Tips for Effective Web Design

Here are some essential web design tips that every web site should
follow. Design your web site by following these tips and I guarantee
that visitors will have a great first impression of your site.

1. Fast Loading web site designs - This is the number 1 tip that every
web designer should follow. You might design a web site that looks
fantastic but few people are going to see it if it takes a long time
to load. Your designs should be optimized for the web and should not
take more than 15 seconds to load. Remember, you might have a great
design but very few people are going to see it if it takes a long time
to load.

2. Clear Navigation - Once a visitor has come to your site you need to
make them go through your site. To do this you need to have clear
navigation. Make sure all your important links are at prominent
places. Preferably right on top - that's usually where a visitor first
looks. Make use of menus on the right and the left. Try to link to as
many pages of your site. Let your information be accessible from all
parts of the site. You never know what a visitor may be interested in.
Try to also use the footer for your important links.

3. All Resolutions - Today, there are computers with all kinds of
resolution. They range from 640 x 480 to 1024 x 768 and go even
higher. Your job is to design your site for all these resolutions. The
best way to do this is to design your site in terms of percentage and
not pixels

4. Browser Compatibility - Make sure your site is browser compatible.
Your web site should look good in Netscape as well as in Internet
Explorer. Don't stop designing your site as soon as you find that it
looks great on IE. Usually Netscape gives some problems, especially
when you try doing complicated HTML designs. But don't give up too
soon, usually with patience these problems can be easily fixed.

5. Readable and professional looking fonts - Don't ask me how many
times I've clicked out of a site just because the font is in Comic
Sans and the color is a bright pink or green. Just by looking at the
font you feel that the site is not a professional site. Don't use
Comic Sans and other fancy fonts that may not be available on most
computers. If the font you use is not available in a visitors computer
the web site will use the default font of your computer which is much
worse. So try to keep to common and professional web fonts. The fonts
that I always stick to are Arial and Verdana.

6. Minimize the use of images - I believe that sometimes simple
designs are the most effective for the web. Keep your site simple but
neat. Don't clutter your page with big, bulky images that take ages to
load. Instead use tables creatively and design eye - catching icons
that will draw a visitor's attention to a particular section of your
site. Tip - Visitors are usually more interested in content than in
design.

7. Use of white space - Try not to clutter up your page with too many
images, backgrounds and colorful fonts. Again use the Keep It Simple
principle by minimizing the use of graphics and using a lot of white
space. White space gives a sense of spaciousness and overall neatness
to a site. Notice the white space in our site.

8. Check for broken links - Always check for broken links within a
site before uploading it to your web server. In Dreamweaver you can
check for broken links by right clicking on any file in the Site Files
Window and then clicking on Check links - Entire Site. If you don't
have this facility you need to upload your site and then check it
using online tools like Net Mechanic.