The possibility of web design is both a thrilling prospect and potentially dreadful experience. This is even more so if you are inexperienced in this area. If you check out the advice below, you can both develop a better understanding of some web design basics and also get a good idea of how to put them to use with your own site.

Although it is common to see the www. at the front of a website URL, you should try to make sure that you can access your site whether you choose to include it or not. This will make it much easier for anyone to access regardless of how they type it.

Avoid using frames. Most sites have abandoned frames on their own as better alternatives have become available, but there are still sites out there that are trapped in 1996. Alternatives to navigational frames include fixed-position navigation panels, having navigation in multiple areas (e.g. left and bottom) or simplifying page structure so that navigational links are never far away.

Always keep the size of your pages to a minimum. Mobile users have no interest in pages which take forever to load. Reduce your load times so visitors have no reason to leave.

Test your website before it goes live. There’s nothing worse then launching your new website and having to take it down right away due to bugs or other issues. Get a group of people together who are using different web browsers and computer platforms, and ask them to use a beta version of your website, writing down any issues they come across.

Use a tracking service, rather than displaying your visitor counter for all to read. Many websites still display their counters, yet they do not serve any real purpose. There are many high quality tracking services available, and some are even free. Use these instead of showing off how many people visit you.

Learn the basics of HTML and CSS. Although there are many templates that allow you to just fill in the blanks, in order to create a web page, these templates provide only limited design possibilities. Understanding how the mark-up language and stylesheet work together will enable you to customize your website to your heart’s content.

Use breadcrumbs and make it so that clicking on the site logo returns you to the homepage. Breadcrumbs are markers that show where the visitor is in the site structure. For instance, the breadcrumbs might read “home > furniture > beds.” When the user clicks a link in the breadcrumbs, he can return to a page further up in the site hierarchy. Clicking on a business logo should generally take the visitor back to the homepage as well.

File types can affect the time it take for a website to load. You are better off keeping the graphics to the normal GIFs and JPEGs so it loads smoothly. Although PNG and MBP files might be the better options for web graphics, they take up way too much disk space. Convert to smaller sizes to make visitors happy.

Web Design

Avoid trying to add every new gadget to your website. It can be tempting to make your site look cutting edge by including every new web design option out there but it can end up turning people off. Simple will generally get the job done even better than a flashy layout.

Creating a site map is a very important part of the web design process. A site map is an effective way to inform visitors of the various kinds of content that your website has to offer, and is a great tool for navigating your website. Search engine crawlers will also utilize your site map for similar reasons, and therefore, including a site map will help boost your search rankings. Make sure your website has a site map, and that it is through.

The more time you spend working on your site, the easier web design will become. Try some easy web pages with C+ and HTML to learn the basics. By avoiding procrastination, you can begin to learn the basic elements quickly.

When selecting a domain name, it’s important that you’re creative. A big part of web design is having a site with a good, on-topic name. Having a catchy, relevant name will make people remember your website just as much as any design features would. Don’t think that a name isn’t an important feature.

Make sure you are always on the lookout for as much information as you can grasp your mind around when you’re getting into web design. There usually isn’t anything that you can learn that isn’t going to benefit you in web design, unless the information you learn isn’t true so be aware of this.

A great web design tip with regards to choosing your domain name is to choose a domain name that does not contain a dash (-). Sites with dashes are often not entered when people are trying to visit your site so try and avoid them at all cost so you don’t lost any traffic.

When working with a website design company it is important that you express what you want from their web design at the very beginning. It can be difficult for the company to give you the website you want if you are constantly changing the look, information or links that you want the site to contain. It is important to be prepared before meeting with the company.

You need to make sure the web design company you are hiring is as reliable as they claim to be. There are some people who will claim that they know a lot about web design when in actuality they know little to nothing about it. It is important to contact their references to find out if they are truly reliable and know what they are doing.

Reaching your target market can be fun and easy when you’re designing a website for your company. This is something that can be executed well that will make a great addition to how you can promote things. Begin now, and utilize the excellent tips given in the above article so that you can maximize your chance of success.