The Low Cost Web site Design Secrets series continues. You’ll always be able to click the link to the entire series below.

Low Cost Web Site Design Secret Number Seven : Faster Loading Pages

You only have a few seconds to get your web visitors attention. You’ve done this yourself - you’ve clicked on a link that has text which really interested you. You’re used to a certain amount of wait time, but if the page goes outside the time you’re used to waiting, you’ll click over to something else.

Web surfing is an intuitive procedure. As such, there are certain habits we all get into. We don’t care that ten years ago, we might be standing in line at a library, or a bookstore, or at a seminar, trying to access this same information. All we know that now, we expect to get it within seconds.

Therefore, knowing this, it’s your job to get your information to appear as quickly as possible - you need faster loading pages.

One way you can make your pages load faster, is to minimize the number and size of graphics on your pages. The default setting of a standard browser is constructed to load at most, four images at once. Also, smaller images don’t take as long to load. Of course, if you’ve already managed these two items, and you still can’t figure out why your pages won’t load faster, you probably need to ask a web site designer for help.

Nina

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Read the Rest of the Low Cost Web Site Design Secrets Series.

The Low Cost Web site Design Secrets series continues. You’ll always be able to click the link to the entire series below.

Low Cost Web Site Design Secret Number Six: Create Consistency

Your website visitors need to know how to get around, how to get back where they came from, and they also need to have cues that let them know when they’re still in your site and when they have left it.

Yes, it seems obvious, but as websites change over time and are updated, they have a tendency to lose consistency, unless it is part of the on-going plan. Here are some tips to make sure your site design stays consistent.

Use a consistent design for all pages on your site. The colours should be pleasing and the same colour scheme should be used throughout the site. Having a complex and confusing site will make people go away.

Also, use a consistent layout across your site. Having a consistent look on your site will eliminate confusion.

Have you been to a website only to find it hard to navigate? Many visitors find it difficult to locate information. Therefore, a lot of time is wasted trying to find the information visitors are looking for.

Navigation tells us at a glance about the contents of the site. It tells us how to use the site.

Once visitors arrive at your website, they should be able to navigate it easily without searching.

Menus/navigation bars should be in the same place on every page. Remember the three-click rule. Visitors should never be more than three-clicks away from the information they’re looking for. Make it easy for visitors to navigate by using simple and intuitive navigation.

You can create a professional presence by having a clear and simple navigation system.

Nina

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The Low Cost Web site Design Secrets series continues. You’ll always be able to click the link to view the entire series below.

Low Cost Web Site Design Secret Number Five: Avoid These Common Usability Mistakes

So what are these common usability mistakes?

One of the most common mistaks is building a site that does not appear to have a clear purpose. If you show your site to a novice internet user and they can’t figure out how to get around, you’ll want to review this issue.

Other common mistakes include:

• long scrolling pages (the skinnier the scrollbar, the closer you are to losing your audience),
• animated text (those tricks are for kids),
• dark backgrounds (they work on some “fun” sites, but not for businesses),
• long download times (how long does it take you to click away when a page doesn’t load?), and,
• outdated information (people expect the web to be fresh).

In short, a usable site will:

help users achieve a goal, usually to find something
make it easy for them to achieve that goal
make it possible to achieve the goal quickly
make achieving that goal a pleasant experience

Identifying problems with usability for your site need be no more complicated than asking a few friends to use your site and, if possible, watching them silently as they do this. Watching users try to find information on your site can be both instructive and quite revealing!

Not sure if your site measures up?

For a free consultation on your Web site usability, write to me at nina@interdream-designs.com, or click the link below to ask me a question.

Nina

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Read the Rest of the Low Cost Web Site Design Secrets Series