Web Page Design Tips

The tips and guidelines listed on this page are my personal ideas and recommendations. Some of these I learned the hard way - from experience and other tips I gathered from my peers, magazine articles, books and tutorials. The best resource I have had over the past several years has been the HTML Writer's Guild

Load Fast

A primary objective should be to have a web page that loads fast. Keep in mind there are still some Internet users accessing the web with slow Internet connections. Viewers loose interest with pages that take too much time to load.

Keep it Simple

A complicated web page design increases costs to design as well as maintain.

Accessibility

The homepage of the AWARE Center was launched in April 1999 as part of the HTML Writers Guild's special focus on the importance of designing for universal accessibility. AWARE stands for Accessible Web Authoring Resources and Education, and our mission is to serve as a central resource for web authors for learning about web accessibility. A list of resources that address accessibility design guides can be found at The AWARE Center

Caution Using the Latest Design Technologies

Be aware that some of the new design bells and whistles can not be viewed on all Browsers and may have problems being viewed on older versions of Browsers.

Spell Check

Make sure the web page has been edited for content and spell checked. A website with spelling errors or typos reflects poorly on the service or products being offered.

Validate HTML Code

The web page should be "validated", much like a spell checker only checking the code, to ensure the HTML tags are coded and in the proper places. An on-line validator to test a web page is the W3C HTML Validation Service

META Tags

Some Search Engines rely on META description and keyword tags to help define information relative to your website and indexing in their database; [more information].

Choose Your Graphics

Each web graphic image has a file size associated with it; large graphic image files will cause a web page to load SLOW! Choose your graphics and the number of images used on your page carefully. Whether using a *.GIF or *.JPG format, try to keep the graphic files within 16-27kb range or less preferrably.

Choose the Right Graphic Format

Determine which file type is best, *.GIF or *.JPG. A JPG is the best format to use if you are using a 16.7 million color photo or gradient tones in art work, the file compression will result in a smaller file size than a GIF format. GIF formats are used with 256 color or less for images such as logos or clipart.

Domain Name.

You may want to consider registering a Domain Name with Network Solutions. This is a web address (URL) that is unique to you or your company, you can search the Verisign WHOIS database.