Website Design – Guidelines For Using Text Correctly

By Domain Expert

Mar

15

Of the many different considerations involved with website design, text is one of the most significant, yet it is also one of the most overlooked. You can have the best layout and graphics possible, but if visitors to your website cannot easily read what you have written then they will not stay on your site for very long.

Fortunately, getting the text part of your website design correct is not overly difficult. All you need to do is adhere to the guidelines laid out below…

- Only make use of fonts that are available on all computers, such as verdana and arial. Though you may not consider these to be the most visually appealing fonts, they are the most practical ones. This is because they are the easiest to read on a computer screen. Another reason is that every computer definitely has these fonts stored on their hard-disk. If you choose a random, fancy font, then many computers will not have it stored, in which case the computer will automatically select another to display your website in, and so you cannot be sure how your website is going to render on other people’s screens.

- Do not use small font sizes as visitors to your website will click the back button on their web browser straight away. You may have good eyesight but many people do not, and so you have to take the middle ground rather than just making your website for yourself. Using a font size of 11 or 12 is generally recommended for the main body of your website content, with sub-titles and headings being a font size or two larger. Be consistent too, by ensuring that you use the same font sizes for your content, sub-titles and headings throughout every page of your website.

- Limit your written content to roughly 15 words per line. By doing this people will only have to move their eyes to read your content, and not their whole head. This number is based on research and studies that have been carried out which show that 15 words is as far most people’s field of vision will stretch. Not every line has to be exactly 15 words, as some sentences will a greater or lesser number of small words such as ‘a’, ‘to’, ‘and’, etc., so you just need to use that number as a rough guide.

- The color(s) you choose for your text should sharply contrast to the color(s) you use for your background. Black text on a white background is easiest for people to read, but it is not necessary to limit yourself to that if it does not suit the overall style of your website design. If the background color is light, then make your text black or a dark shade of gray, and if the background color is dark, then use white as the color for your text. Using non black, dark gray or white text hardly ever comes across well, so be extremely careful if you are intent on using a different color for your text.
—
This article was written by a website design expert who has more than 10 years experience in the industry. He is currently doing website design in Chappaqua, Westchester and White Plains and can be contacted at http://kinneymedia.com

Your Website Design Sucks Because… Users Can’t Find Crap!

By Domain Expert

Mar

6

I know ayh! A great title to start of another year of C2.0 Web Design Blog! : -)

To kick off the new year in Web Design, I thought it would be best to go through a couple of my tell-tale signs that can help you gauge if and when your website’s design sucks. Obviously, “Website design” in this concept does not only include the graphical elements of the page, but of course the Information architecture, usability, accessibility, etc. So without further ado– Let’s get going with round one of “Your website design sucks because…” with Your website design sucks because users can’t find crap!
1. What the heck are you thinking?!

Whether or not you are running a corporate information site or a 15,000 page e-Commerce store- your content should be easy to find! The biggest problem is people think that you ALWAYS need a search box. Search on a website comes in many flavours, and sure; a search box would be awesome- as long as the results are easy to understand and filter to the right place. Having said that, not all great websites have search boxes or website search for that matter – but most if not all of them [great websites, that is] make the user experience worthwhile by making their content easy to find. Here are a few tips:

* If you are running a blog, make sure there is at least a way for the user to find an archive of all your content. After all, one of the main calling-cards, if you like – of a blog, is the fact that it is a chronological listing of posts or entries. Other important elements that help users searching for content is Tags and Categories. Try to make sure your posts only belong to one parent category. I.e. Not “Sydney Web Design” AND “Web Design” — after all, 99% of the time, one of the two (or more) categories makes the most sense. Tags help users by allowing to search for other posts which they might find interesting based on a common interest; i.e. Usability.

* If you are running a website; other than a web log , make sure that there is a common, geographical structure to your pages. I.e. there should always be the same header and footer on all pages – including any side-navigation or side elements. Doing this makes sure that users learn where things are and helps elevate any problems in looking for things all over your website.

2. Some conventional wisdom

Most webmasters and/or designers usually get search from a UI point of view under control. I mean come on! It’s basically three elements– A label “search for:”, a text box, usually pre-filled with “type query here” or something of the sort, and finally a “go/search/find” submit button… Easy, right? Wrong! Whilst the front-end features of site search are seen as simple, most websites/intranets (even the big players) crash and burn on the search results page.
3. A case study in Search Usability: Australia Post

Ahh, good old Australia Post! I love the fact that they deliver to anywhere in the world and the prices are not too bad — and I haven’t had anything major get lost whilst sending out *so far*. However, one thing that drives me insane about Australia Post is their website; http://www.austpost.com.au — not only is this website in need of a “major” overhaul. Let’s start with the essentials of this particular topic; Search.

The search on AustPost is located at: http://search.auspost.com.au. Nothing wrong with that so far- In fact, it’s smart to have search on either a sub-domain or a sub-folder at search.domain.com or domain.com/search. Moving right along. Oh wait! That domain does not work (Under Construction!!) unless you append the following to it: “/cse/auspost/” making the FULL-URI http://search.auspost.com.au/cse/auspost/ – Tsk, tsk AP!

If you type “test” in the search box and click the search button of the main page you get diverted to a search results page; which is okay so far– However, the diverted results page is a TOTALLY DIFFERENT website (in terms of overall look and feel). Check it out for yourself.
Australia Post Search Box – Main Page

Australia Post Search Box – Main Page

All good so far… Let’s see what happens when we get diverted to the ‘actual’ search page.
Australia Post Search Results Page – Search.austpost.com.au

Australia Post Search Results Page – Search.austpost.com.au

Oops! Something went completely wrong. Did I, as the user kill the site? Or is it meant to be a completely different site followed by a completely different user experience? [Both valid questions you don't need a visitor to your website, especially your search page asking!].

As Homer Simpson would say in a time of crisis; Doh! Different Logo, Different colour scheme, Different tab system, Different IA… Well, at least the logo is generally in the same place as before. Granted, I don’t know the reasoning behind this– Maybe they are in the process of moving sites across to a newer(?) design – but nonetheless, I think being a government corporation, this is pretty bad usability!
Anyway, let’s move right along… As if that first problem wasn’t bad enough, let’s see the search results form. Below is a screenshot of the “general” search form. By general search form I’m referring to the non-advanced variety!
Search Results Box

Search Results Box

Wow, okay — where to start, where to start. Let’s rattle off some of the issues with this search box/form.

1. Why have a “Show search options >>” as well as “‘Advanced Search”. That is not only confusing, but a waste of visual space/real estate. Why not make general search easy to use with no extra-ordinary features, and leave advanced search for those people that need to dig deeper into the data mine. Ahhh, I slowly started to realise why, and you will see why soon!

2. See the “Select All” and “Clear All” check boxes? They only select/deselect one option — and that is the “Australia Post Website” check box. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING AUSTPOST DESIGNERS/DEVELOPERS!!! Give me three good reasons why this is necessary on this page (in its current format) and I will stop using Facebook for a month… Okay, a week! :) Not only is this stupid from a usability/IA point of view, but it’s NOT needed here. Why?, you ask?

1. When you actually decide to click on “Search” you really DON’T end up having a choice in the matter, because the “Australia Post Website” check box is auto-ticked when the page has reloaded with the search results! Oh Oh!

2. It’s a waste of a control to begin with! The same thing could be easily achieved with one button which toggles through the selections. I.e. starts off as “Select all options” then changes to “De-select all options” upon click… However…

3. There is NO need for the control at all since there is NO other option/area to search from. I.e. If there was “Australia Post Website” and “Australia Post PO Box Search”, etc., then it would make sense — however, there is no other option!

3. The “Exact Phrase” check box control is USELESS in all formats of the word! In theory, the “Exact phrase” should let you search for the term “test” instead of the term test. What this ultimately means is that in reality, “Exact Phrase” should only find the search query if it exists EXACTLY in that format, and not part of other words, or as part of a phrase, etc. The only problem with this is that selecting “Exact Phrase” does NOT change the result set; in essence, returning the SAME number of results as well as in the same order! Yay for happy searching — Not!

4. Clicking “Show search options >>” reveals two fields/controls which are apparently meant to help the user whilst searching but not be enough to warrant the name “Advanced Search”. When you click this link, two new fields pop down; a) Format, and b) Modified. Fair enough, you say. They are letting the user choose what type of file format to search; i.e. PDF, Word, etc. as well as the ‘age’ of the document(s) in question or when they were last updated. So what’s the problem here? Let’s take a peek!
Search Results – Modified drop-down

Search Results – Modified drop-down

Wow! That’s probably the best word to describe this drop-down. Sure, Australia Post must feel great giving thier users so many options to choose from, but on what planet would you be from if you need THAT many options in sorting last modified periods? Surely, a) “Anytime”, b) Past 24 hours, c) Past week, d) Past month, and e) Past year – would suffice? No? Granularity of options is something worth your time as an Information architect or Website designer/developer investing in! The more options you give the user that they don’t necessarily need or will never use, the more they have to think. The experience should not make them think! Just give them results, and quick!

5. Don’t even get me started on the “Advanced Search” link! Let’s just say that it’s a little more advanced than what an “advanced search” needs to be. So much so that a PhD in Comp. Science would definitely help! I mean for Pete’s sake, there is a field called “Custom query” which lets you, quote “Create a query using search operators (and, or, not, near, quotes and parenthesis) and system fields.” unquote! WHAT THA?!?! Sure, I may get it, hell you might even get it as a developer or designer, but your average Joe who might need just that little bit more input into his or her search would most likely freak out! Take it off PLEASE! I’m not searching the CIA Central Repository here, people!

3. In conclusion…

Okay, so I must admit at this point in time that I’m getting a little bit more critical and more importantly a touch “harsher” in my blogging and reviews — but I think it’s important to look at problems like these that normal web browsers would AND DO encounter on a day-to-day basis surfing the Interweb! So hopefully you have picked up a few pointers from this blog post that will help you with your upcoming search page design/re-design. Remember, these are above all just some ideas of what not to do, but the field is huge! Make sure you get people with limited Internet experience to trial all software you create (if possible!) but more importantly, keep in mind some of these ideas for next time and I’m sure your users will thank you!

Thanks for comin’ back guys. Please leave your comments or critisisms below – and be sure to Subscribe to the RSS feed so you can keep up-to-date on all the latest goss and posts from Elastique Web Design Blog. Till next time, Cheb.

Visit our website for more information website design

Find out realistic recommendations about the topic of one way links – please study the publication. The times have come when concise information is truly at your fingertips, use this possibility.

Fresh Photoshop Web Layout Tutorials.

By Domain Expert

Mar

6

Useful Tips for Effective Web Design

Listed below are some useful and rather important tips for designing a professional and high quality web site:

*Neat and Easy Navigation: Navigation of links on your site plays a big role in determining the stickiness of your site (how long your visitor stays and explores your site). Ask yourself this, What do visitors do as soon as they open your site? They would probably read the content of the present page and then look around to find any other page that interests them. Read our article on Web site Navigation Tips.

*Clean Layout Design: A clean layout that uses a lot of white space enhances a site’s looks. Try to keep the focus on your content, use dreamweaver templates for this. Use fonts that will be available on all computers to prevent your site looking messed up.

* Program using pure CSS: The world is moving away from table based websites to pure CSS websites because it offers accessibility, reusability and considerably reduces file size apart from giving greater control over the look of your website. The single most important skill you can learn today to become a quality web designer is CSS programming! Even if you are not an expert at CSS you can learn to use the following simple CSS Styles Effects to enhance your website:

1. Cool Text Effects using CSS Styles: Text Links Rollover, Text Case Setting, Text Spacing, Line-through Effect.

2. Bullets in HTML or Deamweaver: Using CSS Styles with bullets (shapes, decimal, roman-numerals, images, etc.)

3. Links without Underline: Use CSS Styles to display links without the appearance of the underline.

*Optimum Load Time: Make sure your load time is low. For this you must:

Minimize Graphics, Flash and scripts: They hugely increase your file size.

Optimize your HTML & script code: Make sure that your site doesn’t have any unwanted tags or unused scripts.

Use Server Side Include (SSI) files where ever possible. SSI files once called from the web server reside in its cache so on subsequent requests they load faster.

* Website Layout for all Screen Resolutions: A site that is easy-to-use always encourages visitors to stay and read your content. For site with long pages of content this is very crucial as the amount of scrolling required is reduced. Suppose your site doesn’t look good for a particular resolution it is very probable that the visitor will close the browser window feeling that the web page is not for their viewing. Designing stretch layouts that fit any screen resolution ensures that you know all your visitors see a visually appealing and professional site.
Read our article Designing for all Screen Resolutions for more.

*Ensure Web site scalability: Make sure your code and design is scalable. As technology advances and configuration of computers & their monitors keep increasing and varying it is impossible to test your site in all screen sizes and platforms.

*Cross Browser Compatible: Make sure you check your site for Internet Explorer 5+, Mozilla Firefox 1+, Opera 7+, Safari 3+ and Netscape Navigator 6+ as they constitute 95% of the worlds browsers.

Find out useful information about the topic of one way links – please make sure to read the site. The time has come when concise information is truly only one click away, use this chance.

Save On Startup Expenditures With Your Online Business

By Domain Expert

Feb

28

Establishing a business takes determination and preparation. Oh, and it additionally requires money. How much money that is required is determined by the kind of business venture you aspire to establish. For an online business, you may make that aspiration come true and save some green in the process.

What is the very first thing that individuals ask about relating to a business venture? Usually it is “What will it cost me to start with?” With a web based business enterprise you are already ahead of the game since you steer clear of most of the expenses that come with possessing a standard brick-and-mortar business.

Even so, you will have several costs that you will have to shoulder. In case your money is limited, you could still get things going. It might take some legwork and time but it is absolutely achievable.

Here are the three foremost costs tied to creating an internet business venture.

Domain Name Purchases – In order to have a presence on the world wide web, you’ll require a website address or URL. There are specials on a regular basis for domain name purchases, but you can get your domain for lower than $10 a year in nearly all cases. Be careful not to get sucked into buying all the extras most domain registrars try to get you to buy whenever you purchase a domain. Stick with only purchasing the domain and only buy from reliable domain registrars.

Web Hosting – In order for your site to actually show up on the Internet you will want to get hosting for your domains. You can buy this as low as $7.95 a month with reliable hosting companies such as HostGator.

Site Design – For those who aren’t proficient in web design or HTML, you will need somebody to set your site up for you. There are a few diverse choices for getting this done:

• Use a Web Designer: This can be the costliest means to get things done.
• Website Building Software: It is possible to create your website personally and save money.
• Included with Hosting: Look for deals via your hosting service.

Allow me to share a few pointers for buying additional things you will need to run your small business online.

1. Negotiate – All you can do is ask for what you would like. On the subject of purchasing computer systems and additional office equipment, there’s a little room for haggling. Locate the best payment plans you can that will help you to offset the cost. This goes for telephone services, answering services and high-speed Internet rates also.

2. Shop around – Buying computers on the world wide web at internet sites akin to Dell.com permits you to include the features you may want and pay the price you prefer to pay. Printers do not cost as much as they used to. If you need a fax machine along with a printer, check out deals on all-in-one equipment so you can save money.

3. Purchase in bulk – At what time you’ll need paper, printer ink and additional office supplies, purchase as much as possible whenever a deal comes along. Even when it takes you an entire year to make use of the paper, you’re confident that you’ll put it to use so it doesn’t matter.

4. Request assistance from others – For instance, you’ll need to have hosting for your internet site. Although you can find dozens of hosting businesses out there, both paid and free, everyone’s needs vary. What are your requirements? If you know other online entrepreneurs, ask who they utilize. Take into account that high price does not automatically equate with first-rate quality, exactly like low cost doesn’t invariably denote poor quality.

5. Utilize what you already have for now – The best thing about a web-based business is that it can be run from your computer. The majority already have one of those. It might not be the top of the line model, but if it has high speed Internet access as well as a word processing program, you can get started.

There is certainly costs that you can avoid by starting an online business versus an offline one, nevertheless you still have to spend some cash. The above 5 tips will help you to whittle down the costs you do have even more. This enables you to get your new enterprise up and running as soon as possible. Furthermore, don’t forget most of these costs can be written off on your income taxes so don’t forget to keep records.

How To Maximize Sales & Drive More Website Traffic Using Website Design

By Domain Expert

Jan

12

An article about webdesign.

Have you ever thought to think about how many websites there are on the internet these days? There are literally billions of them out there. If your an internet business owner and you have a website, I’m going to share a little secret with you that will increase your sales and drive more leads through your system every single month. You don’t have to take my word for it but I have been an online entrepreneur for over five years now. If you are looking to move to the web or internet marketing world, then you need to consider creating a custom capture page to create brand awareness and to separate yourself from your competition.

Let’s think about all the websites we currently know that are making a lot of money. What’s the one thing they all have in common? They are all 100% unique . If you want your website to get noticed then it must be a unique website that is yours and yours alone.

Every time I start a new business I always have a new custom website or capture page developed so that I may begin branding myself and marketing my business. Company replicated websites will not convert the way your own website will.

Top 3 reasons to have your own custom website:

1. Millions of searches made on Google & Yahoo on daily basis and if you happen to have a custom capture page then you can attract visitors and convert them into potential customers and GREAT new business.

2. Leads & Traffic on the website can be tracked and that way it is more powerful than other forms of marketing.

3. You can create brand awareness for YOU, using your pictures, stories, videos, audio, and more.

webdesigner is very affordable these days. By branding yourself and standing out from your competition with your own unique website, you are more likely to build business relationships and ultimately close more sales. Bottom line, it’s your business and you will get out of it what you put into it.

You can get more sales and generate more leads from every marketing dollar spent just by having your own personal website. The best part is that everyone can afford to have their own.

If you liked this article on webdesign and would like more information please visit webdesigner or call 412-250-7194. My company can create a custom website for you. This goes hand in hand with our custom lead system. We can create your website to meet your exact specifications.

Find out useful information about one way links – please read this web site. The time has come when concise info is really within your reach, use this opportunity.

Website Design – Top 7 Things To Consider Before Hiring Professional Web Designers

By Domain Expert

Jan

6

Do you have a hard time writing HTML code or shuffling templates for web design? Do you know what fonts, icons and graphics to use for maximum advantage? Do you want to give your website a unique and professional look? Are you concerned about a shoddy navigation scheme? Are you worried that the website you design may not be secure enough and breakdown against hacking attacks? If yes, then it is time to hire a professional website designer.

Let the website design professionals build an effective website for you while you devote your time to other important aspects of your business. Consider the following before you hire a website designer:

Location

Depending on your requirements, you can either hire a local designer or outsource your work to designers in other countries. If you are comfortable in giving instructions over the phone and interacting through emails, the web can give you access to several great designers all over the world.

Experience and Reputation

Since your website directly affects your business image and profitability, it is of utmost importance to hire the right website designer for your company. Prefer a web designer with an excellent market reputation and experience in designing websites in your business field. Ask for references and contact previous customers to inquire about designer’s performance and the problems faced.

Clearly state your requirements

Before you hire a designer, surf websites and make a list of things you need. Talk to potential designers to see if they can meet all your requirements within the allotted time span. Additionally, determine responsibility areas for both parties.

Payment Terms

Professional designers never ask you to pay upfront. Develop a payment scheme in which you pay after predetermined goals are met.

Get access to updates

Ensure that you get access to making changes and updates on your website after launch, without the need to contact the designer or web hosting company. Designers should let you handle minor updates and give you access to the tools they used while building your website. Hire a web designer only after you have discussed how updates will be handled.

Creating a Testing Site

Ask your designer to provide you a ‘shadow site’ so that you can test it. This is an important requirement. Hire a designer who agrees to it.

Scope for Expansion

As your company grows, your website should also mature and reflect changes in business. Hire a professional web design firm who can effectively handle expansion of your website when required and is capable of using and incorporating new tools and technologies into your website. The goal is to look for a long-term web business partner.

Before you sign a contract with a web designer, register the domain name in your own name or company name. The contract should clearly state that you have complete and irrevocable right to use, expand, modify and reproduce the website material. Additionally, develop the habit of taking notes during meetings with your designer to keep track of changes and progress.

Take time to visit websites, analyze your requirements and evaluate the web designers efficiency and skill before making a decision. Do not take the decision in haste. Finding the right website designer can be one of the best business decisions you ever make.

Basic Website Design Tips For Beginners

By Domain Expert

Dec

6

Your websites should speak a lot about you and the business you represent . How things are shown online can control how visitors feel about your business, and whether or not they would like to buy your products or hire your service. First of all , what aspects of a web site are considered to be visitor-friendly?

- It must be easy to navigate . Every link on your web site must work, and you should provide buttons above, below, and on the side of every web page so that visitors can easily go to and from portions of your web site.

- It must be pleasant to look at. No flashy colors, blinking texts, or excessive animations. The web site should also not be too plain that browsing it would be boring.

- It must have an impact. It doesn’t mean that fancy stuff is needed. The message of the business must be presented clearly and with conviction. A site must appear as professional as possible to elicit the trust of the potential client.

How to design a website: stuff you need first
There are various facets of website design that you can take advantage of, but before anything else, you must start off on the right foot. Here are two things that you must have before you set yourself on planning the blueprints of your website:

1. Do you have a domain name? You must decide on one that can easily be remembered, preferably a name that is keyword rich. Do not be vague, and ensure that it represents your site and your business very well. Many sources say, avoid using hyphens (-) in your domain name, and stick to three words or less in a name. Note that a .com site or .net site is better than .info or .org.

2. Have you found a web host? A web host provides you with your drawing board to place your website in. In a way, they give you the space on the World Wide Web to upload your site and all its contents. Web hosts may be free or paid, and you are given tools and tech support to help you out.

When you have nailed these two down, you can then plan your website. You can design it yourself if you are familiar with HTML and website design software. You may also use templates which are available online, for you to have a professional looking color scheme and lay out.

If you can’t do it yourself, what are your options?
Of course, not all people have the time to familiarize themselves with HTML, Flash, Macromedia Dreamweaver, and other programs. If you don’t have the skills nor the time to design your website yourself, website design and development uk can help you. There are many website design firms across the globe that can bring to life your ideas for website design, so you spend less time worrying, and more time focusing on other aspects of your business.

Visit website design uk

Find out realistic info about Free Backlinks – please go through this web page. The times have come when concise info is truly only one click of your mouse, use this possibility.

Slicing A Custom Website Design Into SEO Optimized XHTML

By Domain Expert

Oct

10

Slicing A Website Design Into SEO Optimized XHTML

When you create a custom web design you want it to bring in the most website conversions and sales. This capability is enhanced greatly when your website can be seen consistently in all browsers. This is called cross-browser compatibility. If your website appears distorted or is rendered terribly by any of the top browsers then your website will look unprofessional – and that is the last thing you want with a new website design.

If you are creating a custom website design then there are many reasons for doing it right the first time. This process is given little press but can provide a major advantage for your website over your competitors. The process of slicing takes the original design, usually in the form of a vector file like Adobe Photoshop (.psd) or Adobe Illustrator (.ai), and converts these vector image files into web page content which includes images, html files, cascading style sheet files and javascript files. The HTML files can be named differently depending on which technology your website uses. Examples are .htm, .html, .php, .asp, .aspx and there are many more.

Once all of the pages from the website designers have been approved, they must be sliced into web page components. The preferred version of HTML to use is the latest and is the most compatible with all browsers including mobile browsers – XHTML 1.0 Strict. Ideally you will also create error-free Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) code.

Below is a list of slicing requirements that ensure the code you create and your website renders optimally in all browsers:

Do not slice the design until explicit approval has been provided on all templates. Early slicing of the vector files causes problems in that any changes after that become too unwieldy to change in XHTML as opposed to a vector drawing.
Always slice starting with error free XHTML 1.0 Strict code.

The pages must work correctly in the latest versions of both IE and Firefox and one full version back. Then, depending on the customer, Opera or the Safari browser used on Mac computers may also be important.

When the vector file is sliced we need an optimal slice so solid colored areas aren’t images but instead colors defined by #nnnnnn type of definitions. This speeds up page load times by reducing HTTP requests for images from the server.
Do not place text or numbers into images as the text content changes often – even phone numbers. This is extremely important, in particular if the text contains product information, product names or keywords.

Text should be able to be read by all people. The user should be able to resize text size on the pages so relative definitions must always be used like 1.0em or 1.2em instead of 12 pt.
When a box contains text it should be sliced in a way that allows the box to expand vertically with it’s contained content. This allows for future content changes and additions – which always happens. If the box height doesn’t change with the content then the code is essentially broken.

All nav links should be keyword-based text links, not images, and they should also be defined and controlled by the cascading style sheets (CSS).
Use an h1 tag for the most important headlines on the page, h2 tags for subheads and h3 tags for other section titles. This is important for W3C accessibility compliance.

Put all images into a folder named /images. This also helps search engine optimization since search engines are now indexing images separately and emphasizing them in the search engine results pages (SERP).
Place a link on the top-left logo to the home page. Do not place the image into CSS as a background image since it won’t print as a background image. Add relevant alt text.

Add relevant alt text to all images that are substantial to the content. If an image is only used for layout and design then set the image alt tag to “” (alt=”").

If a page needs to be printable then background images will not display, so ensure printable pages show correctly before finalizing the code.

Instead of image names like ‘box-right.jpg’, please use text appropriate to the reason for the site like cute-doggie.jpg for the image name and alt tags that uses the main keywords on that particular page.

Ensure that all logo, footer and other links to the home page use the full home page URL consistently, for example use http://www.yourdomain.com instead of index.php, http://www.yourdomain.com/index.php, http://yourdomain.com, or http://yourdomain.com/index.php.
For usability reasons body text links should be underlined, (maybe) bold and the on hover event should remove the underline and light up the color of the link. Once the link is clicked it should be a darker version of its original color. This does not apply to menu links.

Always deliver the original vector files along with the HTML files when slicing is complete.
Icons on pages should use CSS sprites to reduce the number of HTTP requests to the server. The process combines several images into one image which only requires one image request, then identifies coordinates to each image when they are needed. This is a huge page load time benefit.

Clean Uncluttered Website Design

By Domain Expert

Oct

6

Clean Uncluttered Website Design

When starting to consider your website design start with a design that is clean, uncluttered and has a useful navigation system. A website that is clean, uncluttered and easy to navigate are much more appealing to the end user, the web visitor. The look and feel of your website should have a natural flow to it along with a concise appearance that makes it easy to figure out what to do and where to go. If it’s complicated then odds are that visitor will go somewhere else. They have found you because you offer what they need so now it’s your websites job to give them just that. Not only is a clean, uncluttered website design good for the end user, the visitor but it is equally as good for the search engine spider bots. It is more likely that search engines will visit all of the pages of your website if it follows simple and conventional design standards.

Colors are Important in Good Website Design

The color palette that is used to create your website should be one that is easily coordinated and easy on the eyes. It is extremely important that the color combinations used on your website are not bright neon colors that tend to be harsh on the eyes. Colors are so important that the wrong colors used are also enough for your web visitor to leave your site. Even if your web site had the greatest content out there the misuse of colors could determine whether a visitor was interested or not. So the lesson learned is to make sure not to use unattractive colors!

Use Hex Codes in Search Optimizing Your Website

Your website needs aesthetic appeal in order for your website to have an impact on your search engine optimization (SEO). If you create a website that is not appealing to others, it is likely to not be popular either. Since the colors used on your website can contribute to the appeal of your website, you want to make sure that you code your web pages accordingly. Different Internet browsers may display colors differently. One way to avoid this problem is to use hex codes to define those colors used on your website. Hex codes are incorporated into the HTML code of your web pages and you should define hex code so these colors are viewed universally in all browsers.

You’re Website for Optimization

Your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy related to website design includes ensuring your web design reflects the purpose of your website. If you are selling a particular widget line, visitors to your website should realize what you are selling immediately. If you are promoting a service, your website should clearly indicate the services you offer. A Clear website design and structure can make your website more appealing to visitors, which will also make it more important to search engines, as we stated earlier.

Use Flash Sparingly in Optimizing Your Website since this is a Closed Application

If search optimization is important to your website design then it is extremely important that you do not develop your website using Flash technology. Flash can be an attention grabbing technology because of all of the bells and whistles that it offers, but too much Flash can be difficult to navigate and a little overwhelming to visitors. Also, not all website visitors can view Flash websites, granted the majority can but the search engines don’t know what’s in that file. If you create web pages with Flash portions then the search engines may still be able to crawl the Flash portions of your website but you risk losing valuable traffic by incorporating too much flash into your website design.

Check out important information about Affordable Websites – please study this page. The time has come when concise info is really within your reach, use this opportunity.

Keyword Relevance

By Domain Expert

Sep

1

Keyword relevance has a huge impact on your search marketing and SEO efforts. In the past search marketing only involved changing around some meta tags and your website would automatically given a little luck jump straight to the top of google. SEO is now equally an art as much as it is a technical issue. For example in writing this article I am targeting specific keywords for the search engines to find such as “SEO, Search Marketing, keywords”. Now as I continue to write this article and fill it with strong targeted keywords for both our visitors and the search engines I may add keywords such as Calgary, Alberta seeing as that is where Agua E Solutions is based. Or I may wish to add Canada. This will allow us to target geographical locations.
logo design calgary
seo
seo calgary
logo design
As you now know this blog is used to both let you our clients follow us on our unique journey from small business (I just did it again, dropped the keyword in there “small business”) to large corporation and to allow us to write unique keyword targeted traffic for the search engines to crawl and link to our pages. Agua E Solutions is happy with it’s current feel of the website and does not want to take away from the visual appeal with a large number of articles.

The blog is a great tool to accomplish this keyword and SEO targeting. With it you can update regularaly and you as a website owner can generate a good source of traffic for your commercial venture.
Website Design There are certain factors which have to be kept in mind when it comes to web design. Website must be user and search engine friendly and it must be an active ingredient to enhance sales figures. There are four key attributes that a website must be acquainted with, these are discussed below. Interest of visitors and search engine has become imperative for the website’s as being the only vehicle to drive customers to website portal. Without a doubt, it requires customization which must lead to attract targeted traffic to the website.

User Friendliness:
The core feature in the success of any website is always the ease with which its users can access to data and information present on that website. Website has to be simple and accessible. Visitors must feel free to wander on the website without the fear of losing square one position, which requires systematic integration of all web pages at the level of visitor’s sanity threshold. After you have defined your target visitors, their demographics, psychographics and their behavior to different stimuli must be kept in mind. While designing the website, the designer must be aware of the fact that a website is always designed for its users. Users, being the sole factor of increasing internet traffic must be captivated to that website by offering two features. First, the information they are looking for must be available on the web site in its discoverable form. Secondly there must be value addition or something extra that a site must offer which will keep visitors attached with the website for longer time. Navigation setup of the website is of great importance as well. However, the importance to the key visitors of the website is not negligible. They require customized pages and a little more attention.
Content:
User friendliness of the website is left forsaken if its content is not appropriate. The relevance of the website’s content with the target visitors is always importance. Most of the companies are facing problems of non profitable traffic as they have positioned their self differently in the mind of the visitors but their website’s content on the other hand differs altogether. Remember, it’s not just about attracting people; it’s about satisfying the needs of attracted people.
Visibility:
After your home work is done, the next step in website design brings visibility at the searched pages. Your website has to be search engine friendly. This does not include search engine optimization alone, but if search engine spider can easily roam around so will your visitors. So, the punch line is that your website must provide easy maneuverability and visibility.
Appearance:
Appearance of the website is not as it is usually perceived. It’s not about flashy and glossy images that you put in your website; it’s about harmony, synchronization, symmetry in the content of the website. The visuals and the text, doesn’t matter if they are glossy or not must be in accordance with each other. The website must have a slick and vibrant display which is acceptable to all of your customers. It is just integration between all portions of the website which can drive the whole efforts starting from web designing to marketing for one specific objective.

Access timely hints for one way links – welcome to your individual knowledge pack.