In today's time-crunched global landscape, a majority of people literally don't have a minute to spare. This hassled pace extends to the kingdom of website design -- your professional Web design must meet the demands of users with a wide range of options for accessing the Web.
Even if you create a website design that's worth a wait, visitors encountered with reduced download speed aren't meant to stick around. So how can you make sure that time is on your side? Pay detailed attention to seven professional Web design tips to create a website that won't slow your business down.
#1: Restricted use of flash
Flash is a typical example of style over substance and, while it surely has its place in professional Web design, it must be used sparingly when you create a website. Even if your visitors have the right flash player (and many won't), it will increase your site's download time. Flash is also one of the Web site design elements that is not yet accessible to search engines, which means it can only hinder your search engine optimization efforts.
#2: Compress your images
Images are a great example of how looks can be deceiving in professional Web design. You might not realize just how much space they occupy when you create a website design. By compressing your images before adding them to your professional Web design, you can reduce/shrink a GIF or .JPEG image by up to half its original size. You may also want to specify the height and weight of your images in your HTML, which can decrease loading time.
#3: Clean up your code
While HTML text is much faster than graphic text, there are ways you can make it even faster. Watch out for extraneous HTML coding – like spaces, unnecessary tags and even white space -- that can increase the size of your files. Remember that less is more, and use defaults for tags or remove them wherever possible.
#4: Use thumbnails
Thumbnails are an especially helpful website design technique for ecommerce websites. Provide customers with a small, fast-loading image of your product and let them decide whether they want to view the larger version of the image.
#5: Embrace the CSS
A professional web design company now prefers Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) instead of the more traditional table layout. CSS is a styling language that has a double purpose in professional Web design: it can save you time when you create a website and save your visitors time by drastically reducing page size and download time.
#6: Bring down server requests
Any part of your design that emerges from a different server – be it be a graphic, an audio clip, or an ad – will provoke an HTTP request each time the page loads. Create a website with limited external content to reduce loading time. Do ask your professional web design company for this element.
#7: Pay close attention to page size
Even if you use all of the tips given above, your page size may still be large enough to compel a slow response when all the elements of your website are put together. Keep in mind that less is often more in professional Web design, and use only the content that is absolutely necessary. Ideal page size is around 30KB.
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