Web Design Tips For Beginners

Published on Monday, 08 April 2013 22:18

Darin McGilvra

Web design will continue to grow and evolve as it becomes more crucial for businesses and individuals to have their own websites. Becoming a Web designer is a safe occupation that you know will be around for years to come.

Getting started in the right direction so you can build a quality portfolio will help you stand out in a crowded industry.

First of all, before you start a website, you want to have a plan. If the website is for yourself, you’ll need to sit down and decide what kind of website you want and what all you’ll have on it. If it is for a client, you’ll need to sit down with the client and interview him.

Make sure to listen to the client as well as let him know what options you can provide. Make sure that what they want on the website will provide them with what they need. Don’t just ask him what he wants, ask him about his business and what he needs the website to do for him.

During the planning stage, make sure the website will be designed responsively, which means it will work well on smartphones and tablets as well as computers. When using Photoshop, one way to do this is to save any graphics with “Save for Web & Devices” in the File drop-down menu.

You’ll also want to make sure your colors look right regardless of which browser or monitor is used. Photoshop’s color picker provides easy ways to do this. One way is to click on the “Only Web Colors” check box in the lower-left corner. Another way is to select your color and then click on the check box below a cube just to the left of the “Add to Swatches” button. This will convert the color you chose to the closest color that is safe for the Web.

You also want to pay attention to things like how long it will take for the page to load. The quality of the images can greatly affect how long the page will take to load. It is natural to want the highest quality of images and graphics when you are doing Web design, but this is often not practical. Instead, reduce the quality of the image in small steps until you can notice a real difference in how the image looks to you.

Keep Web design simple when you are first starting out

When you are first starting out, you want to keep it simple. Don’t try to do things you aren’t able to do and don’t try to do too much that you are just learning how to do. Stick with your strengths and then experiment a little with one or two things to improve the website and expand your knowledge base.
You just don’t want to have a website that looks too busy or cluttered. You don’t want to overwhelm the viewers of the website with too much stuff that you think is “cool.”

When you feel like you have done all you want to do on the website, test it out. Make sure it works on different browsers, different versions of browsers and different devices. The more you test, the more likely you are to find mistakes you made while doing your own Web design.

Darin McGilvra

Darin McGilvra has been a professional writer since 1997. He currently writes about personal finances, information technology and sports for numerous websites, including mycashtime.com, mchelper.com, and Yahoo! Sports.

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