you use for navigation are self-explanatory. I have visited many sites with clever icons that are actually links to other pages, but are confusing enough that one has no idea where he or she is going. Just remember that the easier the navigation, the longer your visitor will stay on your site and the longer the better!

Graphics are fun and definitely enhance your site. Just make sure that you or your designer/developer uses them with thought and care!

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Francis Murphy asked:


A web design can make or break your website. There are always the essential effective web design factors that every website should know in order to get most benefits especially in terms of getting more traffic. Use these vital web design tips and get a guarantee of great first impression from your website viewers.

The number one thing that every web designer should know is the importance in having fast loading website designs. If your designs are taking a lot of time to load, no matter how exquisite-looking they are, your viewers will click on another page that has mediocre design but loads in a heart beat. Keep in mind that a great design should not take more than 15 seconds to load.

Clear navigation is the next important tip. Your website’s right top corner must have the important links as it is the first place a viewer looks. Use the right and left menus effectively by linking to pages of your website which will allow highest accessibility to other parts of your site. Make use of footer for other important links as well.
Design your website with special attention in using one that is best for all screen resolutions. Today’s computers come with much variety of resolutions from 640 x 480 to 1024 x 768 and higher. Learn to design your site through the use of percentage instead of pixels.

Check for browser compatibility as you would want your designs to look great in Internet Explorer as well as Netscape. It is often difficult to apply complex HTML designs in Netscape but this is important for your viewers who use Netscape so that they will be able to browse through your website and appreciate the effort you put in too. This will increase your traffic.

Use readable fonts that look professional. Bright yellow or green font is a no. The same thing goes for fancy type of font that is not going to be available on other computers. Stick to common web fonts like Arial or Verdana as they are easier to read.

These simple web design tips are going to give your web site the right attention that it calls for. Use them!

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Alex Hawk asked:


These following web design tips should give you a head start on your next web project.

Upper Left Handside Corner

Always place your logo on the upper left hand corner because people are conditioned to read for left to right, top to bottom. Naturally, this is where people would look first.

This is the primary reason why Microsoft applications have the file command in the upper left corner; it is the most commonly looked at space. Because people will always first look at that space, you must put there what is most valuable – your logo.

Easy Links

Some users find small links hard to click on so you should make your links consist of more than one word. Also, don’t make your cascading menu options too close to each other for the same reason.

Above The Fold

The term above the fold refers to newspaper stories that are printed on the top half, above the crease usually made. These stories were always the most important stories.

To get more people to see your important information and content, place these data above the web design fold; this means put the content where users won’t have to scroll down to see it.

Choose Layout Before Interface

Before starting on your homepage, build a few graphic layouts and place them in a PowerPoint slide. Doing this will make browsing more convenient, before finally choosing a layout.

Worry about the interface after having chosen a graphics layout/theme.

SeoDesignOnline.com Website Analysis Tool

L. Gabriel asked:


Web designs are created to attract visitors and keep them in the site as long as possible. It is important that your church website’s home page has short text content to prevent the visitors from getting bored and from leaving the site early.

Other information about different aspects can be put on separate pages that visitors can access by using the site’s navigation system. The navigation links or buttons should be put in the main page of your site so visitors could see them right away. A home page with a short content and easy-to-use navigation format will be invite and encourage visitors to search different areas of your site.

The navigation design should be consistent and has the same patterns throughout the whole website. This will make the searching process faster and easier for your visitors. They should also link visitors directly to their desired information. For church websites, you could put a link to history, location, time of services, beliefs and doctrines page, church administration, and gallery.

You can choose from many different types of navigation designs that you want to use for your website. Text links are commonly used in websites. They are usually blue underlined words that can take visitors directly to a specific area of your site. Even visitors who are new to the World Wide Web know how text links work. The design of your text links could vary in font size and format depending on your personal preference. But it is important that your links can be easily distinguished from the rest of your site’s content. If you decide to use the color blue for your links, it would be best if you will not use that color for the rest of the contents.

If you think using text links for navigation is boring, you can use graphic images as your navigation buttons. These images could give distinct character to your church website. They could also add some life and color to your site. Images could easily catch people’s attention. These images could draw more people into your website because of their attractive appearance. You just have to make sure that you will only choose graphic images and colors that are appropriate for a church website.

You could also use drop-down menus for some aspects that have many areas. For a church website, if your church has many branches in different parts of the country or the world, you could just put the word “location” on the navigation button located at the site’s main page. Then you could use the drop-down menu to select the country or state to help visitors go straight to their desired area and find your nearest church in their location. You could also use drop-down menu for church administration. Put each church official’s name in the drop-down menu that will take visitors to their profiles.

Put navigation buttons like “home”, “next”, “previous”, or “top” on each page for added convenience. These will help visitors return to the main page easily should they wish to search another area of your site. Visitors usually stay longer in sites that have easy-to-use navigation designs.

Talk to your web designer so he could give you some options regarding your navigation design. He could also suggest a specific design that will suit your website.

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