Web Design

When I do a Web Design I like to use standard validated HTML or XHTML, with valid separate CSS style sheets, or at least valid CSS included in my web pages. If you do not understand all this that’s OK, because what really counts is that your web pages load correctly in all browsers.

The next design item I work on is the header. The banner at the top of the page is important because it not only identifies the web site, but it also should be pleasing to look at, capture the attention of the audience, and be polished and professional.

The next important feature of a design item is the layout of the actual page. It should load in all browsers at all screen resolutions fast. The faster your pages load the better.

Never before has their been so many different computer screens on the market. The first computer screens were very small, but now 20% of the computer screens in use are a screen resolution of 1024 x 768. Higher and higher screen resolutions are more common now, with 1280 x 1024 at 18.2% users, 1280 x 800 at 17.3%, 1440 x 900 at 10.5%, and 1680 x 1200 coming in at a whopping 10% of usage.

The screen resolutions just keep going up. A screen resolution of 1920 x 1080 is now around 2.3% of users. However, 1% of users still use 800 x 600 screen resolution to view the web. Also, some users set the screen resolution to 800 x 600 even if they own a large screen. They might do this because they have bad eyesight, or just like to see more magnification while browsing the web.

The most recent screen resolution is an unbelievable 2560 X 1600. At some point you have to ask is more better! Because you never know beforehand what screen resolution your potential viewer will use, I like to design pages to look good at all resolutions without the user having to scroll to the right or left to read the content. If it is too hard to read or use the page, they will simply go to another website for their products or information. If you design your page with a fluid design or a fixed width of 1,000 pixels you should be ok. Most web pages if they are set at a fixed width are set at 1000 pixels because most users will have a screen larger than that resolution.

The next important design element is the content (information) in your pages. Your content needs to be exclusive to your page. It should not be duplicated anywhere else in the entire world. You can write your exclusive content, or you can have someone else do it, but it needs to be unique. You are the expert in your viewer’s eyes, and if they see the exact content you have on your website on 1000 other sites, that will subtract from your credibility.

The finial design element of a good web page should always be SEO friendly. SEO friendly comprises many elements. One of the most important is the Meta title, description, and key words imbedded in the code of your page. All Meta tags should include keywords from your content and hopefully the keywords from your content will be highly searched for by users. However, if the highly searched for key words produce too much competition from your competitors, you might find your web page on page 10 or 20 in the search engines, and never be found. There is a happy middle of the road. If you could find a unique product or information with few competitors, that would be best.

Most major search engines change the way they conduct a search repeatedly. Google now places more importance on how many back links you have, and the title in your Meta Tag. The <meta> tag provides data about the web page. This <meta> tag is not displayed, but is used only by search engines. It is almost impossible to keep up with all the changes made by all the search engines. Because of this, it is best to include all <meta> tags for description, title, keywords, robot follow, no follow, and any number of other <meta> tags to help the search engines. The more key words you have that are link anchored the better. These are keywords that are linked to another web page with a high keyword density for that keyword.

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