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If you are relatively unschooled when it comes to web design, the idea of building your own website can be both exciting and frightening. This article will give you some ideas to consider as you go about designing your site.

If you are designing a website, choose proper graphics. Keep in mind how big a bitmap image is, but using PNG images work better. PNG should be used for buttons with text and screenshots that have 256 colors or more. When using photos, make them JPEGs.

Take some time to learn about shortcuts that can be used to save time. Nearly everything in web design has a shortcut, and if you check them out carefully, you can find quicker ways to accomplish most items. Some of these shortcuts include HTML codes that can help you quickly make changes to your web page.

So that you can create a visually appealing site, get yourself a web design program. Professional grade programs have the tools to help you create a site without having to code everything from scratch. Should your website not be appealing, then your visitor count is going to be low.

Regardless of your client or website purpose, you need to strive for loading times of less than ten seconds. An efficient site that is nicely designed is going to load properly and quickly. Most visitors want things to happen quickly and easily. If you don't offer that to them, you will lose those visitors.

Always categorize your content by subject. Break up pages by discussion. This will reduce visitor confusion and facilitate readability by the search engines.

Have a simple front page. People shopping around will immediately decide whether they will use your site or not, simply by how your front page looks. Describe your business and offerings but minimize distractions on the page.

Run tests on different browser applications to make sure your site works on all of them. Since each browser works a little differently, your coding could be interpreted differently on each one, and in some instances it could cause the website to not function properly. You can find more about which browsers are most in use and focus on them, so hunt down this information. Check how your site behaves on all the major browsers for both PCs and mobile devices.

Make CSS pages that are independent for web browsers and also use conditional loading. The application of these two techniques make website testing and maintenance both less time-consuming in the future. You want to have an easy time making changes and doing the inevitable maintenance you'll need on your site in the future.

Using a host's design tools to build your website is a good idea for the basic layout, but you don't want to rely on the design tools completely. Once you have used the web host's site builder to its fullest extent, seek ways to infuse your website with elements of your personality.

Your code is already created in development platforms, but classic text editors may be more reliable. What a platform does is help you paste the code onto features that you have made. But if you are looking for a more hands-on experience where you can control everything, including fixing the errors, then a basic text editor should be what you choose.

It is exciting to take on the web design that will control the flow of visitors and users for your website. What a boost to your business! If web design is done well, it can really add to your website's marketing potential. Start implementing some of the tips presented above today, and you could become a successful web designer in no time at all.