Design A Great Site With These Tips

Is it necessary to use costly design software and highly customized templates to create the perfect website? The answer to that question is dependent upon your willingness to learn. You will have to rely heavily on expensive options, such as high priced software and development services, if you do not want to do it yourself. On the other hand, you can cultivate your own web design expertise and figure out how to build effective, economical websites for yourself by making use of tips like the ones below.

Make sure your text and background has the proper contrast. Theres evidence showing that white text on a black background is easiest for most people to read, but other colors are fine so long as theyre readable. Also keep in mind that people with visual impairments may not be able to read your site if the contrast is poor. Check to see if your site complies with various contrast standards using the tool at http://snook.ca/technical/colour_contrast/colour.html .

HTML5 video is set to become the next standard for displaying videos on the web and naturally, you should offer both a way in which users can stream your content through an HTML5 format as well as another format such as flash for those who have an older browser version.

Avoid cramming page elements together. Each section of your page should be naturally separated from each other, as this makes the purpose of each section more clear. The easiest way to separate sections is by using DIVs, but there are other ways, including absolute positioning (not recommended), the CSS margin command, and floats.

Use a style sheet to stay consistent. There is almost nothing more disconcerting than being sent to a page that looks at nothing like the site you were just looking at, even if it is concerning the same subject. Style sheets help with saving your formatting, so each page looks similar to the rest.

The use of JavaScript should be kept at a minimum. While Java opens many doors towards an interactive website experience, a lot of Internet surfers are going to have difficulty with it. Web browsers are all different, and each comes out with new versions pretty regularly. Not everyone will upgrade to the latest version of his browser. Also, not everybody has JavaScript enabled on their browser. This means theyll have difficulty viewing your site because of this.

Test your website before it goes live. Theres 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.

Build your website using a content management system. Knowing how to build a website using just HTML and CSS is good foundation knowledge, but this can only produce a static website. Web design has evolved into providing dynamic content. If you couple your coding skills with the use of a content management system, you can practically build any type of website that you desire.

To help keep your site visitors happy, do not underline words. Underline words on the internet signifies that the word is a clickable link. If you have too many words on your pages that are underlined with being clickable links, then your visitors will be frustrated after continuously trying to click on them.

Learning web design is much easier than learning how to do open heart surgery. You wont have to go to school, and you definitely arent holding anyones life in your hands. If you can follow all the suggestions outlined above, you will be able to design a great looking website.