Web Design Blog

Web Development

What Are Your Web Developer Peers Thinking?

AJAXian has released the results of their 2008 State-of-the-Web survey, and the one glaring thing that stands out is that the people surveyed (“as many web designers and developers from around the world as possible”) seem to be losing touch with their audience.

A minority using Windows, a minority using IE, and a minority using mobile devices. That makes huge sense for web developers.

firefoxBut that’s a sharp contrast to the web audience, where the most common visitor is still running IE6 on Windows XP, with the second place going to IE7 on Windows Vista and the third going to a smartphone running Windows Mobile.

This is a generalization derived from many survey sources, but it’s close enough to make the point.

The thing is, the farther apart web developers and web users drift, the farther the designs of the former will meet the expectations of the latter. True, we all test our websites on several platforms (I hope we do, at least!), but that’s still different from using the same thing your users use, day in and day out.

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By EarthMovinMedia, ago
Web designing tips

What web designers must know

If you are a web designer, then there are scores of things that you need to know, so that your websites will be successful. The website that you design must be able to create a rapport between the site and the visitor for a common good. This is one of the many definitions of a successful website.

In addition, your website must be interesting enough to gain the attention of a visitor who may or may not continue on to your site. Thus, there are many things that you need to take heed of in order to achieve a successful website. Here are some useful tips that can help you to become a better web designer.

website1. You must be very patient in order to be successful as a web designer. One of the greatest problems that web designers face is the fact that many web designers will try to rush through their work and thus they will often make mistakes. Don’t forget that your website will serve millions of people on the Internet and you need to be patient and meticulous in your efforts, so that you can satisfy a majority of them.

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By EarthMovinMedia, ago
web designing

More on what web designers must know

5. A good web designer must be able to balance the use of graphics and Audio – Video files with website viewing efficiency. Using graphics can make your website interesting and pleasing to look at; but overdoing it can cause your web viewing times to slow down. Thus as a website designer, you will have to balance this equation for that particular website.

6. A good web designer must be able to balance out the content of the web site into numerous web pages. This will be better for the visitors and it will also be better for SEO purposes.

7. It is essential for a web designer to know the driving force behind SEO (Search Engine Optimization). It is important for the web designer to be familiar with Search Engine algorithms. This way the web designer will be able to adjust keyword densities and other relevant SEO related criteria.

8. A good web designer will seek professional help and opinion whenever needed.

By EarthMovinMedia, ago
website development advice

Layout and navigation–Critical to website success

Layout and navigation are the key for attracting attention to a website. On a well designed website, individual elements, be it graphics or text, appear to be in harmony with and complimentary to each other. The quality of the layout dependents on the right mix of placing of objects, font size, empty spaces, and background.

Use background colour that enhances the look of the text or graphic on the foreground. Lighter shades are generally preferred and practically found to be useful. Avoid adding colours just to create shock value or add an element of surprise. In addition, the background has to be appropriate keeping in mind the focus of the site. A site dedicated for a medical facility may have white or light blue as the background giving an impression of purity, cleanliness, healing etc., while darker colours may not be suitable.

Placing of the text and the spaces in between may also give different impressions about the website. A website for a media company may display text and graphics in a random manner which may not be appropriate for, say a charitable organisation.

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By EarthMovinMedia, ago
Fixing Validation Problems Effectively

Fixing Validation Problems Effectively

It is very important that you have a valid HTML document.

A valid document is important so that your page displays correctly on all browsers. You can use different validations that are available for the purpose. By using these validators you can understand the various errors that exist in your document and easily make sure that you remove these errors to make your page W3C compliant. These validators can provide you with a detailed description of errors that you can read out and eliminate.

When you submit a page for validating you generally get a window or an email that will explain the errors. You cannot have a perfectly valid page the first time so it is important that you validate your page. Moreover, with validation, you ensure that your page can load properly even when HTML versions improve. To effectively fix validation problems you can undertake the following measures: (more…)

By EarthMovinMedia, ago
Web Page Design

Web Page Design

Good web page design is vital if you are planning on optimising your page for the search engines – and why wouldn’t you?

You should plan the design to suit search engines and your customers.

Some of the things that you need to keep in mind are:

demonstrationMaintaining a consistent theme for your website plays an important role in how effective your natural website rankings will develop. A properly developed website theme will reinforce the users understanding of exactly what your company is offering. (more…)

By EarthMovinMedia, ago
Great Content To Get Good Links

Web Design And How To Create Great Content To Get Good Links

Regular readers on Earth Movin’ Media would know that along with web design, I quite often write about search engine marketing techniques on this blog.

However, for more in-depth search engine marketing strategies – then I also write another blog covering internet marketing strategies and search engine ranking factors for web design and development. You will find it here – internet marketing blog

websiteslinks-iconWriting articles is an art, and something that has long been used as an option to build relevant links to websites for the purpose of Internet marketing. The idea is to write good articles to create great content for search engines.

If you write and submit good quality articles with content that is relevant to your product or service, it can be seen as highly useful and therefore generate lots of relevant, high quality links to your website

 

So how does this fit in with web design?

You will no doubt be asked along the way by clients to assist in their web marketing. Maybe not in a big design firm where you operate as a designer only. But, if you choose to go out on your own, you will find that you are requested to fulfill multiple tasks that you may not have expected to do.

So here we go.

Using good content, you can create good articles (& blogs) which can then create direct links to the website. This is done in the article BIO that you will be asked to include when submitting articles to directories such as Ezine Articles or Slinky Directory.

Creating good content requires writing on topical issues relevant to the website you want to link to.

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By EarthMovinMedia, ago
Website design and page loading speeds

More technical tips for increasing your website loading time

Website design and page loading speeds

The total number of HTML files on each page should be as low as possible although most browsers can multithread. Minimizing HTTP requests is a key to web page loading.

The total number of objects & images should be a reasonable number. Combine, refine, and optimize your external objects. Replace graphic rollovers with CSS rollovers to speed display and minimize HTTP requests. (more…)

By EarthMovinMedia, ago
The use of whitespace

The use of whitespace

Whitespace is the space between elements in a piece of work. More specifically the space between major elements is macro whitespace.

Micro whitespace is the space between smaller elements – lists, captions, images or between words and letters.

Designers use whitespace to create a feeling of sophistication and elegance for upmarket brands. Coupled with the intelligent use of font and photography, whitespace is seen all over luxury markets.

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By EarthMovinMedia, ago
How To Avoid Costly Mistakes When Designing Your Website

How To Avoid Costly Mistakes When Designing Your Website

Designing a new website or making alterations to an existing one is fraught with the possibility of mistakes and sometimes even blunders. Therefore it is important that you take certain precautions before plunging into your web designing. Failure to do so may land you in delays rather than in quick success. The following guidelines would help you avoid the unnecessary fuss and frustration!

Know your prospective site user:
Acquire a good understanding of the expectations of your prospective site visitors. Analyze their needs. What do visitors of such websites look out for? What kind of websites do your prospective customers expect to see? What should be the layout and design of your website copy? Does it need photographs and graphics? Will you need to alter the content from time to time? A thorough customer research will answer all these questions

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By EarthMovinMedia, ago