Hello World,
A well-designed website is sure to make a huge impression for years, encouraging visitors to consistently come back whenever there are updates made to the site. Loyal visitors can become accustomed to the design and layout of your site, but most wouldn't mind if things were to remain the same. However, this doesn't mean that you should leave the website the way it is, especially if your site is operating in a particularly competitive sector.
Web design trends can evolve over time as well and if these competing sites follow with the trends, you may lose some visitors. Here are five good ideas to refresh your site so it continues to thrive. Add Multimedia Elements Multimedia elements ordinarily include video content and are usually added to the front page to give a better impression. Depending on the design, this may require some changes to the site layout so the video will fit. This is most efficient if the video blends in with the other design elements. If ever video streaming consumes too much bandwidth, you can create a web-based slideshow instead, which makes the overall design look livelier without slowing the site down. Aim for Minimalism Older websites often make use of images, strong colours, and sometimes emphasised text to keep visitors in the page. Many websites these days are going towards the Web 2.0 trend, which revolves around a minimal design that focuses mainly on readability. If your website is more on the content side, try to redesign the entire layout, remove strong imagery, and go for gradient graphics and textures. Experiment with other fonts like Tahoma or Trebuchet MS and see if the design is easier on the eyes. Not all types of website are best for minimalistic designs, but it can be a refreshing design change even for loyal visitors. Use Interesting Effects, Transitions and Other Scripts If your website already has the multimedia and minimalistic features, you can still refresh the design by adding some interesting effects to it. These effects can include transitions when links are clicked on or sliding effects when hovering the mouse over certain areas. This may not affect the design visually, but it can improve the experience when people start navigating through the pages. Try to find areas of your site where you can save space by hiding these elements and have them come up through effects when certain conditions are met. This requires some knowledge on coding, but there are plenty of free scripts available as well. Try a New Colour Scheme If you are very happy with your design and do not have any professional branding or logo, you can always refresh your site by changing the colour scheme. Experiment with different colour combinations or go from white to black or vice-versa. If you really can't change the colour scheme, you can always improve it by using gradients or experimenting with other shades. Integrate some Widgets There are a lot of free widgets available on the net that focus on providing real-time information or enhancing functionality. Many of these widgets can facelift a site if placed on the right spot. Combine these widgets with other design refreshes for some interesting results. It may also encourage new traffic sources to visit your site and make it easier for your customers to share their experience with others. (by Derek Rogers)
About the Author
Derek Rogers is a freelance writer who represents a number of UK businesses. For the very best in professional Web Design he recommends Winchester-based Studio Republic.
0 comments:
Post a Comment