advice

Solid Advice About Website Design That Can Help Anyone

May 3, 2014 by Admin Leave a Comment

Do you want to become a good web designer? Is not knowing where to start holding you back? If so, this article will be of interest to you. Keep reading for a selection of practical tips and tricks for creating an effective and appealing website.

You want to have a site that is easy to navigate, if you want to attract visitors. It should always be easy to get from one page of the site to another. Simple menus will make navigation easy for your visitors. Link back to the homepage from every other page on your site; this makes it far easier for users to get around.

TIP! Remember, frames are a thing of the past and while revisiting past memories can be fun, adding outdated frames will only make your designs appear to be zombies from the world wide web graveyard. Frames worked well in the earlier days, but there are too many flaws in the design.

By testing the way your website will work in different browsers, you can ensure that the maximum number of visitors see your site they way you want them to. What may work great in Firefox, may not work well in Internet Explorer or Chrome. Monitor how the pages look in major browsers before taking your website live.

Let visitors cancel actions if they want to. This includes completing forms, enrolling in email newsletters and searching the site to find certain information. If you do not give site users the opportunity to cancel an action, they are not likely to return to your site. Over time, this could negatively impact your sales and site traffic.

Be aware of the background you choose. Remove obstacles to easy text reading by avoiding things like GIF backgrounds that move. Select backgrounds that work in harmony with the site, not in competition with it, and visitors will find your material much more accessible and useful.

File Sizes

Regardless how your website is designed aesthetically, it is important to make certain that all of the files have small file sizes. This is because file sizes are directly correlated with load times. Of course, having your website load quickly is the best scenario for visitors. Remember that there are still lots of people who do not have high speed Internet. Perform tests on your website to make sure that it loads fast, even when a dial-up connection is used.

Make sure you optimize your website for older Internet Explorer versions like IE7 and IE8. Most people have a love-hate relationship with IE; however, many people are still using it, including older versions. This creates problems for web designers, but there are things that can be done. Looking up “box model bug” can be very helpful.

TIP! Do your best to store any personal information of your users so that they don’t have to enter it over and over again on your site. If users register on your site, some of their data should be saved.

Do not include a website counter; it just doesn’t look good. While you might think that it’s adding something to your site, it’s really something that your visitors don’t want to see. Get rid of the counter and monitor your traffic by other means.

Some hosting services offer a tool to build your own website. Use this tool to create a very basic layout but do most of the coding yourself. You want to integrate your own personality into this site, and this means tweaking and adding some things on your own without the drag-and-drop site-builder the host offers.

While development platforms generate code for you automatically, they cannot duplicate the reliability of classic text editors. Site features are designed within the platform, and then the generated code is pasted in. However, in order to eradicate errors and create efficient websites, you should really learn how to code by hand using a generic text editor.

TIP! To help new web designers make good sites, use Photoshop. Using a program that has great reviews behind it can help speed up the time it takes to create a website.

Do not overlook the valuable knowledge that can be gained on web page design through printed books. Make sure that you start out with books that are around your web page design level. You want to progress, but not skip any information along the way, so you can be great at designing websites.

Office Space

If you are planning to design and run your own website, you’ll need an office space from which to work. Get rid of all distractions, and have you work space organized and ready for when you go to work. Make sure your office equipment is easily accessible, and ensure that your office space is conducive to designing good websites.

TIP! White is the most common background color online for a reason. When you have a white background, your content will be easy to read, and it will also make your site appear more professional and trustworthy.

Most people have heard of Photoshop and know that it’s a useful tool in website creation. Fewer people are familiar with the program Dreamweaver, which can be just as useful.

Target Audience

When you make a website you should look for a target audience or just ask them what kinds of things you site should have on it. This will aid you in your design as you incorporate multiple features on the site. Advice from what your target audience wants to see is pertinent to the design of your site.

TIP! Your website should be optimized to include older versions of web browsers such as Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer is not well regarded, but many still use it, and some even have outdated versions.

Your homepage and sub-pages should have a “site-searching” function of some kind. This increases the site’s usability five-fold, and makes it easier to get to anyplace on the site from any other place on the site. It is not complicated to incorporate a site search, and it will pay off in a big way.

Continue learning as you design a site. By diving into another area each time you master one, you’ll never stop improving. Doing this can add time to designing a website early on, but later you’ll be such a pro that you can crank sites out in droves.

After learning what we’ve taught you, are you more optimistic about your chances? If you do, great. If not, review this article and others like it, then go out and put what you’ve read to use.

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Awesome Web Hosting Advice To Get You Started

April 27, 2014 by Admin Leave a Comment

Many people mistakenly believe that all web page hosting companies are equal. The truth is that the more effort you put into selecting the right choices in life, the more you’ll get out of it in the end. This article has a lot of information to help you avoid mistakes many make when picking a web host.

You should choose your host based on more than a few recommendations. If you only choose between two or three, you won’t really be exploring the possibilities, leading to a potentially negative outcome.

Security Measures

You should take time to ask about the security measures of any web host you are considering. In today’s society, websites come under attack quite often, and there are always a great number of potential threats. Verify that your selected web host has implemented security measures, which can effectively handle denial-of-service attacks, as well as many other common threats. Know the potential risks to your site if your host is attacked.

Do you want to use free web page hosting? If so, then check into the service that the free web host provides and be sure that you back up all of your data. This is important because free web hosts typically don’t back up your data. If your site goes down, loses a page, etc., you’re not going to get any help from your host.

TIP! If you end up finding certain parts of your web hosting services to be unfavorable, keep researching for other host sites. If the problem doesn’t lend itself to an easy fix, you’ll be ready to move to a new host.

Be sure to allow for the future growth of your website when choosing a hosting service. While a simple HTML page is small, as soon as you begin adding pictures, video, or other media, the size can balloon quickly. You should have plenty of space for development, if you have 100MB of available storage space.

Find out if your host backs up your data for you or if you’re required to do it yourself. This is an extremely important function of website ownership, not only because you must comply, but mainly for keeping your data safe and secure. You will still have your website if anything were to totally crash.

If you can, get a web hosting service with a guarantee for your money back. If you don’t like the service within about 30 days, you should be able to cancel it and get your money back. Some hosting providers make promises they cannot keep.

Web Host

Do your homework and research online and don’t just choose a web host based on what their promotional advertising tells you. Look for objective customer reviews and experiences before deciding in a web host. Customers will usually talk about both the highs and lows of a company, making their reviews invaluable in your search.

If you are new to web design, select a hosting company that has outstanding customer service instead of just extra bells and whistles. When you first start out there are a lot of questions that pop up in your head about web page hosting, so you’re going to want a host that has great customer service available and ready to answer all of your questions. Good tech support beats any number of extra bells and whistles hands down.

TIP! Choose monthly payments instead of subscribing for a whole year. You never know if your host might go bankrupt, or your website could close.

There are a lot of mistakes people make, and you have seen this shown in this article. You will be able to avoid some of the mistakes that people commonly make when choosing a hosting provider if you are aware of the things to look for. The above advice should be a boon to you while you search for the perfect web host.

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Great Advice For Choosing A Hosting Service

April 14, 2014 by Admin Leave a Comment

A reliable web host is sometimes hard to come by, particularly if you have multiple needs. Due to the large selection of web page hosting companies, it can be difficult to select the best one. Follow these tips to find the web hosting company that will be best for you.

When selecting a hosting service, opt for the provider that has a favorable track record for outages and downtime. Don’t listen to their excuses! Any company that experiences frequent outages has clearly not taken the proper precautions to protect their clients. You don’t want to support a company that has frequent downtimes because most likely, they are unprofessional and your own website will be what suffers in the end.

TIP! Look at numerous companies before choosing your web hosting service. Remember that everyone will have a different experience with a host or that reviews can be written by affiliate agents.

Always check into the security precautions provided as you shop for a web host. There are a variety of potential threats today targeting websites. What procedures will a company use to deal with common threats like DDoS attacks? You should know what is the risk for your site in case your host is attacked.

Partner with a hosting service that is capable of supporting your website as it expands and grows. An HTML page takes very little space, but adding pictures or videos will need a lot more space. 100MB of space should be good enough to start, for most sites.

Website hosting services often charge you based on the type of traffic you receive. Ask your host how your bill will be computed. The formula varies between providers with some charging a flat rate based on amount of traffic, and others charging a varying amount according to usage by month.

TIP! When choosing a web host, ask what kind of security precautions are in place. In today’s online environment, security risks are rampant and websites are often vulnerable to attacks.

Make a hard copy backup of your website data, whether your web host requires it or not. A regular back-up procedure is essential, not only so that you comply with the terms of your contract, but so that your data is safe in the event of an unforeseen issue. When you have your backup, you always have your site code, no matter what happens to your hosting service.

Do not limit your research to a host’s website and advertisements. Check out reviews of the hosting company on other websites such as forums in order to get customer feedback and truly find out how good the web host is. These reviews will give you a far better idea of how the provider truly performs.

For enhanced usability, use web hosting providers that offer a cPanel. The reason is that cPanel is easy for adding popular applications to the site with just a few clicks. These applications are user friendly and intuitive. A cPanel also streamlines the way you manage your site.

TIP! Web hosting service charges can be related to the amount of traffic that is coming to your website. You should know how your web hosting company is going to charge you.

If you are new in web design, choose web hosts that gives good customer service as opposed to someone that has more features than you currently need. As a beginner, you will find that you have many questions as to how to utilize certain features of the hosting package. If you are given access to a knowledgeable and helpful technical support team, you’ll gain far more advantages than you would from a provider that offered you a lot of intricate and complicated features.

Via message boards or forums, communicate directly with the web host clients. Asking customers questions about the your most pressing concerns can help you pare down your list of potential hosts. These chats will help you feel more confident that you are choosing the right company. Existing customers can offer unparalleled insight into the service and quality of different providers.

Reputation is crucial to good web hosts. You should look for articles and reviews on the hosts you are interested in to learn more about their performance and find out if you can trust these companies. Companies that use minimal effort, or don’t live up to the “hype,” can also be recognized.

TIP! Invest in an SSL certificate for both your and your customers’ peace of mind. You can add an icon to your website which informs users that your site is secure, and this can make them more trusting of the transaction security on your site.

A dedicated server upgrade can increase benefits and provide you with many advantages. It allows you a greater amount of bandwidth, space for storage and security. With all of this extra power, you can more efficiently tailor to the needs of your customers. As with any business, customers that leave happy come back.

Look for hidden costs and scams. Many hosts will show low prices on their plan advertisements, but they never tell you about the fees you’ll have tacked on top of that price. This is a main reason you should determine which hosting features you require and which features are included in hosting plans you are considering. You should select a plan that includes all the features you need to avoid being charged extra fees.

As mentioned earlier, selecting the ideal web host is not a simple task. With a myriad of things to take into consideration, narrowing it down can be tough. Use the advice in the preceding article to help you find the right hosting company for your needs.

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Solid Advice For Successful Website Hosting In The New Millennium

April 11, 2014 by Admin Leave a Comment

Finding a high-quality hosting service that is reliable, innovative, and offers great customer service can be a tricky task. With such a large number of hosts out there, it can be difficult to find the ideal one. Use the advice in the article below to help you find the best web hosting company.

Shared or dedicated hosting, which is the better solution for you? If your website receives a great deal of traffic, shared hosting might cause problems. Therefore, you should probably search for dedicated hosts.

TIP! Almost every web host has additional features available in their packages, although the exact add-ons may vary from host to host. When comparing hosts, be sure you are including the features that you need.

Your web hosting company should do business out of the country where your target audience lives. For example, if your target market resides within Germany, it is in your best interest to select a provider that operates a data center from within the country’s borders.

As you shop for web hosting service, look for providers that offer a variety of site analytical tools and traffic monitoring. Include a visitor counter on your site, and use it as a comparison to the amount of traffic that your web host says you get. This type of data allows business owners such as yourself to fine-tune a site to suit the target audience.

Check on whether or not your web host offers some sort of money back guarantee. A 30-day probationary period is typical, allowing you to leave the host and get a full refund within the first month of service. Sometimes the service a host claims to provide is not everything it’s supposed to be.

TIP! Avoid a host with a lot of outages. Companies that have frequent outages, even if they can explain them away, are not good choices because they should have made changes to resolve underlying outage causes.

Remember that you often get what you pay for with free hosting sites. A free web page hosting account will include ad placement on your site, even if you don’t want it. What’s more is that you will not control the ad content placed on your site. Besides, your website will look unprofessional with unrelated ads scattered all over it.

If you need more than one email address, talk to the host service about their email formats. The most popular, and best type, for most people is POP 3. The email addresses share your site’s domain name and you can usually access the mail accounts from any web browsers using the host’s tools.

Dedicated Server

TIP! To ensure a safe website, it may be wise to pay a little extra to obtain the secure server certificate. This will give you the ability to put a small button on your site letting visitors know that your site is secure and safe for transactions, including personal data or financial information.

Decide if your site requirements include a dedicated server. With a dedicated server you will have more storage space and bandwidth and less risk of viruses or other attacks. Your customers will get exactly the experience they hope to when they visit your site. Keep in mind that a happy customer is someone who will come back again.

Do not select your host by comparing only the price. You have many different options to chose from. Do not be swayed merely by a good price, as there is much to consider. Your final choice should meet ALL of your needs, not just price.

When choosing a host for your website, favor hosts that value communication. You will want to have a host that will communication with you and give you updates about maintenance. You also need to know that communication is easy, meaning you have a way to contact them 24 hours a day.

TIP! You’ll have to back up your data before posting it to a web hosting service. Most services require you to do this.

You also want to ensure that your web page hosting company is connected in multiple ways to the Internet. If a web host has only a single connection, your site will go down when their connection fails, so you need a host that has backups in place. Make sure that there are multiple connections, and be certain that each one is capable of providing sufficient bandwidth.

Some hosts offer refunds for the downtime of your site. In most cases, the amount of the refund will be negligible; however, the amount that you could have earned through lost sales can be significant. Downtime can be quite damaging to your business. Stick with companies that have either no or very infrequent down time.

You need to be able to quickly contact your host provider should there be some sort of problem. 24/7 service in chat, email or telephone format is usually an excellent indicator that a web host will go above and beyond for their customer base. This will cause you less headaches, if something unexpected happens.

Web Host

Do not let low prices dictate your choice of a web host. While you do want to get good value for your money, you don’t want to select your web host based on price alone. The lower the price, the more likely it is that the support you receive or the quality of the service will suffer.

Choosing the right hosting service requires some work. With so many options available, finding the right fit can seem challenging. Follow the advice provided in this article in order to determine which web hosting company is best for you.

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Great Advice And Ideas About Website Design That Anyone Can Grasp

April 9, 2014 by Admin Leave a Comment

It can be very costly to hire a web designer or company to create your site. Also, the cost does not guarantee that you will like the results. The truth of the matter is there is not a precise way to show what you want. You’re the only one who can accurately translate your vision. Continue on for some great web page design tips that will show you how to build a site that you can be proud of.

Be certain to ‘remember’ personal information that might have to be re-entered by the same site visitor. Save users’ information like registration data, so it doesn’t have to be entered more than once on different forms. If you use this data to your advantage, users will be able to save time as they navigate your site.

TIP! Be sure to view your website designs in all the popular web browsers. What you see might not be what users will see.

Avoid using pop-up advertising. Many consumers are bothered when they visit a site and are suddenly bombarded by pop-ups. The majority of people will leave a site if it contains pop-ups, even if these sites are very large ones. You can prevent visitor frustration, and improve your reputation, by avoiding pop-up advertisements entirely. As well, if your web host makes it mandatory that you have pop-up advertising, look into a new host asap. It’s not worth the annoyance level they create.

Load Quickly

While you want to keep the aesthetics of your site in mind, you also need to make every effort to keep your file sizes to a minimum. Keeping your files small will directly affect how fast your website loads. It is critical that your website load quickly for everyone. You should also keep in mind that not every visitor will be using a high speed Internet connection. Continue to test your site to make sure it will load quickly, even with a dial-up connection.

TIP! Do not overuse JavaScript. Even if JavaScript opens up interesting possibilities for your designs, not all your visitors will be able to see your content properly.

Eliminate pop-up windows from all pages on your site to create a user-friendly experience. You’ll only annoy your visitors with this type of content, regardless of how important the information in the pop-up windows is. If your visitors become frustrated enough with pop-ups, they may permanently leave your website.

White is generally a safe background color to use when designing a professional website. Viewers will feel confident in the professional look afforded by a solid white background. Gaudy backgrounds, by contrast, often blend in with the content, and make it appear to be hastily put together. Simple backgrounds are generally better.

Signing up for an online newsletter about web page design is a great way to receive a periodic reminder to stay on top of new trends and revive your desire to learn as much as possible. There are many newsletters that will provide good information and tips for both beginners and seasoned web designers!

TIP! A newsletter can help you to get more repeat visitors to you website. If you provide customers with an opportunity to keep abreast of upcoming promotions or events, they will be more likely to return.

Stay in contact with friends who are knowledgable about design programs like Dreamweaver or Photoshop to make sure that you don’t forget how to use them properly. The last thing that you want is to be deep in the design process and realize that you neglected to learn a key piece of information.

You can only benefit from consulting a professional who deals with web design every day. If you take this route, you can make the most of an opportunity to develop your own skills.

Allow visitors to search your site from every page. This is vital to maximizing the usability of your site, and helping your vistors find what they need. You can include a search function easily, and it will greatly increase the utility of your site.

TIP! Photoshop is a great tool that novice designers should invest in to help make better looking web designs. Programs like Photoshop are great for new web designers, because it allows them to quickly create professional websites.

If you use the file server FileZilla, you should ensure that the quick menu options have been programmed with your site’s information. If you do this, every time you have to log on, all you will have to do is chose the settings you have in place from the menu. This will help you save time.

If you want to host videos, read the rules of your host to make sure you can. It is not uncommon for hosts to forbid users to host video content. The files (FLV) take up a great deal of space on servers, so do not waste your time and efforts including them on your site; learn the rules beforehand.

Having blank space in your site is a good design feature, so do not make the mistake in thinking that you website should be packed all the way. White space helps people to clearly see your site, which in turn allows them to read and absorb the information much better than a site that is packed with too much stuff.

TIP! You want to set up some way to let visitors give you feedback. That will allow you to fix any problems that you may not otherwise notice.

Website design is so simple that you can go from an idea to a published site with a little bit of effort. The tips above are various methods you can use to create a great site. Make certain to apply the methods in this article as they were described, and you’ll make a great site.

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Web Design Guide: Information And Advice For Builders

April 7, 2014 by Admin Leave a Comment

Websites are not the same, no matter how similar they appear. For instance, take a glance at Facebook and then look at a hosted site such as Yahoo or Google. You will notice important parallels between each site, as well how different designs are needed based on the needs of the individual website audience. Read on to find techniques which will make your site stand out in a crowd, even compared to these juggernauts!

The speed at which your web page loads is an important design factor. If your visitors are waiting forever while something is loading on your site, there is a good chance they will quickly leave and never return.

TIP! Color combinations are key in branding your website. You should be striving to achieve easily readable and visible text set against your chosen background shade.

If you want your site to bring in more visitors, you should ensure it’s simple to navigate. Links should be displayed where users will find them easily. Menus can also help with site navigation. Link to the main page from every other page of the site so that visitors can easily find important information.

It is imperative to replace old content with new. If you’re talking about events that happened a year ago, you are behind the times. The average online user values fresh content and attention to detail. Be certain to review your website on a regular basis to remove outdated items and add fresh, new content.

Make sure you give your users the option to cancel a given action if they choose to. This might include completing forms, browsing your site, or registering for newsletters. If your visitors can’t easily change their mind and back out of registering for a site feature, they may feel forced to complete a transaction. This isn’t good for your web traffic or your reputation.

TIP! The faster a web page loads, the more it will be appreciated. You should minimize the loading time of your site’s pages.

Use a well known software program that is known for getting the job done to help create a professional looking website. By using this type of program, a novice designer will be able to make high quality looking websites at a fast pace. When you do not possess a program like this one, it can be extremely difficult and time consuming to get enough information to build an appealing site fast.

Elicit feedback from your visitors. Thus, if there is a gap in your site’s offerings or visitors are confused about using your site, it will be easy for you to remedy the situation. One way to make sure that visitors re-visit you site is to give them a feeling of involvement.

White is an effective choice of color for your website’s background. Studies show that a white background with black text is the easiest for people to read, leading your content to appear expert and trustworthy. If you make your background design too complicated, however, it’ll distract your visitors and detract Backgrounds should be simple and subtle.

Meta Tags

Never underestimate the value of great meta tags throughout your website. Good meta tags will help search engines categorize your site properly. If you use poor meta tags, or worse, don’t use them at all, your site will get fewer visitors overall.

Use basic fonts which every user will be able to see. The font type on a website is a quick indicator of how professional it is. Don’t use fancy or non-standard fonts. Some people may not have these fonts installed on their computers. Unique fonts tend to default on most user’s computers if it’s not available to them. This can make your website look a lot worse.

TIP! Do not use pop-ups. Few things are worse than being overloaded with pop-ups.

While development platforms are great for doing the job of creating your code, they are not always able to be relied on for classic text editing. The idea with these platforms is to design your site’s features, and then paste in their generated code. However, this can lead to errors, so you may prefer coding your site by hand with a text editor.

When shopping for hosting for your site, review all of the features of each plan before settling on one. Find out how much disk space, bandwidth or CPU usage you are allowed. Ensure that you understand what you’ll be receiving.

You can get ideas from other websites, but incorporate them into a vision all your own. Create designs on your own, and improve on the ones you’ve witnessed on other websites. If you do this, you’ll constantly improve your abilities and reach your potential as a web designer.

TIP! When designing a large site, always incorporate a search feature. The upper right of the main page should have a search box for users to search your whole site.

If you develop sites that are functional across different platforms, you can attract more visitors. You need to learn MySQL skills, PHP, Java, and more platforms so that you have more assistance in the future. Whether you are building a website for yourself, a client or a friend, your talents will permit you to do so quickly and effectively.

It’s likely that you will not make the very next Twitter or Facebook. The odds are stacked against you. Having good web designing skills means that you can make websites which are on par with those done by professional companies. Apply the info from this article and get busy designing!

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