Website Design - To Frame or Not to Frame

The use of frames in the design structure of a website has been debated for a long time now. A number of experts insist that they are of no use, and instead cause trouble in the site's functioning. On the other hand, many claim that frames can be used to a site's advantage.

It is important to remember that frames should be used in designing only if there is a genuine reason for doing so. These reasons are determined by the overall needs of a website and issues like navigation, accessibility and search engine spidering. The use of frames also depends on the kind of budget you are capable of shelving out for your site.

Framed websites are not entirely troublesome. In fact, there are a few cases wherein such sites can help your business. Listed below are some advantages of frames:

- You can keep company logos, messages and other vital information in one frame. This will make sure that this part of your site is constantly visible to visitors.

- Frames can be used to provide navigational convenience. They help making static navigation visible on your site all the time.

- As far as design is concerned, a number of issues can be resolved with the use of frames. They improve accessibility, thus bettering the prospects of your website.

Despite all these advantages, most developers hesitate to use frames for their sites. This is mainly because of the following disadvantages that they carry.

- It becomes very difficult for a search engine to crawl a framed website. The whole purpose of search engine marketing is too appeal to search engines and make money through their traffic. The use of frames prevents search engines from finding pages within a website. Even if such pages are indexed, they will be without any reference or link to your main site, which will hamper your chances of making sales.

- Bookmarking a framed pages within a website is not going to help your site's design and use.

- A number of Internet browsers do not support framed sites. Therefore, in case these browsers are being used by your potential customers, you stand no chance of being visited by them.

- If you have a framed website, it is very likely that you will have a non-framed website too (for convenience). This will raise the website design expenses of your online business.

When it comes to the use of frames, disadvantages definitely outdo benefits. However, they can be used only if they do not negatively impact the smooth running of your website, and your business at large.

Source: http://www.expertarticles.com/?act=1&cat=0&artid=254539

Cross Browser Compatibility - Web Designers' Dilemma

When the Internet came to the fore, businessmen did not think it'll survive long enough to benefit them. It was always regarded as a source of communication and entertainment. By and by, they realised the marketing potential of this form of media. It is about two decades now, and the World Wide Web has gone on to engulf audiences worldwide.

A few years ago, a web user did not have too many options to choose from, as far as Internet browsers were concerned. But today, we are bombarded by hundreds of options, including the numerous versions of the same product. This choice has spelt trouble for developers because all these browsers have different compatibility levels with web pages. Therefore, web site designers find it extremely troublesome to establish cross-browser compatibility for their site.

Internet Explorer, Firefox and Netscape are three of the most popular Internet browsers, and are used by more than 95 percent surfers worldwide. However, given the numerous versions of their products, it is simply unfeasible for a web site to cater to all of them. The simplest tactic is to research your log files and find out what your potential customers use. If most of them use Internet Explorer, there is no need for you to bother about the others.

Once you have made your choices, you now need to deal with different versions of the browser in question. You cannot expect your users to upgrade their browsers as per your convenience. May be they do not have the resources to do so, or probably because they are comfortable with the existing one.

The most feasible solution to this problem is testing browsers during the development phase. Run your web pages on different browsers and then check the presentation of fonts, colours, page resolutions, et al. It'll be even better if you ask an external authority, who knows professional web site design, to check your site's compatibility on browsers. This review will help you improvise on the design of your site.

To make things better, the World Wide Web Consortium has been asking software companies to come up with browsers that are compliant to a single set of standards. However, things have not been rosy for the organisation, and browsers still continue to stick to their individualistic stances. Till the time the concerned people take stock of this situation, designers have to work extra hard to ensure success of their web sites.

Source: http://www.website-articles.net/Article/Cross-Browser-Compatibility---Web-Designers--Dilemma/10328

Develop Web Pages that Reassure your Visitors

The World Wide Web is getting 'murkier' with each passing day. With so many negative elements entangling this web, surfers do not feel safe about it anymore. Issues like hacking, web bugs and email scams have become commonplace, leaving users with nothing but distrust.

This distrust is slowly leading to a decline in prospects of online trade. Marketers are having a tough time convincing visitors to buy their products or services. All sorts of design and optimization techniques are doing the rounds, with businesses opting for anything and everything that can bring in convertible traffic. And, here lies the importance of web site development and related services.

Once a web site is created, it takes some time to get indexed in search engine rankings. As with all other walks of life, development is essential in this case too. Sites that constantly evolve, both in terms of content and technicalities, are actually the ones that do well in the online marketplace. One crucial aspect of development is retention.

The aim of every business is traffic and revenues. However, it is also important that this traffic is well-treated. Every business has to, through its web site, reassure its visitors about its good intentions. This can be done only by stating facts and figures vividly and leaving room for suggestions and alterations.

First and foremost, you have to show that you are committed to visitor privacy. Take measures that'll ensure to your visitors that they can feel safe while giving out personal info on your site. The Privacy Policy or Statement of your site should be all-inclusive and should clearly state the terms and conditions of use, as far as personal data is concerned. Such statements will put your visitors at ease, and also show the professional side of your business. And, eventually, your visitors will feel comfortable in buying something from you.

The terms of sale should be absolutely clear to prospective buyers. When you get into web site design and development, dedicate a complete section to the same, describing the conditions of purchase, exchange, returns or cash backs, if any. This will reassure buyers before they go on to make an actual purchase.

When you present such facts as testimonials, company profile, privacy policy, et al, make sure that the language is not too technical. It should be comprehensible to a layman, because ultimately, this is what your customer base is comprised of.

Source: http://articlecrux.com/Article/Develop-Web-Pages-that-Reassure-your-Visitors/22230

Does Shifting Web Servers give you Nightmares?

Small websites often go through nightmarish times when planning to shift from one web server to the other. Although most developers avoid such situations, it sometimes becomes inevitable to host a website through a different server altogether. Even as most of us focus on the expected downtime that the site may have to encounter, there are a few important things that demand our attention in this regard.

The biggest problem crops up when you are shifting server to a different country altogether. With search engines becoming increasingly geographic savvy, you cannot avoid the impact this can have on traffic generated from them.

To cite an example, suppose you have two websites – abcxyz.in and abcxys.com - that are hosted on an Indian server because this is your niche market. If you decide to shift to an Australian server, both these websites will be affected, at least in terms of search engine traffic. This is mainly because most search engines provide the geographic result listing option by default nowadays. If you search for something from your particular country, you will be automatically redirected to the search engine domain of your country.

Even if a user performs a country-specific search, the search engine will give more weightage to sites that have specific domain names indicating the country in question. Therefore, once you shift the sites to the Australian server, you will have to lose out on some of your regular traffic influx. The only possible solution in this case is that you should buy domain names that are specific to your target country.

You should also be clear as to what all services will be provided by the new web host. Find out if they will move your files for you, because many of them actually offer these services for free. Experts dealing in web development services insist on cleaning up websites before shifting. Check each and every file and folder and do away with the unwanted ones. It is always better to carry less weight when shifting 'houses'.

All these essential tips will ensure that web developers don't get goosebumps when shifting their websites to new servers.

Source: http://www.altrana.com/Article/Does-Shifting-Web-Servers-give-you-Nightmares-/172049

Web Design – Strategise to Sell

Optimisation of a website is paramount for online businesses aiming at higher rankings and increased sales. This optimisation should also be visible in the design of your site, as much as in content, meta elements, links, etc. You have to take care of the minutest of details and ensure that important search engine guidelines are dealt with.

As a professional website designer, you can consider the following points when designing a site for your clients:

1) According to experts, it is advisable to avoid the excessive use of banner advertisements on your site. Most web users are uninterested in such flashy ads, and you'll actually be wasting your time, money and web space. Instead, use some important images or relevant content that'll actually help in pepping up your search engine rankings.

2) Avoid the use of splash pages on your website. These are the first pages displayed when one arrives at a website – example, the 'Welcome' page, or the 'Click Here to Enter Site' page, etc. These pages, more often than not, turn users off, making them return from your site without delving further. If you wish to convert visitors into buyers, it is better to display the homepage of your site directly.

3) Design your site's navigation in such a way that your visitors know which part of the site they are in and what to expect from it. If your internal linking is complicated, users will not be interested in scouting for information, and will simply move on to some other website.

4) Avoid having an overload of images, flash or frames. All these elements increase the download time of your pages and are of no help in the search engine indexing process.

5) Content matter plays a big role in website design. Text should be evenly spread on a page, and it should also be easily readable and comprehensible. And, more than anything else, it should be relevant to and informative about your product/service.

6) Just like content, colours, fonts and shapes should also be finely distributed all through the page. This will bring in uniformity as well as help users identify with the feel of your site.

7) As far as the coding part is concerned, a professional website design would be one that eases the process of crawling by making web pages accessible to search engines and users alike.

Paying attention to these tidbits will ensure that your website has all the ingredients of a competitive and saleable business site. Devise design strategies that sell, and you'll feel the difference almost instantaneously.

Source: http://www.expertarticles.com/?act=1&cat=0&artid=252485

Web Design and Development – Dos and Don'ts

As an web business entity, your website is your true identity in an online marketplace that is cramped with thousands of sites selling the same product or service as you. Therefore, to stand out in the competition and to get more buyers, you have to be different. Even if your product quality and features is the same as hundred other sellers, you can make more profits if your website has more substance than theirs.

Designing a website is much more than just deciding the fonts and colours. It encompasses a whole range of services that help in creating a site that is both user and search-engine friendly, and constantly developing it in accordance with prevailing online trends.

Listed below are the dos and don'ts that should be kept in mind whilst designing the basic structure of your site:

i) Your homepage should have relevant, informative and timely content. It is the mirror image of your company and you are most likely to be judged on the basis of its impressiveness.

ii) Keep updating your site's content frequently, as it helps in faster crawling of your pages. Search engines and users both like dynamic pages that have something new to offer on every visit.

iii) Try and keep the size of your web pages small. Such pages are crawled and read faster, and are easy to download in comparison to heavily-loaded pages.

iv) Use a shallow structure for your website if you wish to get indexed faster. Do not nest pages too deep inside folders, or else it becomes difficult for a search engine spider to crawl and index them.

v) Use a JavaScript code and place it in a separate .js file and link your pages to it. This will help in faster crawling of your site. Similarly, create a stylesheet .css file and link to it from your web pages.

vi) Do not use Page Redirects because it might get you blacklisted by renowned search engines – it is not considered as an ethical practice.

vii) Avoid creating one-page mini sites or doorway pages. Instead, work on your main site by adding new content periodically.

viii) Do not use hidden text or image links to bolster the optimization process of your site. This is yet another unethical practice banned by search engines.

ix) Do not use gratuitous animations, Flash or image maps as this adversely affects the web design and development process of your website. Also avoid the use of frames – they can be problematic in certain areas.

As a webmaster, these tips will help you in getting users to your site, retaining their attention and coercing them into buying your products, and all this without any 'visible' or 'tangible' presence.

Source: http://www.articlebiz.com/article/90258

Web Designing Basics to design an Effective Website

Website design and development is a thriving service industry at present. With passage of time, web business owners have realised the importance of their websites and are making constant efforts in bettering them. They have to undertake the dual task of making them appealing enough for users as well as search engines.

First and foremost, you need to keep in mind the target audience of your online business. Understand the needs of your business and the solutions to all sorts of user problems that might arise in due course. Once you are clear about the objective of the site, you can go about creating a dummy structure that suits primary requirements.

The homepage of a site is its identity for the outside world. As a designer, you need to put maximum efforts in coming up with a splendid homepage that'll be able to retain the attention of the visitor so much so that he feels the urge to scan the other pages of your site. The page should have relevant and informative content so that a visitor is not put off by lack of information on the first page he views.

Your web pages must be dynamic, and this dynamism comes from frequent alterations in its content matter. Even if you do not have anything new to tell your prospective buyers, share news or other industry information that can be useful for them. This will not only alter your content, giving out the right signals to search engines, but will also tell visitors that you care for their needs.

As a designer, you need to adhere to search engine guidelines in order to make a mark in the domain of search engine marketing. Incorporate main keywords in your content so that the search engine spider has good reason to index and rank your pages. Optimise meta tags like title, description, keywords and Alt Tags for easy crawling.

However, do not resort to negative techniques like doorway pages, redirects or keyword stuffing. Do not hide keywords in the form of text that is invisible to the viewer but can be easily crawled by search engine spiders. By doing so, you stand the risk of being supplemented, blacklisted or even banned.

There might be certain pages on your website that you do not wish to be crawled. Place such pages in a robots.txt file – this protocol specifies to search engines that the contents of this file are not meant to be indexed. When you use stylesheets or JavaScripts codes in web designing, put them into separate .css and .js files respectively and link them to other web pages. This will facilitate faster crawling and indexing of your site.

In terms of hardcore designing, it is advisable to avoid the excessive use of graphics, frames, flash and other forms of media. They make your pages heavy, and increase their download time. Here, it is advisable to remember that in the online world, visitors do not stay on a page for more than five seconds on an average.

Source: http://www.1articleworld.com/Article/Web-Designing-Basics-to-design-an-Effective-Website/140541