Posts Tagged ‘web design’

Basic Principles of Web Design

Sunday, January 25th, 2009

If you want to get yourself into the web design field and really excel at it, then of course you are going to need to educate yourself as much as possible. You are going to need to learn the tricks of the trade, and what you can do to be a master at your craft.

The good thing is that web design can be a very financially rewarding career and not only that but as well it is very fun and enjoyable and something that is constantly changing so you will never grow bored.

There are a few things in particular that you need to be aware of and think about if you want to be successful with your web design. For one, you want to know that web users are very impatient. They want to see what they are looking for right away, and not have to spend time looking at it.

Therefore, when you are designing a web page for someone you need to make sure that all the most important information is offered to the visitor immediately.

If a website is unable to meet a user’s expectations within as little as the first few seconds, this means that the designer has failed to do their job properly because the user is simply going to go to another website to get what they need.

Also know that users do not make optimal choices. More specifically, what this means is that users do not search for the quickest way to find the information that they are looking for and instead they tend to sacrifice, and they are going to choose the first reasonable option.

As soon as they find a link that they think may lead to their goal here, there is a very good chance that it will be clicked right away.

Business

The business aspect of web design is something that you are also going to have to be aware of. In particular email hosting, which is a very valuable resource these days, what with the explosion in demand for email services and the huge number of people who send and receive email messages every day.

Email services are crucial for any business to strive, and almost all the time when you are designing a business’s website you need to make sure that you incorporate an email link on the site.

By taking all of this important information into serious consideration, you will have great success with your web designing.

For more about web hosting please visit www.webhostingsolutionblog.com

 

Learning About Web Development

Saturday, January 24th, 2009

Web development is incredibly popular these days, and web development or web design as it is also known, refers to any activity related to developing a website for the Internet. For larger businesses and organizations, web development teams often consist of up to hundreds of people, who are known as web developers.

Having a career field in the web development field has definitely become extremely popular, mainly because it is so financially rewarding and also has such variety that you will really never get bored.

Web Design

Web design is the most integral and one of the most fun parts of web development as a whole. Web design is a process of conceptualization, planning, modeling, and execution of electronic media content, all via the Internet in the form of technologies.

If you want to learn web design you are definitely going to have to put a lot of time and effort into it, but you should not be concerned or worried about it being too hard. Some people definitely catch on quicker than others, but it is definitely a skill that almost anyone can master.

There are various tutorials and classes that you can take if you are interested in this, which you will definitely want to be a part of if you are considering web design as a career.

What it Has to Offer

Web development as a whole has a lot to offer. Really, any field that has anything to do with computers will be worth getting into, because you certainly don’t have to worry about it going out of style. It will always be a very financially rewarding industry and one that is always in demand so once you graduate from school or get your degree and start looking for a job, it will not take a long time, that is something that is for sure.

The best way to get started, if you are interested in getting into this field, is to start reading books on web design so that you can start by wrapping your head around it. You want to read and also listen to people speaking about it, so that you can get it in as many forms as possible and have the best chances of success.

Of course you are also going to need to have the necessary equipment, and for something like this that would mean a computer and the right web designing software such as Flash or a similar program.

For more about web hosting please visit www.webhostingsolutionblog.com

Find The Way to Choose the Good Web Hosting Service

Friday, January 16th, 2009

Web hosting plays a crucial role in uploading and maintaining your website. Web hosting companies have the right to decide on how much space should be given on the World Wide Web for your website. They have all the rights to control the functioning of your website. They provide you with various features and add on services. Without a web hosting service it is just not possible to run your own website. The entire Internet world needs web-hosting services to run successfully.

With the importance the web hosting service that host your website, it is crucial you take the time to find the right company to suit your needs. It is not difficult to find a web hosting service and finding the right one just take a little bit of searching with knowing what to look for. You will want to find a company that can offer you the best package based on your needs.  You will need to take into consideration your technical needs such as programming language, hardware, bandwidth, server platform and any other technical requirements necessary.

When you choose a web hosting company, you need to check if they are reliable and have a fast Internet connection. A web hosting company that offers at least 99% of server uptime with speedy Internet backup is the right company to go for. Also check if the company uses OC3 (optical carrier) lines and 155 megabits per second.

A reliable company will not be shy to spend big on better performing servers. They will also have hardware facilities that will grow as your business grows.

The company should be able to offer you the features that suit your company needs and technically fit. When your entire website depends on your web hosting service, these companies had better be up to speed. They will need to provide the ability for many visitors to be able to view your site at the same time.

You cannot emphasize enough the importance of Customer Support. A website hosting company should be able to offer 24/7 customer support along with live chat, toll free numbers and prompt responses to your emails and requests. You should be able to receive a response from an email within one business day. A company that cannot meet this deadline or just avoids your problems all together is not a good choice in working with.

By having reliable customer support you can be assured of help with any technical needs that may come arise. Being able to pick up a phone or receive a quick response online is settling when everything else seems to be going haywire and you need it fixed. You need it fixed now!

With the choice of which web hosting service you use being of so much importance, you must be careful in who you choose and stay alert. Take the time to do the research and compare the differences between the ones that make your cut. By following these simple rules, you will be saving yourself a headache down the line.

Author: Haiming Jiang is a Search Engine Expert and SEO web designer in New Zealand.

A Guide to Stinking Website Design

Monday, January 12th, 2009

What makes you want to click out of a website before you read the first sentence? For me, it is cheesy music with no way to shut it off.

Signs of Webmaster Newbies

All of us have been “newbies” at one point in our webmastering lives.To make what we thought were impressive sites, we spent hours searching the free javascript sites, dhtml sites and so on for copy-and-paste scripts.

First timer’s websites are easily spotted with their smorgasboard of javascripts, animated gifs, sounds and other components. The problem is, this makes a site look amateur.

Creating an Amateur Image

You might have a brick and mortar business that’s been around for the last decade, with tons of satisfied customers.On the Internet, your visitors are meeting you for the first time.To inspire trust, you want a professional image.  When designing your website, here are some things to avoid so that your business does not look amateur or like a fly-by-night operation:

  • Dark, heavy backgrounds with hard-to-read fonts - For a business website, it’s best to use a plain white background and black text so that your visitors can read it easily. Some first timers are tempted to have “artistic” backgrounds with different colored text fonts. Not only does it make your text hard to read, but if you are including pictures of products, it is hard to make them blend in with the background.
  • Pages that are larger than the browser screen - There’s nothing more irritating that trying to read a web page that scrolls across the screen. The majority of web users use 1024 x 768 as their desktop resolution. Try to remain within those confines.
  • Sound effects - Everyone has different tastes when it comes to music, but even if you discovered music that appeals to every single person alive, don’t make it automatically load on your site. With a music site, there are scripts that will allow the user to click “play” at his or her option. This applies to audio advertisements or other background sound effects — have a pause button or an off button.
  • “Cool” effects - About 8 or 9 years ago, it was real “cool” to have a flash presentation on the index page. Almost everyone was doing this. This does nothing to establish your online reputation. Flash introductions take forever to create and many of them are just downright stupid. These intros can take a long time to load and most people will not wait around to view them. Other things that beginners think are cool include animated images, page fading effects and scrolling text. I added these types of things when I first started out, thinking it made me look talented. However, the harsh reality is that these effects are a turnoff. I have seen some sites designed by alleged website design specialists, where the links quickly scroll across the screen and you have to “aim and shoot” just to be able to click a link. Don’t bother including these effects. People visiting your site are looking for specific information or products and are generally not looking to be impressed with the scripts you have embedded.
  • No clear navigation scheme - Many people enter a website by the interior pages, not at the home page. You need to give them a way to easily navigate through your site. Menus that are positioned on either the left or the top of the web page are the most popular and will be most familiar for your visitors. The key is that you keep your menu in the exact location throughout your site so that it is consistent. An amateur web design has no clearly defined and consistent navigation menu.
  • No search feature - Particularly if you have a large product line that you are selling or if you have a content rich site, always include a search box to help your visitors. If you don’t know how to do this, try free services like FreeFind or Google search.  This makes your site “user friendly” and shows that you care about your visitor’s experience on your site.
  • “Secret” prices - If you’re selling products, include the price. Don’t force your potential customer to go through the shopping cart process just to find out the price — many are turned off by this and will not do it in the first place.
  • Policies - An amateur site will not include privacy policies, terms of use and, when selling products or services, returns and shipping policies. If you are selling products or services, you should also provide contact information.
  • Under construction pages - “Under construction” or “coming soon” pages are a surefire way to announce that you’re an amateur. Do not bother linking to pages under construction. Once the page is completed and uploaded, then you can add a link to your menu and sitemap.
  • No online shopping cart - If you are selling a product, provide a way for people to purchase your product online. When people are looking to buy something online, they want to be able to buy it immediately. For the most part, your potential buyer is not interested in spending the time mailing in a check or money order. If you don’t have a merchant account, take a look at Paypal or, if y ou are selling digital products, consider services like Clickbank.There are free shopping carts available for people who already have a merchant account, such as Mals-e.com, which also givesyou the ability to offer an affiliate program.

What’s Your Top Gripe?

Newbie or pro, you can voice your opinion about what makes a stinking website at the NotGuru’s survey about poor website design.The NotGuru blog offers plenty of simple resources and tips, as well as software, giveaways and other offerings.Take the site design survey and feel free to voice your pet peeve in the comments - the results are quite interesting.

Building Your First Website

Wednesday, December 31st, 2008

Virtually all new companies have a corporate web site from the onset as to go without is, these days, considered foolish. In fact there are many businesses which exist solely on the Internet. If you are one of those people wishing to start an online business you may have shocked yourself if you had priced getting a professional web site built by professional web designers. This may have caused you to reconsider starting up your own business but read on as this article examines various aspects of web design focusing on creating your very first site for free or minimal cost using free tools and templates.

Although the cost of professional web design seems ridiculously high there are a number of reasons why this is so. Not only do you have to cover the wages of the highly trained designer but the company has other costs such as office expenses. Even if the web designer works from home he will be using software and hardware, such as Dreamweaver, Photoshop, graphics tablets and the likes, that is really rather expensive. You will be pleased to hear that not all things related to web design are expensive some are cheap and some are even free, furthermore such tools can be used to create complex and large sites.

Finding the cheap or free alternatives is as simple as a search on your favorite search engine. Simply search for “web design freeware” or “web design shareware”, the difference between the two types is that one is free whereas the other requests a small payment for use (especially if the software is being used commercially). You will find a massive selection of web building tools are available and many are so good that some professionals use them!

These days most free web design tools have a WYSIWYG interface which makes web design as easy as drawing a picture. However you will need to learn a little about the programming languages used in web design, HTML & CSS. Even basic knowledge of HTML and CSS will help greatly.

If building a web site from scratch using HTML and CSS is a little daunting then you can search the Internet for free web site templates or free css templates. You will be amazed at the quality of some of these designs which can be easily tweaked to perfectly match your web design requirements.

If even this method is a little too complicated for you there is another alternative which is one of the most popular ways in which to build a web site - blogs. Whatever topic you want your web site to be about you can be sure that a blog is highly suitable as the Internet has blogs about virtually everything possible.

The really great thing about blogs is that they are free, yes, get that, this amazing web building tool is offered for free! Of course some blogs carry a cost but the most common are free for a basic account, such as Blogger and Wordpress. You are given a small amount of web space to store your posts (pages) and images and the whole process of building a blog is so easy that children do it. The interface is rather like a word processor, you simply type in the text for the page and hit publish and the page is immediately created.

Of course the free blogs are rather basic with some limitations but as your knowledge increases you can upgrade some to include extra facilities and more web space. However it is really not that complicated to change the design of your blog and, if you have downloaded the blog software (Wordpress is best) to install on your own free web space (very easy to install) then you can take advantage of the many free Wordpress themes and templates available.

Remember building your first web site can be as easy as searching for freeware, shareware, free web templates etc. So why don't you head on over to your favorite search engine and get started on your very first web site just now? Take a Look at www.freewebsitetemplates4u.com