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Don't neglect to cascade style sheets. Using a style sheet makes it easy to give all pages of your site the same look and feel. It also reduces the file size of your pages, as the CSS file can be accessed once on the server and then from the user's local cache after that.
Make sure that you use the right anchor text. The anchor text of a link should clearly describe what the visitor should expect to see when he clicks on the link. For instance, if a link leads to your widget ordering page, the anchor text might read "Order widgets." Specifically, avoid using "click here" as anchor text.
Make your links visible. Customers do not like spending time wading through your site, searching for something they are interested. Having a site map, as well as providing big, prominent links will help your viewer find what they are looking for without wasting time in a hunt. Lead them to your information.
Resist any temptation to use pop-up windows when you design your website. Most people will be turned off by a site that pop's windows up in their face. When pop-up windows come up, you are quickly bringing frustration to your visitors. This may make them leave your website and not come back again.
Always make sure that the navigation on your website is clear, user-friendly and easy to maintain. Where you place your navigation links is key to creating a user-friendly site that keeps visitors planted. The navigational tree should be neat, easily accessible and consistent so your visitors have good web experience.
Add a search feature to a website. When visitors come to your website, they want to be able to find what they are looking for easily. A keyword search feature will make it easy for people to find the right page on your site, especially if the website you are designing is very complicated.
To help you create useful web pages and fix mistakes on your own, learn computer languages. Educating yourself on how a website works will help you quickly fix any errors. Knowing how to deal with problems on your site will save you time and money, as you will not have to rely on outside help to remedy the situation.
Try to make sure that any music or pictures that you're linking to are hosted on your web server. Do not hotlink to any other website images. This can be construed as bandwidth theft, and it could put you in violation of a copyright too. It's not worth the risk.
Pay attention to your background colours and your text colours when designing a site. Something like red text on a blue background doesn't work well. And if you think that white text will pop with a black background, it could be a little too bright for your readers. Go with something subtle.
A lot of times when you load up a page to your file server, you cannot find it when you type in the address via your browser. You always need to double-check and ensure that you named the file correctly. Some people waste days were trying to pinpoint the problem they believe is major when, in reality, it's only a simple typo.
To summarize, you must give yourself a good base of