Many people today want to create a website of their own, but don’t know how to do it. As with any topic, education is the key to understanding how to build a successful website. The following information will guide you through the basics of building a website.

Do not use a lot of graphics. Graphics and images are definitely necessary to help facilitate professionalism and appeal, but they can also facilitate clutter if you’re not careful. Don’t use graphics just to decorate; use them to improve the site. Using an adequate amount of graphics keeps clutter away and helps you focus on site usability.

Keep your site fresh and up-to-date, and promptly remove any outdated content. If you have a page that is promoting some type of special event that already went on six months ago, then you have lost readers. Users are careful with their time and if they can tell that your site is not updated often, they will leave. Create a timeline for your updates, and clean up any old promotions or information that is not current.

Visitors Won

Do not use JavaScript too much. While it may offer many different ways to create a more transparent and responsive website, it can pose difficulties for some visitors. Every web browsers is different and they are constantly updating. All visitors won’t have the most current version of the particular browser they’re utilizing. They may also not have enabled JavaScript in their browser. This means that a portion of your visitors won’t be able to use your website.

Do not go overboard in using lots of fonts when creating your website. Think about how the various fonts look on a standard computer display. Tiny fonts can be difficult to read. Verdana is one of those popular fonts that is readable in all sizes and colors.

Make sure that all the files on your website are small in size. You need these small file sizes regardless of the overall design of your site. There is a direct correlation between file sizes and page load times. You want your site to load as quick as possible. You must also be aware that everyone doesn’t have a high speed connection to the Internet. Test each section of your site to ensure it loads rapidly for every visitor.

Your website should be optimized to include older versions of web browsers such as Internet Explorer. There are many people on the Internet who still utilize Internet Explorer. You will have to use workarounds when dealing with this issue, so keep that in mind. For instance, IE has suffered a “box model bug” for multiple years.

Keep things as simple as possible when setting up the design of your site. Where all navigation links are placed will have an impact on how long any of your visitors stay on your site. The structure of navigation should be consistent, clean and user friendly to offer the best experience.

Begin by creating tiny websites in order to determine areas that you’ve worked on which were solid, and the areas that you’ve worked on which were bad. Start with a few basic pages containing a small amount of information, and then make your assessment.

Imitation might be the best form of flattery, but when it comes to web design it’s important to develop your own ideas. Create designs on your own, and improve on the ones you’ve witnessed on other websites. This is essential for you if you hope to be the best designer you can be.

Web Design

Consult with a professional and seek help. You can learn a lot from someone who is a master in web design already, because they know the ins and outs of the way web design works already. You’ll rapidly advance your knowledge of design this way.

When adding bulky multimedia like videos to your site, consider the different connections with which people might be accessing it. You may want to show them in high definition, but consider the cost your visitor will pay just to view them! This means a very slow-loading video that’s going to buffer every other second.

Don’t use Flash when designing a site. Flash can appear high-tech and exciting, but it can make for long load times on older systems. Also, many computers, especially tablet computers like the iPad, do not even have Flash capabilities. Not being able to see elements of your site might cause visitors to leave and never return.

Look at different websites for inspiration when you create your website. You can get ideas from television, magazines and even kids’ art projects. You should make sure you are watching for creative ideas and you will find the inspiration you need to make your site unique for your visitors.

Informative Error Pages

Create informative error pages. A confusing error may pop up when a visitor clicks on a broken link. Take the time to design informative error pages that let the readers know what went wrong and how they can return to your homepage.

To save money, use free stock images when designing your website. Several sites are available for these images and many have a great quality. The money you save in images can be put toward other parts of your business.

For most websites, choose neutral backgrounds. Textured backgrounds can be unappealing to some people. White backgrounds are bets, but other neutral colors can still be safe choices. Neutral colors have been shown to be the easiest backgrounds to read from.

As previously stated, by learning the basics you can create your own website. If you know a few simple tricks then there is no reason why you cannot build a nice looking site in no time. Use the suggestions from the above article to help in designing your first website.