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Posts tagged Website Design
Website Design – Guidelines For Using Text Correctly
Mar 19th
Of the many different website design considerations, text is one of the most significant, yet also one of the most overlooked. You can have the best layout and graphics in the world, but if visitors to your site cannot easily read what you have written then they will not stay on your site for more than a few seconds.
The good news is that getting the text part of your website design correct is not overly difficult. All you have to do is adhere to the guidelines laid out below…
- Only use fonts that are available on all computers, such as arial, helvetica and verdana. Though you may not consider these to be the most visually appealing fonts, they are the most practical ones to use. This is because they are the easiest to read on a computer screen. Also, every computer definitely has these fonts stored on them. If you choose a 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 computers.
- Do not display text in small font sizes; if it looks too small, visitors to your website will not even try to read it. You may have good eyesight but many people do not. Using a font size of 11 or 12 is generally recommended for the main body of your written 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.
- Keep the width of your paragraphs 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 vision will stretch. Not every line has to be exactly 15 words, as some sentences will a greater or lesser amount of small words such as ‘to’, ‘and’, ‘a’, etc., so you just need to use 15 words per line as a rough average.
- The color(s) you choose for your text should contrast sharply to the color(s) you choose for your background. A white background with black text 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 cautious if you are intent on using a different color for your text.
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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!
Mar 10th
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.
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Fresh Photoshop Web Layout Tutorials.
Mar 10th
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.
For practical things to know about the topic of website traffic – read the publication. The time has come when proper information is truly only one click away, use this possibility.
Save On Startup Costs With Your Website Business Venture
Mar 8th
Opening a small business requires willpower and preparation. Oh, and it also requires cash. Just how much cash you would need will depend on the kind of business venture you aspire to start. For an internet business venture, you can make that aspiration come true and save some money during the process.
What’s the first thing that folks ask about relating to a business venture? More often than not it’s “What will it cost me to start with?” By way of an online business you’re already ahead of the game since you shun lots of the expenses that come along with owning a traditional brick-and-mortar business.
Even so, there will be some expenses that you have got to shoulder. Even if your capital is limited, one can still get things up and running. It might take a lot of labor and time nevertheless it’s absolutely feasible.
Here’s the three main costs involved in creating an online business enterprise.
Domain Name Purchases – In order to have a presence on the world wide web, you will need a website address or URL. There are actually specials on a regular basis for domain purchases, but you can get your domain name for less than $10 a year in nearly all cases. Take care not to get sucked into buying all of the extras nearly all domain name registrars try and get you to purchase when you buy a domain. Stick to only purchasing the domain name and only purchase from reputable domain registrars.
Web Hosting – In order for your website to actually show up in the Internet you will need to acquire hosting for your domains. You can purchase this as low as $7.95 a month through reliable hosting companies like HostGator.
Site Design – In the event you aren’t adept in website design or HTML, you will need someone to set your website up for you. There are some different options for getting this accomplished:
• Hire a Web Designer: This can be the costliest means to have things done.
• Website Building Software Programs: You’ll be able to build your site personally and save money.
• Integrated with Hosting: Look for offers with your hosting company.
Here’s some tips for buying additional things you will need to operate your enterprise via the internet.
1. Negotiate – All you can do is ask for what you want. With regards to buying computers and additional office equipment, there’s some room for haggling. Locate the most advantageous payment plans possible that will help you to offset the cost. This goes for phone services, answering services and high-speed Internet rates as well.
2. Shop around – Buying computers online at websites akin to Dell.com enables you to include the features you’re after and pay the price you would like to pay. Printers do not cost as much as they used to. If you want a fax machine and a printer, look for offers on all-in-one equipment so you can save money.
3. Buy in bulk – At what time you may need paper, copier ink and supplementary office supplies, get as much as you are able to every time a deal comes along. Even if it takes you a whole year to use the paper, you’re confident that you will use it so it doesn’t matter.
4. Ask for guidance from other individuals – By way of example, you will require hosting for your site. Although one can find dozens of website hosting businesses to choose from, both paid and free of charge, everyone’s needs differ. What are your requirements? If you know other web based entrepreneurs, ask who they use. Needless to say high price does not necessarily equate with first-rate quality, just like low price does not always mean mediocre quality.
5. Avail yourself of what you already have for now – The best thing regarding a web-based business enterprise is that it can be operated from your computer. Most people already have one of those. It might not be the top end of the line model, but if it has high speed Internet access as well as a word processing program, you can get started.
You will discover overheads that you can avoid by starting an internet business versus an offline one, but you still have to spend some money. The above five pointers might help you to definitely cut down the costs you do have even more. This enables you to get your new enterprise going as soon as possible. And, don’t forget each one of these overheads can be written off on your income taxes so do not forget to maintain records.
Web Design: How To Get A Website.
Feb 11th
What are the steps to creating a web site?
Here are the four basic steps to follow, and some sage advice at the end.
1. First, a website needs a place to live so you’ll need a domain name. These are very easy to register online. Typically a .com (dot com) domain name is what most look for such as, www.mycompany.com. But there are several other extensions that can be registered as well such as .org, .net, and so on. For many of my Canadian clients I prefer a .ca extension if the client wants to appeal to Canadian visitors.
2. Next you need to find a hosting service. A web host is basically a computer that keeps your website files. When someone types in your domain name into a web browser a request is made to the host computer to share those files with the visitor. There are several good hosting companies available so shop around. I personally like Host Gator which provides unlimited hosting for about $10. bucks a month.
3. Once you’ve got your domain name and hosting nailed down, you’ll want to get busy on your new web design. If it’s a personal website you’re developing there are lots of free website solutions online. Some of these you’ll find within your hosting account. These templates are fun since they don’t require any coding knowlege at all, and anyone can put up a website. I don’t recommend this route if you’re website is for your business. Why? Well the fact is that businesses require targeted traffic in order to get customers from their websites. This is a skill that you’ll likely want to hire a professional web designer for.
4. The last step is to publish or upload your new website to the internet. Basically all you’re doing is transferring the files you created to your hosting account. If you’re using one of the do it yourself websites in the previous point, you won’t likely need to do this step, usually just hit a “Publish” button.
Well I hope these basic steps will be helpful to you. Be sure to do some research and shop around for a place to buy your domain names, and hosting account. I like to use. www.sibername.com, and HostGator.com. If you can, find a domain name that has an important keyword in it.
I hope this little article will help.
For more tips and suggestions about web design, visit Murray McFadgen’s site. Need help on how to choose the right web designer niagara. Give Murray a call.
Important Rules Should Bare In Mind In Web Design
Feb 11th
When designing your website and the attention should be paid to make sure the website perform correctly . Here are seven important rules of thumb to observe to make sure your website performs well.
1) Do not use splash pages
Splash pages are the first pages you see when you arrive at a website. They normally have a very beautiful image with words like “welcome” or “click here to enter”. In fact, they are just that — pretty vases with no real purpose. Do not let your visitors have a reason to click on the “back” button! Give them the value of your site up front without the splash page.
2) Do not use excessive banner advertisements
Even the least net savvy people have trained themselves to ignore banner advertisements so you will be wasting valuable website real estate. Instead, provide more valueable content and weave relevant affiliate links into your content, and let your visitors feel that they want to buy instead of being pushed to buy.
3) Have a simple and clear navigation
You have to provide a simple and very straightforward navigation menu so that even a young child will know how to use it. Stay away from complicated Flash based menus or multi-tiered dropdown menus. If your visitors don’t know how to navigate, they will leave your site.
4) Have a clear indication of where the user is
When visitors are deeply engrossed in browsing your site, you will want to make sure they know which part of the site they are in at that moment. That way, they will be able to browse relevant information or navigate to any section of the site easily. Don’t confuse your visitors because confusion means “abandon ship”!
5) Avoid using audio on your site
If your visitor is going to stay a long time at your site, reading your content, you will want to make sure they’re not annoyed by some audio looping on and on on your website. If you insist on adding audio, make sure they have some control over it — volume or muting controls would work fine.
For those who want to find useful information on SEO, you can visit the site http://www.aplus.net.
Using Search Engine Optimization-Simple, Effective, Essential
Feb 10th
SEO, otherwise known as Search Engine Optimization is a Internet marketing technique. The overall goal of SEO is to increase the ranking of your web-page or other web based content in the search engine databases of the major search providers. This is most effectively done by an Internet marketing company, one such company is Raxa Design, a Houston web design company. There are two methods that can be utilized with search engine optimization, on-page and off-page. Each of these methods offers a different advantage to the publisher in terms of increasing your page rank with the search providers. First, we need to understand a little about how Internet search works.
When you publish content on to the web for your prospective readers, it is critical that the information is visible and easily accessible when they need or want the information. The problem with this is that the Internet is so big, in fact its so huge that if each web page on the net were an actual piece of 8 .5″ by 11″ sheet of paper the amount of paper generated, would over fill a football stadium with the capacity of seating 100,000 people. In fact the Internet would not only fill the stadium completely but would do so an estimated 4 times total; and the Internet gets bigger every single day due in part to the work of Houston web design firms.
Now try to imagine your page in the middle of all that paper and your prospective customer being told to find it in less that 30 seconds with no assistance or guide as to how the papers were organized. SEO, a specialty of Houston web design firm, Raxa Design, is like the names in a phone book, with them and an understanding of how the book is logically organized any number can be found within say, a minute.
Search Engines scan every page on the Internet many times over the course of any given month, this may seem like a daunting task but consider this. A search engine company, such as GOOGLE, uses hundreds of super fast computers running 24 hours a day seven days a week, 365 days a year non stop; each of these computers is using a program called a spider to scan a web page. These “SpiderBots” as they are called can scan a page in less than a few seconds and send the data to other super fast computers for analysis, cataloging, organization and implementation to the search database system. Website companies such as Houston web design firm Raxa Design can help build the page to make it “spiderbot” happy. One such Houston web design is Raxa Design.
Each of the hundreds of search computers is capable of running dozens of spiderbots at one time, so hundreds and hundreds of pages are being scanned ever few minutes, non stop. These spiderbots are not really reading the page itself but are instead looking at certain types of information that is included in the page, this information is what they send back to the search organizer computers to help build and rank the database that is used to present result when a Internet user places a query to the search engine. This is the information that you need to make sure is “optimized” on your page by a Houston web design company, this is the main information that the spiderbot will see, this is the information that will help get your page found by prospective customers. This is a specialty of Houston web design company Raxa Design.
As you can see using SEO optimized by a Houston web design firm is essential to the success of your Internet marketing campaign. It’s easy to implement an effective search engine optimization scheme for your web content. Its even easier to let a specialist such as Houston web design specialist, Brian Waraksa, of Raxa designs, do it for you. The results are highly effective and very economical, considering the return on your relatively modest investment. Plus you save the time and trouble of doing the work yourself, instead placing it into the hands of the experts at a Houston web design. If you insist on Doing it yourself, there are many tutorials on how to do so all over the Internet, but to make the most effective use of it you should keep in mind the information you now have as to how information on the Internet is cataloged and how the user finds it online. To really make the most impact contact a Houston web design company, and let them tell you how they can improve the image and exposure of your business.
To contact Brian at the Houston Web Design click here now.
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