Every design job starts with a brief from the client and this can range from the most informal chat to a written report supported by detailed research material. It doesn’t matter how you get brief so long as you make sure you know everything you need to do the job before you start. Whatever the nature of the brief, you must understand and establish at this stage who the job is to appeal to and exactly what it is supposed to communicate. Read more on this Article!
These website design ideas are meant for you if you’re a beginner seeking to design your own “first” site. It’s a no-brainer that just about EVERY business on the planet needs a website! Even nonprofit organizations, fundraising groups, churches, political venues, etc. must have a website to maximize their results these days. So now the question probably pops into your mind, “What are some ideas to get started with my own website?” We have a few that can help you start in the right direction….
Beginner Web Design Made Easy
Before you dive right in to buying a template and taking the “easy” way out, consider taking a beginner web design course that teaches basic HTML. Even if you don’t plan on learning extensive programming, a basic crash course in HTML will help you tremendously. While it is very basic stuff, even knowing the most common HTML tags can help you spruce up a web page (especially templates) to develop your site’s uniqueness. Without this knowledge, your site will look like everyone else’s that used the same template you’ve chosen.
When taking a beginner web design course, you might find that you catch on really quickly, and then decide to build your own site from scratch. A good instructor will show you much more than just HTML codes; he/she will also give you useful website design ideas to help you build a great looking site… all coded by hand! So don’t knock it until you try it, as the saying goes!
Business or Personal Site?
If your site is for personal uses, then you won’t have to worry so much about structure as you would for a business site. Personal sites are usually simplistic in web designing with some text, links (if you have multiple pages), and photos or images. There are even free photo gallery software programs that enable you to build a very professional looking photo gallery online with minimal experience. This can be transferred to your own site at no charge. With all the great web design tools available today, you can create an amazing personal site once you know the basics of design.
Website design for business can be a little more complex, especially if you need shopping cart capabilities, complicated menus, and interactive features. The great news is there are a number of software programs, free shopping cart applications, etc. you can use to build a professional business website on your own. Once you know the basics of HTML and website design ideas on how to structure a page, you can always add these features as you learn how. If you need a shopping site, however, it’s a good idea to implement this into your design from the start.
Site Layout Tips
Decide whether you want to use software or a design template, or design in plain HTML from scratch. Software such as WordPress requires minimal web design knowledge, but makes a site very easy to update and add to later on. You can also customize a WordPress site so it won’t look like a blog. The layout of your site should be customer- or user-friendly. Place your main written content or sales presentation in the middle of the page at an easy reading level. Include a logo and perhaps a menu up top (above the reading), then menus to the side and in the footer as needed.
This layout is common with most websites and for good reason… it’s what web surfers are used to seeing! Of course, you do have some room to be creative. Choose a table-based page layout with 1, 2 or even 3 columns, depending on the look and feel you want to achieve. Also, browse other sites that are similar to your theme to get great website design ideas.
Hosting and Domain Names
Choose your domain name and hosting company wisely. Once you find and learn from a web design course of study, choose a domain name and start designing and promoting your site, you won’t be able to change it without starting over from scratch. So do some research and find a domain name that’s easy to remember for your target audience. Shorter names without dashes usually work best. You can visit Go-Daddy.com or other domain registrars to check domain name availability at no charge.
Be sure to choose your host carefully as well. A host provides space for your site on the web. It’s important to use a reliable, secure host so your site will stay up and running at least 99% of the time! Use these website design ideas to start on your journey to having a great website for your business or personal needs!
A successful Web site doesn’t just happen by accident. To create a Web site people will want to visit over and over again, keep the following time-tested guidelines in mind.
1. Offer something useful on ever page
Too many websites are filled with fluff-pages that don’t have any useful content. Avoid creating pages that are just steps along the way to truly useful informations. Instead, strive to include something useful on every page of your web site.
2. Check the competition.
Find out what other Web sites similar to yours have to offer. Don’t create a “me too” Web sites similar to yours have to offers nothing but information that is already available elsewhere. Instead, strive for unique information that can be found only on your website.
3. Make it look good.
No matter how good the information at your web site is, people will stay away if your site looks as if you spent nomore than five minutes on design and layout. Yes, substance is more important than style. But an ugly website turns people away whereas an attractive Web site draws people in.
4. Proof it carefully.
If every third word in your Web site is misspelled, people will assume that the information on your Web site is unreliable as your spelling. If your HMTL editor has a spell-check feature, use it. Otherwise, proof your work carefully before post it to the Web.
5. Provide links to the other sites.
Some of the best pages on the Internet are links to other Web sites that have information about a particular topic. In fact, many of the pages I have bookmarked for my own use are pages of links to topics as diverse as hobby electronics, softball and backpacking. The time you spend creating a directory of links to other sites with information similar or complementary to your own will be spent.
6. Keep it current.
Internet users will not frequent your site if it contains old, out-of-date information. Make sure you that you frequently update your Web pages with current information. Obviously, some Web pages need to be changed more than others. For example, if you maintain a Web page that lists the team standing for soccer league, you have to update the page after every game. On the other hand, a page that features medieval verse romances doesn’t need to be updated very often, unless someone discovers a previously unpublished Chaucer hidden in a trunk.
7. Don’t tie it to a certain browser.
Exploiting the cool new features of the latest and greatest Web browser, whether it’s Microsoft Internet Explorer or Safari, is a good idea. But don’t do so at the expence of users who may be using the other browser, or at the expense of users who are still working with an earlier version. Some people are still using browsers that don’t even support frames and other css tags. Make sure that any pages in which you incorporate advanced features of the newer browsers work well with older browser as well as testing your pages in as many diffirent browsers as possible.
8. Don’t make hardware assumptions.
Remember that not everyone has a 21-inch monitor and a high-speed DSL connections to the Internet. design your Web site so that it can be used by the poor sap who is stuck with a 14-inch monitor and -gasp- a 28.8kbps modem connection to the internet.
9. Publicize it.
Few people will stumble across your Web site by accident. If you want people to visit your Web site, you have to publicize it. make sure that your site is listed in the majoy search engine such as GOOGLE. Also you can promote your siteby puting your anchor text and links on template sponsorship, advertisements, link exchange, business card, offline advertisements and so on.
