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Why website templates make being a Webmaster more efficient

website templates, flash web templates, flash templates

The acceptance of website templates as an alternative to website designing can be attributed to the ability of templates in improving the work efficiency of the webmaster. Of course, they also reduce the costs involved in setting up a website.

Website templates have evolved over the years from simple HTML web page templates to the Flash template designs that allow for dynamic and customized websites. Getting a website designed from scratch is an expensive and time-consuming process. Moreover, it is not easy to get the right web designer, very often projects get delayed because of difference in opinion between the web designer and the webmaster and delay usually implies escalating costs. Website templates help to solve this problem by offering a selection of web page designs at a fraction of the cost of a professionally designed web page.

Multimedia Flash and other professionally designed templates enable webmasters to select from millions of permutations and combinations without having to approach a web designer. Inexperienced webmasters benefit more from using website templates as it frees their time and allows them to concentrate on other issues regarding the development of their website. There are many websites that offer templates that can easily be customized to a webmaster’s requirements.

Arriving at the right website design can speed up the website development process as after freezing the design, adding content to the website is not very time consuming and can be accomplished relatively easily. Website templates allow webmasters to pay more attention to this critical aspect of website development, and thus are more likely to receive traffic from search engines.

As website templates provide a readymade and consistent design for each page; they help in binding a website together, giving it uniformity and coherence, and in facilitating smooth browsing. Templates are available with editable and uneditable regions so chances of content getting erased are reduced. An important advantage that website templates offer is the ease with which they can be modified, the HTML and CSS components are not very difficult to master and once the basic website is in place and online, a webmaster can crystallize his concepts and customize the website to suit his business needs by fine tuning the content or adding JavaScript, if required.

Thus, website templates, that cost round $50 – $200, are of great help to webmasters in running the website more efficiently. They also allow the site to generate revenue quickly by allowing the webmaster to sooner focus on producing content, and implementing marketing activities such as web page optimization and competitor analysis.

Why You Should Avoid Developing A Website In Flash

web design, flash, macromedia, site usability, web development, online business

If you know anything about website design, or anything about the Internet in general, then you have probably heard of flash. There are actually lots of websites and advertisements online that utilize flash and some web designers are claiming that Flash is the future of the Internet and web design. However, currently there are more reasons to avoid developing a website in flash than for doing so. Not that flash is not cool and able to attract attention, it is just that at this point in time the technology is not so advanced that it ready for full web design implementation.

One of the main reasons why Flash is not the best thing to include in your website design is because it really slows down your site. When an individual types in your web address and points the browser to your site then when they arrive they will be waiting a significant amount of time for the site to open. The truth of the matter is that nobody cares so much about your flash design that they are going to sit around and wait for your site to download the information in order to open it. So, when you use flash design you might have a “better” looking site, but you also can expect to lose a lot of traffic because people just don’t sit around and wait.

Another reason to avoid flash design is because it can be distracting. Flash is always moving, allowing movie like technology for your website. This results in the Flash distracting web visitors from your site because they are focused on the flashiness of Flash. For many websites plain and simple graphics are more important and will retain visitors better.

Of course, when you use Flash you might think your site looks better, and it might. However, you really need to think to yourself what is more important, a site that looks great but that nobody opens because it takes too long or a site that looks pretty good and opens immediately? More than likely you will respond that the site that opens immediately allowing all visitors in is the best option because the more visitors you have means the more money your site will generate.

new innovative website design to review top web hosting companies

web hosting, web design

struggling with web design and retaining customers has long kept new sites in the shadows of giant web hosting review websites. After thoroughly researching and analyzing the web hosting customer market.

Creating a website which exhibits a high quality design, the most popular web hosting companies, ratings, accolades and awards, testimonials, and instructional pages on how to go through the purchase process with each affiliated company.

The website design establishes tables focused on separate but integral parts necessary for customers to break down web hosting. On the left side of the website, there is a navigational bar which leads you straight to the web hosting chart. The web hosting chart is a creative and unique chart which displays seven of the best companies in the industry.

Each company has its own well organized review page with ratings of price, benefits, setup, and customer support. A list of benefits and price of the cheapest package available, unlike many top web hosting review companies, to provide free coupons which offer many valuable incentives for customers.

Aside from having an efficient page design with easily accessible tables and charts, the website is placed on several highly touted and sought after first pages on Google search engine results page; a simple Google search for a general web hosting keyword will display in the top ten results. Through impressive back link popularity, and efficient content managed to top millions of other web hosting providers.

The top of the page is occupied by problems both new and former customers have experienced or will face with a majority of web hosting companies. To the right of the problems, there are visible solutions with check marks which correspond to the problems and show how this handles a variety of web hosting issues.

Another nifty little section was the “How to buy” instruction page, which has screenshots and instructions to help customers through the practice of signing up and purchasing web hosting, along with registering a domain name and getting your .com active and ready.

“I’m really satisfied with the direction we’re heading; I vowed to set the standard and raise bar of a web hosting Review Company. It appears that hosting companies can only improve through a direct analysis of their competitors and complying with the ideals of customers. We’ve improved tremendously in our ability to provide a wide spectrum of web hosting packages at varying prices, and high level reviews as well as delivering helpful coupons.”

As long as websites increase their productivity, design, and appeal the hosting industry will face an influx of new born websites which copy the style of current successful websites, but if one can manage to stay on top of every single category such customers will have an easier time of finding the right web hosting company to fit their needs.

Your Success in Good Website Design

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Every consultancy design website for internet users, the challenge now is to design them for search engine spiders as well. The main purpose of website design is to give a unique identity to your company business. Logo design, Web design maintenance, Ecommerce web design solutions, corporate website design, flash website design and graphic designing are few services to name. In web designing service provides different color combination to attract people. Most of the people follow your website on two ways from own promotions, from search engines A number of research show that all web users depend on search for guidance on the net.

If you have been to shopping in the supermarket, you might have observed, how each product is displayed there to attract the customers and entice them to buy the product. Another important factor in web designing is color combination. It is more desirable to have websites with rich content than which are simply attractive to look. Visitor’s measure the quality and effectiveness of your website based on the content that you provide on your website. In order priority, the five most important usability features a designer should always implement in web site. That’s ease of routing, simplicity and intuitiveness, clearly indicated menus and links, a well-designed site map, clean uncluttered design.

A well designed navigation had two benefits. Which helps the users to find better index the inside site. Many a times, websites are not be able to provide an effective solution to the problems faced by the customers and leave them in a state of dilemma. Have become aware of the fact that overloading a website with images, irrelevant text or colors, is ineffective and unnecessary. Using web design themes that offer calming, informative, query solving designs are in demand. Basic colors or fonts are making a comeback. Web Design Delhi consultancy (e-fuzion) provides big strategies to design web sites neat and cleanly.

This knowledge will come handy when you are taking assignments individually. Moreover, when you have a number of reputed clients mentioned in your profile, and can show projects that you have designed for them; people will gradually begin to have interest in your work.

4 Stages of Website Design

stages of website design

Stage 1 – Style over substance
The first stage is to design a site that the chief executive officer, venture capitalists, and ad agencies like to see. There are all types of “bells and whistles” in this design. An entire site might be a Flash animated site. Or there might be some beautiful JavaScript mouse over effects or drop-down menus in the design. It’s always a pretty design, but the message is clear – style over substance.

Stage 2 – Designing for online visibility
In Stage 2, the reality of an ineffective web design begins to hit, usually around 3-6 months after the initial launch. A site will typically get rejected by many of the major directories, not be indexed by the major search engines, or not get the traffic or sales that were projected based on the various types of marketing strategies used. Typically, that’s when companies decide that they will try to hire a professional online marketer to promote the site. Doorway page companies, in some way, shape or form, rear their ugly heads. Unfortunately, many web site owners fall for a doorway page company’s pitch because the beautifully designed site couldn’t possibly be the problem with low site traffic. Yahoo might have rejected a site, or the site might have been listed in Yahoo and the company cannot understand why they have no description next to their company name. But in no way would many ad agencies or doorway page companies want to tell potential clients the truth — they simply did not design and write an effective web site — because it would mean losing thousands of pounds in business

Stage 3 – Designing for your audience
By Stage 3, after spending an exorbitant amount of money on pretty web site designs and various marketing strategies, web site owners generally figure out that they did not design or write an effective Web site for their target audience. Typically, web site owners will bring in a usability expert to analyze potential problems and present various solutions. Bringing in a search engine marketing expert to help with search-engine friendly web designs &templates early in the design phase can save a company thousands of pounds in online marketing costs.

Stage 4 – Site redesign
After careful usability and search engine visibility analyses, web site owners finally have an effective web site. A site that is written, coded and designed for user friendliness and search engine visibility generally gets the most traffic and resulting sales because it was written, programmed, and designed for end users.

Conclusion
Web sites should always be designed with your target audience in mind, not your own personal preferences. Colours have meaning. Professional designers understand the psychology of colour and the use of white space to best project the image your audience wishes to see. (For example, try not to use the colour red on a financial site.) Understanding the products/services/information your target audience is searching for is paramount to designing and maintaining an effective web site. When you launch a site, you might have to make an educated guess as to what your target audience wants. After that, tools such as site statistics software and reporting from site searches tell you exactly what your visitors are looking for. Then content and marketing strategies can be adjusted accordingly. Unless the advanced technology clearly benefits end users, do not use it on your site. If your venture capitalists or CEO’s or lawyers like the site, ask if they are going to spend the thousands or millions of pounds to keep you in business.

They’re not. Your target audience who will ultimately determine the success or failure of your site.

Why Web Design is Advantageous to Business and Profit

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The way you have your website designed is going to influence your online business and how much of a profit you are able to generate from it. There is so much competition online these days that you have to offer a nice looking website or consumers are going to find another one that will. There are some common elements you want to have in place for your website so that it will be profitable for you.

Most consumers are very impatient and they won’t wait long for a web page to open up. If you are using animation or Flash to impress consumers you may find it isn’t working well because they aren’t waiting around long enough for it to open up. You generally have three seconds or less before they will go to another website that does open quickly. Since you will likely have links to various web pages, make sure that they can always access the homepage from any of these pages.

It doesn’t matter how good the information is on your website if consumers can’t read it. Take the time to choose a reasonable size of font and discover colors that work well together. I recently visited a website that had good information but I couldn’t concentrate on it because the background was green and the writing was in pink. While you want the website design to be attractive it also has to be easy on the eyes.

The navigation for your entire website should be very simple to follow. Consumers aren’t going to spend their time trying to figure out how to get where they want to be. Have a tool bar accessible on the top. You can also incorporate simple codes in areas that say CLICK HERE or other similar wording so they can get where they want to be.

It is vital that you make the checkout process as easy as possible for your consumers. It should be step by step to follow and move along quickly. Offer plenty of options for payment including e-check, Paypal, and credit cards. The more payment options you include the more sales you will generate.

It is a common courteousy to have your website set up to provide an immediate confirmation number for them once the purchase has been completed. This way they know their order was processed and they can contact you about it with that number should they need to.

Feel free to be creative with your website design as long as you are able to incorporate these various elements in it as well. You will definitely have the attention of the consumers in your target market if you offer them something refreshing that they haven’t seen before. At the same time though you have to make sure it is easy to ready and easy to navigate. Not everyone has the same level of expertise when it comes to using the internet so make your site accessible to that category as well.

website templates, flash, design

Why Website Templates Are Worth It

Introduction

Website Templates can be a life saver if you are just starting out in the world -wide -web. Templates can save you big money and time. It is common knowledge that “design houses” charge a minimum of 1k for a complete website filled with images and text. Again, this is the minimum they would charge and I would estimate that the average price of a website you will pay is approximately 2-3k. Why are you paying this much for a website? Most of it is because you can’t build one yourself so the cost skyrockets for convenience. Is there anything you can do to reduce this skyrocket effect? Yes you can! Website templates often get connected to cheap or bad design, but the point is somewhat valid since there are tons of low quality templates and what’s worse is that it’s being sold on many template websites.

Don’t Give Away Your Bank Account

How many times have you seen the same templates on different websites? Probably a lot so the solution is to find QUALITY templates from a company that keeps their products in-house. There is such a thing as affordable quality website templates, really there is. We define quality as a template with excellent interface design, navigation, color theory, and overall impact power.

The Power of Flash

A powerful website template should make a powerful positive statement. Flash really makes an amazing impact in this process because it can encompass sound and animations. Flash can give you the wow factor that static html can supply. Corporate websites such as Adidas and Mercedes uses a fair amount of flash to deliver the message across. These guys know the power of Flash, so we should probably take a look into the reasoning of this.

High Impact Design

So the question, where can you find affordable website templates? Dreamlinestudio.com is the ticket if you’re looking for something that can create a high-impact impression and not break your bank account. Website templates also have the ability to be modified to your liking, so after you change out the graphics, color scheme or move around the navigation you essentially have your own creation.

Custom Design Vs Templates

There is absolutely room for both in this vast universe we call the web, and both options have its strengths and weakness. The bottom line is cost. Do you have a few grand to spend on a website? If you don’t, a quality template will probably be your best bet. For approximately $100, you can purchase a very nice template and spend the rest on marketing and promotion. With the vast amount of money you will be saving, you can hire somebody to modify your template the way you want it for perhaps $300. I don’t believe in cheap recycled templates, but I do recommend looking into high quality templates that can present you the way you should be presented. You truly have one shot to make a great impression, don’t ruin it with a cheap overproduced template.

The Choice Is Yours, Be Wise about It

The real reason for this article is a recent beef with several “design houses” over charging the average person looking for a nice website. I know people have to make money running a business, but there is something wrong about producing a bill that is thousands over what a website is worth. There will be talk about what a website is truly worth but I have been in the design business for several years and have worked in a corporate environment. I have personally seen where we would charge 10 times what a website is truly cost as far as manpower hours, and it made me sick to see that.

So Dreamlinestudio was invented to bridge that gap between quality and cost. I Think that we not only bridged that gap, we overlapped and paved a new road for better internet.

Writing Effective ALT Text For Images

usability, accessibility, web usability, web credibility, web accessibility, css, website, accessible web design

Anyone who knows anything about web accessibility knows that images need alternative, or ALT, text assigned to them. This is because screen readers can’t understand images, but rather read aloud the alternative text assigned to them. In Internet Explorer we can see this ALT text, simply by mousing over the image and looking at the yellow tooltip that appears. Other browsers (correctly) don’t do this. The HTML for inserting ALT text is:

But surely there can’t be a skill to writing ALT text for images? You just pop a description in there and you’re good to go, right? Well, kind of. Sure, it’s not rocket science, but there are a few guidelines you need to follow…

Spacer images and missing ALT text

Spacer images should always be assigned null ALT text, or alt=”" . This way most screen readers will completely ignore the image and won’t even announce its presence. Spacer images are invisible images that pretty most websites use. The purpose of them is, as the name suggests, to create space on the page. Sometimes it’s not possible to create the visual display you need, so you can stick an image in (specifying its height and width) and volià, you have the extra space you need.

Not everyone uses this null ALT text for spacer images. Some websites stick in alt=”spacer image”. Imagine how annoying this can be for a screen reader user, especially when you have ten of them in a row. A screen reader would say, “Image, spacer image” ten times in a row (screen readers usually say the word, “Image”, before reading out its ALT text) – now that isn’t helpful!

Other web developers simply leave out the ALT attribute for spacer images (and perhaps other images). In this case, most screen readers will read out the filename, which could be ‘newsite/images/onepixelspacer.gif’. A screen reader would announce this image as “Image, newsite slash images slash one pixel spacer dot gif”. Imagine what this would sound like if there were ten of these in a row!

Bullets and icons

Bullets and icons should be treated in much the same way as spacer images, so should be assigned null alternative text, or alt=”". Think about a list of items with a fancy bullet proceeding each item. If the ALT text, ‘Bullet’ is assigned to each image then, “Image, bullet” will be read aloud by screen readers before each list item, making it take that bit longer to work through the list.

Icons, usually used to complement links, should also be assigned alt=”". Many websites, which place the icon next to the link text, use the link text as the ALT text of the icon. Screen readers would first announce this ALT text, and then the link text, so would then say the link twice, which obviously isn’t necessary.

(Ideally, bullets and icons should be called up as background images through the CSS document – this would remove them from the HTML document completely and therefore remove the need for any ALT description.)

Decorative images

Decorative images too should be assigned null alternative text, or alt=”". If an image is pure eye candy then there’s no need for a screen reader user to even know it’s there and being informed of its presence simply adds to the noise pollution.

Conversely, you could argue that the images on your site create a brand identity and by hiding them from screen reader users you’re denying this group of users the same experience. Accessibility experts tend to favour the former argument, but there certainly is a valid case for the latter too.

Navigation & text embedded within images

Navigation menus that require fancy text have no choice but to embed the text within an image. In this situation, the ALT text shouldn’t be used to expand on the image. Under no circumstances should the ALT text say, ‘Read all about our fantastic services, designed to help you in everything you do’. If the menu item says, ‘Services’ then the ALT text should also say ‘Services’. ALT text should always describe the content of the image and should repeat the text word-for-word. If you want to expand on the navigation, such as in this example, you can use the title attribute.

The same applies for any other text embedded within an image. The ALT text should simply repeat, word-for-word, the text contained within that image.

(Unless the font being used is especially unique it’s often unnecessary to embed text within images – advanced navigation and background effects can now be achieved with CSS.)

Company logo

Websites tend to vary in how they apply ALT text to logos. Some say, ‘Company name’, others ‘Company name logo’, and other describe the function of the image (usually a link back to the homepage), ‘Back to home’. Remember, ALT text should always describe the content of the image so the first example, alt=”Company name”, is probably the best. If the logo is a link back to the homepage then this can be effectively communicated through the title tag.

Conclusion

Writing effective ALT text isn’t too difficult. If it’s a decorative image then null alternative text, or alt=”" should usually be used – never, ever omit the ALT attribute. If the image contains text then the ALT text should simply repeat this text, word-for-word. Remember, ALT text should describe the content of the image and nothing more.

Do also be sure also to keep ALT text as short and succinct as possible. Listening to a web page with a screen reader takes a lot longer than traditional methods, so don’t make the surfing experience painful for screen reader users with bloated and unnecessary ALT text.

5 Basic Rules of Web Design

basic rules of web design, website designer,

5 Basic Rules of Web Design the most important rule in web design is that your web site should be easy to read. What does this mean? You should choose your text and background colours very carefully. You don’t want to use backgrounds that obscure your text or use colours that are hard to read. Dark-coloured text on a light-coloured background is easier to read than light-coloured text on a dark background.

You also don’t want to set your text size too small (hard to read) or too large (it will appear to shout at your visitors). All capitalised letters give the appearance of shouting at your visitors.

Keep the alignment of your main text to the left, not cantered. Centre-aligned text is best used in headlines. You want your visitors to be comfortable with what they are reading, and most text is left aligned.

Your web site should be easy to navigate

All of your hyperlinks should be clear to your visitors. Graphic images, such as buttons or tabs, should be clearly labelled and easy to read. Your web graphic designer should select the colours, backgrounds, textures, and special effects on your web graphics very carefully. It is more important that your navigational buttons and tabs be easy to read and understand than to have “flashy” effects. Link colours in your text should be familiar to your visitor (blue text usually indicates an unvisited link and purple or maroon text usually indicates a visited link), if possible. If you elect not to use the default colours, your text links should be emphasized in some other way (boldfaced, a larger font size, set between small vertical lines, or a combination of these). Text links should be unique – they should not look the same as any other text in your web pages. You do not want people clicking on your headings because they think the headings are links.

Your visitors should be able to find what they are looking for in your site within three clicks. If not, they are very likely to click off your site as quickly as they clicked on.

Your web site should be easy to find

How are your visitors finding you online? The myth, “If I build a web site, they will come,” is still a commonly held belief among companies and organisations new to the Internet. People will not come to your web site unless you promote your site both online and offline.

Web sites are promoted online via search engines, directories, award sites, banner advertising, electronic magazines (e-zines) and links from other web sites. If you are not familiar with any of these online terms, then it is best that you have your site promoted by an online marketing professional.

Web sites are promoted offline via the conventional advertising methods: print ads, radio, television, brochures, word-of-mouth, etc. Once you have created a web site, all of your company’s printed materials including business cards, letterhead, envelopes, invoices, etc. should have your URL printed on them.

Not only should your web site be easy to find, but your contact information should be easy to find. People like to know that there is a person at the other end of a web site who can help them in the event that:

1. They need answers to questions which are not readily available on your web site;

2. Some element on your site is not working and end users need to be able to tell you about it, and

3. Directory editors need you to modify parts of your site to be sure that your site is placed in the most relevant category.

By giving all relevant contact information (physical address, telephone numbers, fax numbers, and email address), you are also creating a sense of security for your end users. They can contact you in the way that makes them feel the most comfortable.

Your web page layout and design should be consistent throughout the site

Just as in any document formatted on a word processor or as in any brochure, newsletter, or newspaper formatted in a desktop publishing program, all graphic images and elements, typefaces, headings, and footers should remain consistent throughout your web site. Consistency and coherence in any document, whether it is a report or a set of web pages, project a professional image.

For example, if you use a drop shadow as a special effect in your bullet points, you should use drop shadows in all of your bullets. Link-colours should be consistent throughout your web pages. Typefaces and background colours, too, should remain the same throughout your site.

Colour-coded web pages, in particular, need this consistency. Typefaces, alignment in the main text and the headings, background effects, and the special effects on graphics should remain the same. Only the colours should change.

Your web site should be quick to download

Studies have indicated that visitors will quickly lose interest in your web site if the majority of a page does not download within 15 seconds. (Artists’ pages should have a warning at the top of their pages.) Even web sites that are marketed to high-end users need to consider download times. Sometimes, getting to web sites such as Microsoft or Sun Microsystems is so difficult and time consuming that visitors will often try to access the sites during non-working hours from their homes. If your business does not have good brand name recognition, it is best to keep your download time as short as possible.

A good application of this rule is adding animation to your site. Sure, animation looks “cool” and does initially catch your eye, but animation graphics tend to be large files. Test the download time of your pages first. If the download time of your page is relatively short and the addition of animation does not unreasonably increase the download time of your page, then and ONLY then should animation be a consideration.

Finally, before you consider the personal preferences of your web page design, you should consider all of the above rules FIRST and adapt your personal preferences accordingly. The attitude “I don’t like how it looks” should always be secondary to your web site’s function. Which is more important: creative expression/corporate image or running a successful business?

4 Steps To Success In Web Development

CSS, Cascading Stylesheets, Stylesheets, Create CSS layout, CSS help, stylesheet, style sheets

If you are planning to become a serious player in the webdesign world, you should now what to learn and discover. Here’s a short list that gives you an overview of your needs.

1. Learn HTML
Before you start creating websites you should master HTML. This is the key element to even start publishing documents on the web. This sounds pretty obvious but there are some elements that you should understand like the label element which will add great usability to a form.

2. Master Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
I can’t stress this enough. DO NOT USE TABLES FOR YOUR LAYOUT!

Is it clear? Don’t, just don’t. Why? Because they work against you instead of for you. You can have so much more control of your layout, design and colors if you use 100% CSS.

1. CSS is easy
2. CSS is fast to create
3. CSS is lightning fast when your website loads
4. CSS is easy to modify

So forget table layouts and start using stylesheets. You will really like the things you can accomplish once you master them.

3. Learn A Server Side Language
This is needed to make dynamic websites like forums. PHP and ASP are a great example. You will need to understand what you can do with these languages and start using them.

Without a server side language your websites are really hard to maintain and will give you a hard job in creating an efficient website structure.
4. Learn A Database Language

I recommend learning MySQL since this is an open source database and is installed on most hosting providers in combination with PHP.

A database is nothing else then some tables with data. You can select data with queries like:

SELECT * FROM table WHERE ID = 3;

Now everything is selected from table when the ID equals three. It’s not hard to understand SQL, you just need to know how it works. PHPMyAdmin can help you a lot when you are creating your database.
So, start with step 1, and stick with CSS as long as you don’t master it. CSS is huge, and you will love it once you know how it works.

For application development you can’t do without a language like PHP and a database like MySQL.