Important Website Design Tips

[Seofinder]

Here are 15 important website design tips that you might not be aware of or have overlooked. Consider taking advantage of them if you haven't already done so...

1. Custom 404 Pages
Create a custom 404 web page, so that any time your website visitor mistypes or misspells a URL on your site, they will still be provided with navigation options for your site (instead of getting nothing but a "Page Not Found" error message, which is neither friendly or helpful).

2. Redirect Non-www. To www.
Website visitors will often leave out the "www." portion when they type a URL or link to your website. Set the website up so that it automatically redirects any non-www version of your domain URLs (http://domain. com) to the www version (http://www.domain. com) of your website.

3. Properly Sized Graphics
Size and define all graphics and images on your web pages properly and correctly. Web pages will load quicker if the graphics contained on each page are properly defined so they don't require the web browser to re-size them. Properly sized and defined images can reduce the web browser workload and speed up the page loading time.

4. Favicon
Add a Favicon (favorite icon) to your website, so that your company or product logo appears in the URL box. This icon will also show up in a bookmark list, and gives the web site an added level of professionalism.

5. Include RSS Auto-Discovery
If you offer an RSS feed for any content on your website, be sure to include auto-discovery code in the header of your website. This will allow many browsers and RSS readers to automatically detect the presence of an RSS feed and alert the visitor that it is available.

6. Alternate Domains
Domain names are relatively inexpensive, so you should register multiple domain versions and extensions in order to protect your brand. The varied domains can be parked on the main website, simply to prevent others from obtaining them. Registering alternate domain versions will help protect your brand.

7. Consistent Navigation
Navigation should remain consistent on a website. As a website visitor moves through the website, the navigation bar should remain in the same place on each page. This will make it easier for visitors to navigate your website, and become more comfortable as they move through your site.

8. Home Goes Home
The main graphic, company logo, or "header" at the top of the site should be included on every page in the site, and should always return the visitor to the home page of the website. This has become a web standard, and most visitors now expect to return to the main page of the site simply by clicking on the main top graphic from any page within the site.

9. Copyright Notice
Include a copyright notice on the bottom of each page contained on the website, and keep it current! It may seem trivial, but an out-of-date copyright notice can send a message to your visitors that the website and its content may be out-of-date as well.

10. Meaningful File Names
Use meaningful file names for any files, graphics, or web pages. Many search engines look at file names as part of their search algorithm, and using keywords in file names may help to improve search engine rankings.

11. Hyphens vs Underscores
When naming files and webpages, use hyphens (i.e. web-page.html) rather than underscores (i.e. web_page.html) for the file names. It is much easier for search engines to separate and index the keywords when hyphens are used.

12. Alt Tags
Use ALT tags to describe what images represent on web pages. ALT tags not only assist visually-impaired visitors in knowing what the images are, but they also help with search engine ranking.

13. Spell Check
Use a spell-check feature on the text of all web pages in a website. A website that contains mistyped or misspelled words just shouts "unprofessional". Take the extra few minutes necessary to check the spelling of text on each page of your website.

14. Test
After making changes to a website, test it! Many times, a webmaster will upload changes, confident in their abilities, only to later discover that in their attempt to fix one thing, they have "broken" something somewhere else. Make testing a habit after making even the most minor changes!

15. Keep It Simple
Simple is good. Remove unnecessary clutter and distractions from a website and navigation menu.

[Xatsker]

I have gone through all the tips you have given and i am really impressesed by your tips.So please try to get many more tips and i will also try from my side.

[truffleshuffle]

I've gone through all of your tips and none of them are related to webdesign. They're all web development (web coding) tips but nothing related to design. Plus it looks like a copy and paste.

but not one to be negative, here's a real tip and one that I've established after almost 5 years in the industry.

Learn Photoshop, Learn Photoshop, Learn Photoshop.

It's just surprising how many people simply don't spend enough time learning the basic of this amazing tool.

[mangoface]

I started to learn photoshop last year and found it a real pain in the ass until I ran though a couple of good youtube tutorials. I think the main things you really need to master to get into photoshop are the

- pen tool
- paint bucket tool
- marquee tool
- brush & pen

A good understanding of layers, transparency and the various blending options also helps!!  More tips guys, I definitely need them!

[dathof]

Those are great tips! I know a lot about website design and photoshoping etc.. but I found some new things.

[aprilhomer]

This post is already 120 days old, but this is the first time I read it. Thanks for this tips! It will really help me a lot in the website designing. Thanks again!

[Elev8]

A few things I find important to consider while working on SEO/design...

1 - URL case (Google will rank "url.com/asdf" differently to "url.com/ASDF")
2 - Quality of content. Google ranks logged in users based on reading age, grammar and similar literary metrics.
3 - Page speed is vital. Users will wait for about 4 seconds and click away if the page hasn't loaded!

[icellular01]

Those are excellent tips! I know a lot about web style and photoshoping etc.. but I discovered some new factors.

Phone international calling [nofollow]
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[tevez]

Your website design is the face of your business online. It captures the viewer's attention and diverts him to take a look around your site. If you do your homework right with your website design, you will be able to convert the viewer into a buyer of your product or service. You may get a lot of traffic but if your website design doesn't convert viewers, it's almost as good as nothing.

[delois]

You should design a website such a way which takes less time for loading. Make the attractive landing page and give some offers on home page which attracts new visitors to your website. Make the easy navigation through which users can easily use your website. Give all main links on every page and make the internal linking structure. Use some graphics and banners which makes your website professional. You should post the fresh content and remove the unnecessary clutter from the website. Use the alt tags for images and also use the CSS sprite generator in the design.