Home
>
Web Design
>
50 Surefire Web Design Tips

50 Surefire Web Design Tips

Tips to brand your website

Include your logo in all pages. Position it at the top left or each page.
Complement your logo with a tagline or catchy sentence that summarizes your business purpose. For example "Always low prices" is the tagline for Wal-Mart.
Create a favicon. A favicon is that small graphic that appears next to the URL in the address bar.
Have a consistent look and feel in all your pages. Use a color scheme and layout that are clearly recognized across your site.
Have an About Us section, that includes all relevant information about you and your business.
Include a copyright statement at the bottom of each page.

Tips on website navigation

Design your pages to load in less than 10 seconds (50Kb maximum size, including pictures).
Group your navigational options in relevant categories.
Use common names for your menu options: Home, About Us, Contact Us, Help, Products. Avoid "clever" or "trendy" alternatives.
If your site uses Flash, provide also an HTML version for users who prefer a less fancy, faster site.
Provide simple text navigation links at the bottom of long pages, so users don't need to scroll back up.
Link your logo to your homepage, except in the homepage itself. Put a link to your homepage on all your internal pages.
Display a "breadcrumb trail"; it is basically the path from the homepage to the page where you are. A breadcrumb trail looks like this: Home > Section > Sub-Section > Page, and it greatly facilitates navigation.
If your site is too big, provide Search capabilities. Include a search box in the upper right corner of your homepage, and a link to a Search page from your interior pages. Freefind ( ) offers you a free and powerful search engine for your site.
Set your search box to search your site, not to search the web.
Create a custom error page that displays a simple site map with links to the main sections of your site. That way, you will not lose visitors that have followed a bad link to your site or who have misspelled your URL.

Tips on Layout and Content Presentation

Save the top of your page for your most important content. Remember: good content must flow to the top.
Lay out your page with tables, and set the width in percentage terms instead of a fixed number of pixels. That way, your page will always fit the screen, without the need to scroll horizontally.
Optimize your page to be viewed best at 800x600 (the most popular resolution at the time of this writing).
Use high contrast for the body of your page: black text on white background, or white text on black background work best.
Don't use too many different fonts in one page. Also, avoid using small serif fonts (like Times Roman): they are difficult to read from a computer screen. Verdana is the most web-friendly font, since it is wide, clean and easy to read.
Avoid long blocks of text. Use tools that facilitate scanability, like bullets, subtitles, highlighted keywords, hyperlinks, etc.
Avoid amateurish features like: numeric page counters, wholesale use of exclamation points, all caps, center justified blocks of text, excessive animated gifs, busy backgrounds, etc.
Don't use pop-up windows. They distract your visitors and are immediately dismissed as ads.
Test your site so that it looks good in different browsers and resolutions.

Tips on Writing for the Web

Write in layman's terms so that everybody can understand your content, unless you're running a technical site for technical people.
Reading from a screen is painful: use 50% less words than you would use on print.
If a page is too long, break it into several pages and link to them.
Don't use font sizes smaller than 10pt. for the body of your page. Specify your fonts in percentage terms instead of pixels, to let users set their own size preferences using their browser's text view options.
Use a spell checker. Spelling mistakes are embarrassing and hurt credibility.

Tips to Know Your Customers

Ask for feedback: include a feedback form in your Contact Us page.
Publish an ezine and include a subscription form in your homepage. Give your customers valuable information and encourage them to contact you.
Include polls and other tools to gather market intelligence.

Tips on Linking

Make your links descriptive. They should indicate what the user will be linking to, as opposed to just saying "click here".
Don't underline anything that is not a link.
Underline your links and use a consistent color for them across your site (preferably blue).
Use a different color for visited links, so that your visitors know where they've been (preferably purple or a more subdued tone of the unvisited links color).
When linking to a non-HTML file, such as Excel, Word or Acrobat, make it evident, by including a small icon next to the link.
Don't link to "under construction" pages.
Make sure that your links work and that you don't have broken links. There are free online tools that can help you with this.
If you use graphic links, don't forget to use the ALT attribute. The ALT attribute should describe what are you linking to.

Tips on how to use graphics

Optimize your graphics. Use only .gif and .jpg formats. Make your image files as small as possible while maintaining acceptable quality. Use a free online graphics optimization tool.
Use thumbnails (miniature versions of a picture) and make them clickable to the actual size picture.
Avoid graphics that look like ads. People ignore them.
Use the ALT attribute on pictures, even the image is not a link. It helps users with disabilities and people who have turned off graphics.

Tips to optimize your site for the search engines:

Create short, descriptive page titles, to entice search engine users to click on your links.
Create a site map containing all your pages, and link to it directly from your homepage. Search engine robots will follow the link to your site map and will most likely add all your pages to the index.
Decide what the two or three main keywords are for each page (the words you believe search engine users will type to find your page) and repeat them often in your page title, description meta tag and page body.
Create a Links page and call it Resources. In it, place links to those sites that have agreed to place a reciprocal link to your page. The more inbound links you have from quality sites with a topic related to your site, the better your site will rank with the search engines.
Use more text than graphics, and minimize the use of Flash and JavaScript. Search engines heavily favor text and will crawl and index your site faster.

For more details on these tips, or for more tips, visit http://www.theinternetdigest.net .

About The Author

Mario Sanchez publishes The Internet Digest ( http://www.theinternetdigest.net ), a collection of web design and Internet marketing tips and resources to help you design a better website and market it more effectively.

tidy up service Glenview ..

In The News:

New Android malware BankBot YNRK silences phones, steals banking data and drains crypto wallets automatically. Learn how this advanced threat works.

FDA approves first human trial for Paradromics' brain-computer interface that could restore speech for paralyzed patients through neural technology.

New phishing platform QRR targets Microsoft 365 users across 1,000 domains in 90 countries. Learn how to spot fake login pages and protect your accounts.

OpenTable now uses AI to track your dining habits and share insights with restaurants. Learn what data they collect and how to protect your privacy.

Google's discontinued Nest thermostats still secretly upload home data to company servers despite losing smart features, raising serious privacy concerns.

New Android malware NGate steals NFC payment codes in real-time, allowing criminals to withdraw cash from ATMs without your card. Learn protection tips.

DoorDash confirms data breach exposing customer names, emails, addresses after social engineering attack. Learn how to protect yourself from scams.

Concerned about Google's AI scanning your Gmail? Learn how to disable Gemini features that access your emails, Drive files and Chat messages for privacy.

Google warns Android users about dangerous fake VPN apps hiding malware that steals passwords, banking details and personal data from phones and tablets.

Apple's digital passport feature lets iPhone users breeze through TSA checkpoints this holiday season using Digital ID technology at 250+ airports.

A new phishing scam targets family photos with fake "Cloud Storage Full" alerts. Criminals steal credit card information through fake sites. Learn protection tips.

South Korean scientists create ultra-thin fabric muscles that turn clothes into robotic assistants, lifting 33 pounds while weighing under half an ounce.

Archer Aviation has acquired Hawthorne Airport for $126M to launch an LA air taxi network ahead of the 2028 Olympics, featuring AI-powered eVTOL operations and next-gen aviation tech.

Stay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.

Fake AI apps disguised as "ChatGPT" and "DALL·E" are flooding app stores with dangerous malware that steals data and monitors users without detection.

Fake buyers demand specific vehicle reports from unknown sites to steal credit card information from car sellers, but warning signs can help identify these scams before paying.

Android users can now manage apps across multiple devices more easily with Google Play Store's updated remote uninstall button in the latest update.

NASA's Perseverance rover discovers shiny metallic rock on Mars that could be a meteorite from an ancient asteroid, containing high levels of iron and nickel.

Holiday scams spike during Black Friday and Cyber Monday as criminals exploit your leaked personal data. Learn how to protect yourself from fake stores and phishing.

Commerce Department proposes TP-Link router ban over Chinese security risks. Learn how this potential prohibition could affect your home network and devices.

Hyundai AutoEver America suffered a data breach affecting 2,000 current and former employees, exposing names, Social Security numbers and driver's license information.

Washington court rules automated license plate reader images are public records, even when stored by vendors like Flock Safety, setting precedent for transparency.

Fake airline texts claiming flight cancellations are targeting travelers with convincing scams. Learn how cybercriminals steal personal data and credit card info.

Discover how iOS 26's new Adaptive Power feature automatically extends iPhone battery life by learning your usage patterns and adjusting performance intelligently.

New TikTok malware campaign tricks users into running PowerShell commands that download Aura Stealer, which steals credentials and authentication tokens.