There are millions of websites on the Internet, each sporting unique features that are either very attractive or unappealing to viewers. Whether you are interested in web design for personal or work-related purposes, there are basic tips that will help you create a website from scratch with enhanced skills so that your users will have a pleasant experience with your website.
Creating the layout design
During web designing, you will need to decide how you would like your content to be arranged on the screen. To do this, you need to know how to code HTML and have adequate understanding of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). It is not enough to have a Dreamweaver program for this purpose, understanding the basics of CSS is what will enable you to design an impressive website. With CSS basics, you will be able to change the color, type, and size of your text, as well as set a background color and image for your webpage.
If you want to center your webpage, as most websites do, or have it set off from the left side of the screen and spread to the right side, you will need CSS knowledge to do so. Keep in mind though, that people have different monitor sizes with different resolutions. As such, you will not want an extremely wide page layout that will force your users to scroll from left to right. Therefore, the best page width is about 900 to 950 pixels. Websites that are fully coded with HTML tend to take longer to load. This can be resolved by using CSS techniques that not only trim down the site's file-size, but also increase its compatibility on various Internet browsers.
Designing the header, body and footer
Most websites have a header, body, and footer in their pages. The logo or branding image is in mostly displayed in the header, together with other vital information such as contacts. The header is the first section to be viewed by users, and it can either be limited to a certain width or spread across the screen. Avoid cluttering the header as it will give an impression of a messy and uncoordinated site.
The main information that you want to convey is placed in the body of the website. The body contains a number of sections; therefore, layout is most crucial in this section. Rectangular arrangement is achieved with HTML and CSS. How you thereafter arrange your columns will depend on your creativity and preference.
The footer, which is positioned at the bottom of a page, contains copyright information, contact information, secondary navigation, and miscellaneous links.
Ensuring easy site navigation
If you want your viewers to stay longer in your site, you need to ensure that they can easily navigate from one page to another. You will need to create a toolbar or menu for this purpose. Use short and precise words to help your viewer to know the content of a provided link. The navigation menu is best placed on the top of the page. Place the menu containing other main links on the right side of the page. In case you would like to have many links on your website, use a drop-down menu to feature the links.
Index page, content, and images
Common sense: Do not place all your information on the index page; why give your visitors an unpleasant experience? It is better to distribute your information on various pages for convenience. Viewers appreciate easy, straightforward info; therefore, ensure that all your content is easy to read. Use a maximum of three font faces with sizes that range between 10 to 14 points. To emphasize keywords, you may use a different font style. Images used should be appropriately positions and sized depending on how much viewer attention you want to direct to them. For your photographs, use JPEG file format and PNG for screenshots, logos, and any other graphical element.
Joy Maya is a professional freelance writer and blogger at DegreeJungle.com. She has worked with clients from different fields including technology, education, health, and business and entrepreneurship.
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