Types Of Web Pages

Surely a web page is just a web page? Not necessarily, as you are about to find out.

Getting a basic understanding of the different types of web pages that exist will help you to design a better website. Certain types of page are present on almost every website, while others only play a very specific role which is relevant to a certain kind of website, such as one that sells a wide range of goods.

Perhaps the most important page of any website is the home page. This acts as the front door to your website and paves the way for what lies within it. This needs to be clear and concise and enticing if people are to venture further into your site.

Next you have content pages. These tend to contain articles and other pieces of content that have information about the subject of your website.

Information pages cover a number of subjects, but a good example is a page which gives the user information about your company and what its role is within the marketplace. It may also contain contact information, email addresses and so on.

If your site has goods for sale then it will certainly have a range of product pages. These show the visitors what is available and gives them all the information they need on each product.

There are countless other types of page which often fit into one of these broad categories, as is the case with interactive web pages. As the name suggests these are pages that involve the visitor in some way - they might be forum pages, pages which ask for an opinion or request the visitor to sign up to receive a free newsletter, or any one of a number of other options.

The key here is to make sure you know the difference between the different types of web pages, so that you can choose the ones which will fit into the structure of your website in the best way possible.

Website Structure And Navigation

Have you ever got lost in among the pages of a website and come right out of it because you couldn't find what you wanted? That very situation is why structure and navigation are vitally important to the overall success - or failure - of your site.

There are millions of sites on the internet on every subject imaginable, all trying to get your attention and make you stay for a while once you find them. What sets the good sites apart from the bad sites is the way they try and keep you there.

Some do it in a very sneaky way - they almost want you to get lost among their pages so you'll never find your way out again. Why people think this will get you to buy something or like their site any more (or even at all) is a mystery; all it does is frustrate you for the lack of good direction, layout and navigation.

The good sites are run by people who know how to make life easy for you. Excellent navigation and a good solid structure provide the backbone to every single successful site online today, and if you make sure your site has these two essential things as well, you will be much more likely to keep people on your site for longer.

The key word to remember here is simplicity. Don't make your site hard to understand. Everything should be organized logically and it should all be easy to access. When you are planning your website it can help enormously to go back to using a plain old pen and paper for a while, at least during the early stages. Work out what pages your home page needs to link to, and whether you will need subsections that lead off from those.

The overall structure will depend on how big your site is going to be. It doesn't make sense to try and link to fifty other pages from your home page; it will simply be too much for the average visitor to pick their way through. Instead, break the subject of your site down into several smaller areas. Your visitors can then click on the specific area they have an interest in and go in that in more depth from another page.

Make sure the navigation structure you use is the same on each web page you design. This will create a familiarity for the visitor and make it even easier for them to find their way around your site. A top or left hand side menu bar works best in this respect.

In the end it's worth spending a good amount of time on the planning and structure of your site. By putting in the work in the early stages you will reap the rewards later on.

The Concept Of User Centered Web Design

The visitor is always the most important person as far as a webmaster is concerned, which is why making use of user centered web design is to your distinct advantage.

User centered web design is all about putting the visitors in the driving seat when it comes to finding and viewing your website. Not everyone uses the same browser and not everyone has the same preferences when it comes to looking at web pages. A typeface that one particular person finds easy to read might not appeal to someone else; similarly the size of the font being used can present problems for people who need glasses to view what's on their computer screen.

This is where user centered web design comes into play. The interface you like to use isn't necessarily the one your visitors will enjoy, so by taking a more flexible approach to web design you can make your website more accessible to even more people.

The fact is that how a website looks plays a great part in how long visitors hang around before going elsewhere. It may also be the case that your website looks great in Internet Explorer? but it doesn't fare so well in Firefox. If you design your site rigidly so that it works well when viewed in Internet Explorer, you may lose all the people who find it and have trouble viewing it using a Firefox browser.

But user centered web design is also about making the experience as easy and as user friendly as possible for the visitor. In this sense you should ensure that every aspect of your site is easy to negotiate, easy to use and doesn't cause any problems whatsoever. Make sure all the files you use are as small as possible to make for fast downloading. Don't keep your visitors waiting.

Another aspect to remember is not to talk down to your visitors. Just because you want to make things simple for them, that doesn't mean you should regress too much. You need to maintain a balance between being too simple and too complicated. Giving people the right information in the right place at the right time is an essential part of what user centered web design is all about.

Finally, bear in mind that this can be an ongoing process. You can always improve on your current website, no matter how good it might be. Invite comments from your visitors, as they will be only too willing to tell you what's wrong with your site - as well as what's right with it.

Why Good Design Matters

Good design quite simply means the difference between success and failure online. Read on to find out more.

Some newbies to internet business think that all they need to do to make a nice income online is to throw together a website, get it online and sit back and wait for the money to start rolling in.

Unfortunately things aren't so simple. If you take a look at the most successful businesses online today - think of Google, Amazon and eBay for example - it's painfully obvious that every single one of those websites is well designed, nicely balanced and appeals to the needs of the people who find them.

This is no coincidence. While a good website design won't automatically guarantee your success online - you will still need a good business idea and a solid foundation on which to build your website in the first place - it will certainly push you further towards the success you seek if it's a fair representation of your business as a whole.

Therein is the key to why good design matters. Your website is a reflection of your whole business. If people discover your website and it's badly put together, unprofessional looking and a mish mash of ideas that just don't make the grade, they aren't likely to get a very good impression of what the business behind the website is like. Your business might be one of the best in its field - but if your site doesn't show that fact to people, it won't be a success.

A well designed website also has the ability to make people stay on it for much longer. If it's easy to browse round then people are likely to do so, and that can mean more sales for you. Good navigation is crucial to a good website - if you don't have it even the best website can fall down as people get frustrated and go elsewhere instead of struggling to find what they're looking for.

In short, good design reflects on you and your business. It's not too hard to obey some simple rules about layout and good design, and by doing so you could increase your business significantly.

Fundamental Principles Of Good Web Design

Web design involves a lot of ins and outs and techniques that can make good design somewhat difficult to attain at times. However there are basic principles that you should always try and stick to in order to ensure your websites look good every single time.

We can all spot a bad website design when we see it, and equally we seem to know what looks good when we browse the web for information on all manner of different subjects.

So how come it's so difficult to design a good website ourselves?

The answer is probably because there is no well defined end point to designing a website. Even when your site goes live you still aren't finished, because there will always be tweaking and redesigning to do, not to mention regular updating of certain features to make your site even better than it was to begin with.

However there are several principles that have always (and probably will always) remained constant and the first of these is the question of how user friendly a site design is.

However you design your website it needs to be easy for your visitors to find their way around. Providing a site map and a clear navigation system are both an absolute must - you simply can't get round this. Not if you want to attract and keep lots of visitors anyway.

You should also ensure that all the elements of your web design make it clear as to what the focus of your site is. This can go right down to the typeface you use. You wouldn't dream of using a comical typeface and bright primary colors if your website was all about serious health problems, so make sure your design features don't mislead your visitors in any way.

You should also resist the urge to be clever. Websites that try to be clever generally fall by the wayside eventually, because they either don't plug in to the user's needs, or they simply forget what they're supposed to be there for while the webmaster is caught up in making everything look nice.

Good web design is essentially a fine balance between the visual aspects of a website and the practical aspects of it, including usability, content and function. It's also about consistency. Keep to one typeface throughout the entire site and make the heading of each page exactly the same to create a consistent feel. When you view some websites you can jump from page to page and feel as if you're going through about six different websites. Make sure every single one of your pages is branded so that people know they are still on your website.

It's also important to understand the value of having a fast loading site. Not everyone has broadband and if you use huge images that take forever to download you are going to lose visitors - it's that simple. Always put the needs and requirements of your visitors before your own. Images can be compressed, but you need to remember that people are visiting your website mainly to get information, and that comes in the form of text. So make sure the balance is right and you have the information they need.

In short, good web design is all about creating a website that is pleasing to the eye and easy on the visitors who will find it. If you can manage that, you are halfway to success.

W3now.com Review

W3Now.com is one of the simplest companies to work with when you need web design. Unlike others who specialize in one form of design, this company provides you with a range of unique services. They offer a low cost Free Website Builder designed to allow you to use their products and services to build your own website, with their award winning free builder. You can also, and this is highly recommended, get a custom web design from them, for any small business looking for a customized website. The company also provides a link exchange service and ecommerce solutions to those needing them.

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Who Are They?

W3Now.com is a company based in Colorado, US. The company specialized in web design and web hosting services. The company has been in business since 1998, providing a range of services to those in need. They started (and continue) to offer a range of services extending from website maintenance, web hosting, search engine optimization, and website promotional services. The company prides itself in its ability to provide clients with a personal and professional service that is still affordable. The company has tripled its growth each year.
Their Services

The most popular services offered by W3Now.com includes their Free Website Builder tool, which gives you a simple tool to build your own website, the web hosting services, shopping car, affiliate program and site domains they offer. The company also specializes in web templates for downloading right away. Custom website design is a fantastic option to consider them for as well.

W3Now.com's small business web design and web development services are a good option for any business. They provide you with a custom designed website that meets your needs, goals and tastes. Custom designed products are more expensive, but more personal and often provide the best ready to use websites today. Here, the company provides you with a custom web design web programming, web database, small business websites, custom shopping cars and the ability to take credit cards online. They specialize in easy to use ecommerce websites and the software you need to run your business.

In order to get a good idea of what is available through W3Now.com, it is best to browse through their products to determine which the right fit is for you. Then request a quote for customized services, if you are going to go that route. The company's free website building tool is a good asset especially for someone looking for the least expensive way to get their business online.
Advantages and Disadvantages of W3now.com

For a simple, no nonsense method of getting your website up and running, use W3Now.com's custom designed website services. The free software they offer for website design is good, and if you have the time to work through it, is definitely a way to save money and still have a professional looking website up and running.

The company's pricing isn't clear, since the custom designed services are specific to your needs and goals. Seek out an estimate (without obligation) to find out their pricing models.

Templatemonster.com Review

At TemplateMonster.com, you can get easy to use web design solutions for just about any website need. The company provides website templates and flash templates, as well as other products that are ready made and easy to use. The company strives to provide customers with a fast, simply solution for creating a website. Each of their products is completely customizable and you can down load them right away. This company is straightforward and simple to use, a refreshing break from some others.

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Who Are They?

TemplateMonster.com calls itself a leader in the ecommerce industry. They work to provide products and services that work conveniently for their customers. The company's main focus is one web design, but they specialize in affordability. When you visit the website, you can browse through their large library of websites available, which is supposed to be the largest online with more than 20,000 website template designs to choose from. In addition to this, the company works to add more each month, upwards of 450 to 500 a month.

One of the key benefits of TemplateMonster.com is that they provide you with a guarantee of no membership. This means that once the product you buy is yours, no one else is using it. You are not purchasing something from a members only area and in that you get a fresh, unique product that is all your own.
What Do They Provide?

TemplateMonster.com is a feasible option for those looking for web design. The process of using their website and tools is simple: select from the 12,500 or more website templates in their collection. Then talk to an online manager through 24-hour real time chat. Then, sit back and wait while the production process is executed and within a matter of hours, you will have a functioning, high quality website to rely on from day one.

In order to give you the best services and rewards, the company uses packages to keep costs in line. The lowest package is for those with a "Limited Budget" and runs about $380. You have customization and they will add your content to the website. The website is a five-page html template that is used. Their higher end options including the "Unique Design" package which includes five pages of html design, done from scratch to meet your needs and includes flash animated header and your content. This package runs at $1400.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Templatemonster.com

When working with TemplateMonster.com, you will notice you play an important part of the process. Their pricing is right along industry lines and they do give you a variety of other package options, with various features, as well as provide you with a range of resources to bank on.

As far as disadvantages, there are few to note. The company is easy to work with, though no over the phone conversations are used and your design may require that you provide your own content for each of the pages of the website. Still the company offers an extensive line of options to choose.