Have you seen a website that amazed you? From graphic design to layout, there are lots of elements that turn a site from okay to awesome. In this article, you will learn all the tricks and tips that the pros already use. Keep reading to uncover more secrets on web design!

Avoid using so-called “mystery meat navigation”. This involves using unlabeled images or other elements for the site’s navigation. In many cases, the visitor has to mouse over the buttons to even see what they do. Navigation is best kept simple. Use text links across the top or along the left side of the page.

Test your site to see if the major translation services work properly when translating your site. Some sites receive many international visitors, and these visitors sometimes use services like BabelFish and Google Translate to translate the text to their language. Certain web design problems, especially poor server side code, can break these services.

If you want your site visitors to spend as much time as possible on your site, make text easy to read. One of the most common design mistakes is using graphic backgrounds with patterns or dark colors; combine this with equally dark text and you have a recipe for disaster. Unless the text is clear and easy to read, your site will not be a success.

If you have several pages on your web site, use a navigation bar at the top to help visitors find the information they need right away. Include contact information, so they can speak with you if they’d like. Headings should be clear and visible, and paragraphs should be concise as well as easy to read.

Always provide site visitors with an option to offer feedback. This lets you see if anything is confusing, or if you’re missing something on the page, so that you may fix it as you can. Letting your visitors get involved helps to ensure they will come to your site again.

Avoid excessive use of pop-up windows. Even though you may find a reason to have them, your visitors will find them annoying. Many visitors to your site may simply exit the site when faced with a pop-up. If this happens, they are unlikely to return.

One thing you should always take into account when you’re thinking about web design is the latest technology that is out today. As technology advances to does the web, so be sure you are always up to date with what is changing so that you’re that much more understanding of how the web works.

Make sure your website uses a consistent font throughout. Some websites change fonts willy-nilly without any design reason to do so. This makes the content difficult to process for visitors. Most websites, especially business websites, will do just fine sticking to basic fonts like Arial, Veranda, or even Times New Roman.

Add a search feature to a website. When visitors come to your website, they want to easily be able to find what they are looking for. A keyword search feature will make it easy for people to find the right page on your site, especially if the website you are designing is very complex.

Make sure your site loads quickly through optimization techniques. When a visitor must wait lengthy periods of time to see information, he or she will probably give up. When you reduce your graphics and other fancy elements, you will speed up access to your pages and retain your visitors.

To help you create good web pages and fix mistakes on your own, learn computer languages. Educating yourself on how a website actually works will help you quickly fix any mistakes. Knowing how to deal with problems on your site will save you time and money, as you will not have to rely on outside help to remedy the situation.

Learning about design on the web is much easier as you practice. The best way to learn is by starting up your own page and begin with simple scripts in HTML or PHP and upgrading as you become comfortable. Practice should start sooner than later.

A visitor counter does not add to the appearance of your website. While you might think that it’s adding something to your site, it’s really something that your visitors don’t want to see. So skip the counter on the page and count visitors with behind the scenes data tracking.

Always make sure that your site design works well on every browser. Your coding might look great in Firefox, but it could be askew in Internet Explorer. You need to find out exactly how things look in all browsers and then code in a way that leaves your site looking the same on every popular browser.

To show that you care about the quality content on your website, always that the time to carefully proofread. Users should be able to go through it with no problems. If the site is clunky and slow, you will be labeled as a fly by night marketer and lose not only traffic but potential revenue.

Do your best to stay consistent with your efforts when you are learning web design. You don’t want to learn a couple of things then come back a couple of weeks later and try to learn something new and already have forgotten the information that you had previously learned complicating your whole web design process.

If you expect many people to contribute to the content of the website, incorporating a content management system (CMS) into the design of the website might be a good idea. A CMS will make it easier for everyone to add to and update the content without needing a high level of technical knowledge. These systems are easy to use, and can make publishing content on the website much more efficient.

Now you know a lot of different secrets for creating great websites. Start a rough draft and list what you like about other sites. Be creative and don’t forget to enjoy it!