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You have scoured the entire world wide web for the greatest tips on web design, however now that you have found this article, you can stop your search. Here, you will find some fantastic advice provided by experts who know web design inside and out. Read this article and you will not be let down.

Make sure your text and background has the proper contrast. There's evidence showing that white text on a black background is easiest for most people to read, but other colors are fine so long as they're readable. Also keep in mind that people with visual impairments may not be able to read your site if the contrast is poor. Check to see if your site complies with various contrast standards using the tool at http://snook.ca/technical/colour_contrast/colour.html .

Try using fixed-position navigation to let your users navigate with ease. This involves locking your site's navigation panel as visitors scroll down. This is easy for the visitor and good for marketers.

The graphics you use are important. Many people no longer use use bitmap graphics because the files are large and take longer to load. Try GIF, PNG or JPEG files instead. A PNG image should be used when it has less than 256 colors, so try to stay with that when designing text buttons, screenshots and images that are photographic quality. JPEGs are good to use for photographs.

If you intend to use advertisements on your site as a way to increase your earnings, make sure to maintain an appropriate ratio. Keeping your advertisements at no more than 25 percent of your content ensure your site is not cluttered with too many of them. Just like people would not watch television if it was nothing but commercials, site visitors are less likely to stay on your site if you have too many advertisements.

If you're creating a large site, include search functions for your visitors. Put in a search box in the right-hand corner up on top of the homepage, as this allows the site visitors to type in a single keyword that shows up anywhere on your site. Search functions for websites are available from FreeFind and Google.

Make sure your site navigation is simple, well-maintained, and transparent. Navigation link placement is essential in how long visitors will stay on a website. You need a neat navigation structure that is consistent and easy to use for viewers to better use and enjoy your site.

Do not use images for your background. When you think about some of the biggest websites on the Internet, they do not have images as backgrounds. When you use image backgrounds, you represent yourself as someone who is not well-versed in web designing. Images as backgrounds also cause your site to load slower, which can lead to user frustration.

One thing you should always take into account when you're thinking about web design is the latest technology that is out today. As technology advances to does the web, so be sure you are always up to date with what is changing so that you're that much more understanding of how the web works.

Any good web design must include the proper planning as you are getting started. This planning process includes selecting a domain and a hosting package as well as planning out the information layout and designs. Planning is essential to web design, as it gets you ready beforehand to carry out your idea of the website.

Learn as much as you can about the various forms of html, as the html is crucial to web design. When you learn about html go ahead and make a couple of pages that are sort of filled with the information that you want to add to any of the sites you plan on working on.

Don't load rich content automatically. Rich content mainly refers to music and videos, but anything other than text or graphics qualifies. Many people browse in work environments where sounds suddenly playing is a big problem. Also, many people find such rich content annoying in general. Rich content should require some interaction from the user before playing.

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Be sure the websites you're designing are cross-browser compatible. You must check your site in the most popular versions of every top browser. Some examples include Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Safari, Mozilla Firefox and Opera. Many users use these browsers for surfing online, so you need to be sure your designs are being seen correctly on whatever they use.

Always use the same type of fonts so that guest to your site don't become agitated by reading different types of fonts. You want people to browse through the site with ease so that they can just concentrate on the material on the site and what the site has to offer.

It is likely that you are going to run across interesting designs and techniques on other websites, but it is critical that you use your creativity when designing your own website. Come up with your own ideas and features or improve upon some that you admired on other sites. Taking this step is sure to help you maximize your efforts in website design.

As stated in the above article, web design today is made simple with the many easy to use software programs that are on the market. You can become a master at web design too if you just follow some easy instructions. Use these tips to determine exactly what you want from the program that you choose.