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Web Design Basics You Do Not Want to Miss

As a web designer, there are some fundamentals of web design that you are expected to know without having to be taught. The following are some of them.

File size counts. Graphics tend to make for relatively large file sizes and this could severely slow the loading of pages that contain too many graphics. Despite the advent of broadband internet and faster load times, many web users are still not willing to wait very long for pages to load.

Your web design company will undoubtedly wish for you to make the load times required for your pages as short as possible so as not to discourage impatient viewers from visiting your web site.

Use appropriate graphics. Images that you place on your web site should be related in some way to the content of your site. You should not include images simply because you think they look nice or because you like them. That will simply clutter up your web site and discourage visitors.

Perhaps the only exception is with regard to design images. These images constitute the page design and may not have any relation to the content of the site.

Images should be static. Making images blink, rotate or flash simply distracts viewers from the content of the web site and gives your site a tacky feel. Your main aim is to get visitors to view the contents of each page and not simply notice the graphics that you have added.

Web Design- On Layout
Refrain from using layouts that are too complicated or confusing. Pages that have a large number of frames or require visitors to scroll the page in many directions in order to view the content are not conducive for readers and may confuse or annoy visitors to your site.

It should not come as surprise, therefore, if your web design company encourages you to use the standard three-column layout for the web pages that you design. The reason for this is that this layout ensures that your web page is very clear and easy to read.

Whitespace is important. You should not simply ignore whitespace because it contains nothing. The amount of whitespace that is present in each of your web pages affects the way in which readers view your page.

It is important to ensure that you pay attention to how the layout of your web page affects the amount of whitespace present.

Neither too much nor too little makes for an attractive web page.Graphics can be used as actual elements in your web page, instead of being relegated to a background design role.

Web Design- On Fonts
Try not to be overly creative with fonts. Serif and Sans-serif are widely accepted fonts that are also fairly attractive.

They are also easier to read on computer monitors and your web design company is likely to recommend that you use it in your web site. Use Serif for the titles or headlines of your pages and Sans-Serif for the rest of the body.

Pick two or three fonts and stick with them. Using a large variety of fonts in the same web site comes across as being amateurish and unprofessional.

Your web design company is likely to limit you to a maximum of three font families per web site and you should make an effort to stick to this limit.

Using non-standard fonts is risky. Some non-standard fonts may look good but require users to download and install that specific font before they can use it.

Standard fonts stand a much better chance of making your website look good and not giving viewers any problems when they visit your web site. At the end of the day, taking risks with non-standard fonts generally does not pay off well.

Web Design- On Advertising
Advertisements may be profitable, but they generally detract from the overall attractiveness of your web site.

Your web design company should not ask you to place too many ads on your site, otherwise readers may be overwhelmed by the sheer number of advertisements and not bother staying to read the content of your web pages.

Small and tasteful advertisements are preferable compared to large or flashy ones. They should also have some relevance to the content on the page and be positioned such that they attract the viewer's attention.

Web Design is about remembering Your Readers
Web pages sometimes suffer compatibility issues with different internet browsers, depending on what software was used to create them.

Your web design company is likely to reject any pages that can only be viewed on certain internet browsers. It is not necessary to make your pages compatible with all internet browsers, but compatibility with most, if not all, of the popular internet browsers and operating systems is a must.

Understand what your readers want from your website. Your content should reflect your readers wants and not simply what you want them to see.

In order to keep your web design company, you should take steps to ensure that your content choices reflect topics that readers want to read about.