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8 Tips for Designing a Great Website
Square buttons, round buttons, flashy buttons ? will they match my shoes, my handbag or my tie? Are you stuck in a maze of buttons, headings, bullets, sub-headings and colour schemes? STOP!!!! Take a deep breath and read some practical tips for professional looking websites. 1. Select a colour scheme and stick to it. If your company has a logo or preferred colours on its stationery that's a good start. For those of you starting from scratch, choose two or three complementary colours and stick with them - don't change colours on every page. The most common colour schemes include:
If you're not sure what colour scheme to choose, surf the internet and find a website that you like. You can then model your colour scheme on what already exists. 2. Use templates. Can't find a website you really like? Another option is to choose a template. There are many templates or pre-set designs. These come as part of your web design software (such as FrontPage) or you can check out some websites that specialise in designing templates. Visit:
3. Provide an easy to use navigation system. This is one of the most important issues to consider when designing a website. You need to ensure your visitors can find what they are looking for easily. Most websites either display their navigation bar on the left or at the top. And since most people are used to this type of navigation, it's best to stick with it. It also helps to include your navigation bar at the bottom of each page to save your visitors from having to scroll back to the top. 4. Don't go overboard on special effects Whilst it is ok to have one or two special effects to jazz up your website, spinning graphics and logos often distract your visitor from the content, not to mention they can take too long to download. Your visitors may click away even before your spinning logo finishes loading. 5. Backgrounds Ensure your visitors can read the text on the background, ie. no black writing on dark blue background or yellow on white. Also be careful that your links are visible before and after being visited. The default for links in most programs is blue (before being visited) and burgundy (after being visited), so if you have a dark background, ensure your links are light. 6. External Links It is a good idea to open links to other websites in a new window. That way your visitors can easily return to your site when they are finished browsing the external link 7. Site Map & Search Feature If you website is more than 15 pages, it is useful to have a site map or a "Search" feature to ensure your visitors can easily find what they're looking for. 8. Content is King While it is important that your website looks clean and professional, it is far more important that you concentrate your efforts on the content and promotion. If you want a professional website, things to stay away from include: Don't sweat the small stuff and get yourself focussed on what to include on the website and the best way to promote it. We will cover these topics in future articles. Copyright 2004 Ivana Katz About The Author Ivana Katz is the owner of Websites 4 Small Business, a company specialising in the design and promotion of small and home-based business websites. She believes that every business deserves to have a successful website, no matter what its budget is. For more information visit www.web4business.com.au or email info@web4business.com.au
MORE RESOURCES:  Yahoo! News Search Results for website design Yahoo! News Search Results for website design • Custom website design company for your online presence We live in a technology oriented environment where most business owners try to establish a durable online presence or to upgrade their existing website, appealing to a custom website design company. Regardless of the web design services you need, those of you who want to make sure they will be working with the best have to know from the very beginning their web design needs and what to ask for ... • Website-Watcher Alerts You to Web Site Updates Keep a close eye on your favorite Web sites, and compare versions of pages off-line, with Website-Watcher Basic. Website - Web Design and Development - FAQs Help and Tutorials - Drupal - Law • Dynamic 3D online modelling enables creativity in connector design Design engineers can now build 3D prototype interconnects and import them into their own CAD systems using a new capability from ITT Interconnect Solutions. Its website now allows design engineers to dynamically create virtual 3D connector models, even designs which have yet to be manufactured. • PTC website named one of best in Ga. Peachtree City?s website has been named one of the top Georgia local government websites by Juggle.com, an online encyclopedia and reference website. Juggle.com?s review of local government websites extended to both web design and content. This year the city began broadcasting City Council meetings on the site, and the main page often offers one-stop shopping for those looking for upcoming local ... • Magma Design Automation Inc. Reports Operating Results (10-Q) By 10qk. Magma Design Automation Inc. ( LAVA ) filed Quarterly Report for the period ended 2010-08-01. Read more » » |
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