Basic and Effective Website Design for Beginners

There are quite a few ways you can design a simple and basic website that can leave a positive impact on your visitors. These tips are meant to be for people who are new to web design and really haven't done much web page creation. Years ago, it was a lot more difficult to understand the simple workings and creations of web pages, but with a vast amount of unlimited resources, web design has become quite simple.

There are just a few basic rules you should keep in mind when creating your site. It has never been proven that a graphic intense complex website provides better results than the average simple website. In fact, through my experiences I have found that the most basic of website are the sites that produce the best results. This of course can depend on what type of website you are creating, and what type of visitor your website attracts.

I have gathered five simple pointers that can really improve your overall website designing experience. You don't have to follow these suggestions in the exact way I present them, but chances are you will find these tips quite beneficial once you get the hang of things and begin to create more and more websites.

Create an About Page
Many people who design a website forget to create an "about" page. Forgetting to create this page can be one of the worst things you can do. You won't be able to retain many visitors to your site if they can't figure out what your site is about. Rather than explaining your page on several different pages throughout your site, consolidate everything that your page has to offer and mention it on your about page.

It's best not to go into great detail on this particular page. A brief mention of who you are, what your website is for, and what you are offering is usually quite sufficient. Your visitors will find it much easier to get an idea of your website by reading through your about page overview, making their visit a whole lot easier.

Navigation Menu
A very important feature on our website should be the navigation menu. This menu is basically a list to all the pages on your site. The last thing you want your visitor to do is stumble their way through your pages. This will just make everything very confusing, and I guarantee you that the person visiting your website will quickly move on to something else. A good navigation menu will have links to every main category page of your website. You can choose to include subcategories in this list as well, but if you are aiming to keep it simple and clean, listing every subcategory is not always necessary.

You don't have to use a complex navigational menu to get the job done. I find that simple and straightforward links is all it takes. I'd rather find a link quickly, rather than waiting for a slow and intense graphic or drop down menu to appear. So think wisely, stay simple. Remember, you can always step up to some really cool looking menus once you learn the ins and outs of web design. It's always much more beneficial to create a simple and basic menu the first time around.

Choose an Appealing Color Scheme
It's amazing how many websites are created with horrible looking color schemes. What good is your website if nobody can read it? Keep this in mind when you choose a color scheme for your site. Just because your favorite colors may be yellow and pink doesn't mean your website should be created with those colors. There are some sleek color combinations for websites. Depending on your theme, there are quite a few good looking color schemes that you can go with. Think about using colors that are easy on the eyes. White, black, blue, red, and gray will always look good in one fashion or another.

Avoid Pop-ups
I am quite sure you heard the term pop-ups mentioned quite often. If you are someone who surfs the internet you know quite well what pop-ups are. These are windows that will suddenly appear on your screen, covering up the website underneath. Although these can produce some stunning and incredible results for advertisers, I suggest you don't use them at the beginning. Your goal is to keep your visitor interested in your website, and pop-ups will usually annoy anyone who is visiting your site.

Avoid Auto Play Video and Audio
Creating a web page in today's world has unlimited options. One of the coolest things you can do is an embed video or sound to your page. Adding multimedia can really spruce up your website, if done correctly. I generally will advice newbies in web design to avoid auto play sound and video when creating their website. This tends to be another big turn off for the visitor. When a video or audio file automatically begins to play upon first visiting your site, it can really slow things down. It also will be quite annoying if someone has their own music playing in the background. There are ways around this, but you can learn the more complex ways of embedding multimedia in the long run.

If you take these suggestions into consideration, you will be well on your way to creating a nice looking website. Remember, experimenting with creativity is what will produce the best results. Complex websites may look nice, but a beginner web designer will appreciate the simplicity of a basic website in it's early stages more than anything.