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Consistency: The Key to Web Success
The most important aspect of web site design
is without a doubt establishing consistency. In order to successfully
establish consistency within your web site, try using database templates
to create a common look and feel for your site. Although database templates
are not the answer for all web sites, and may not be practical for smaller
sites, it is extremely important for all pages in your site to share
common elements, and exhibit a high degree of page-to-page consistency.
The advantage of database templates is that they are extremely easy
to create, and make your site consistent regardless of changes in personnel.
Database templates also allow you to make changes to your site much
more easily, and allow you to change certain elements without recreating
the entire page from scratch.
If you are creating a smaller site, you
will have a bit more leeway to work with, however you should still aim
to maximize consistency. Consistency can help give your site a more
professional look and feel, and also makes for easy navigation.
Logos
Another important aspect of site design is the placement of company
logos or other symbols of your site that will be used to create brand
awareness. By placing logos in a common position on all your web pages,
users will be able to easily determine that they are at your site. Many
sites still do not recognize the importance of this, however if you
follow this simple rule of thumb, your site will have a much greater
chance of establishing itself among users.
Use Common Images
In the Internet business,
speed is king, and you can help to decrease the loading time of your
web site by using common images on your pages. If you use common images,
your site will load faster because the images which have already appeared
on a previous page will be loaded from browser caches, rather than from
the server itself. This decreases the number of files to be loaded from
the server, and thus decreases loading time. If you must change images
from page to page, try to use common elements from other pages in order
to decrease loading time. This tactic is especially useful for title
bars, which can be broken up into individual images. When a new page
is loaded, the elements from the old page are loaded from the cache,
leaving only the new elements to be loaded.
Prioritize Site Content
Another useful tip which can help make your
site design more effective is to prioritize all content and images.
By doing so, you will be able to attract the user's attention to the
important aspects of your site, and thus ensure that the things you
want to be seen are seen first. Once you have prioritized your site,
make sure to place the most important sections near the top of your
page, and make them larger in size.
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