Web design is not book design, it is not poster design, it is not illustration, and the highest achievements of those disciplines are not what web design aims for.
So what is web design?

Web design is the creation of digital environments that facilitate and encourage human activity; reflect or adapt to individual voices and content; and change gracefully over time while always retaining their identity. Great web designs are like great buildings. All office buildings, however distinctive, have lobbies and bathrooms and staircases. Websites too share commonalities.

Although a great site design is completely individual, it is also a great deal like other site designs that perform similar functions. The same is true of great magazine and newspaper layouts. Understanding this, and yet making your website stand out amongst the million similar pages is our objective.

One of the first things that one needs to decide, long before the analysis, design and implementation, is the target audience. With whom are you trying to communicate? It is important define the audience before you even get into any details about what the web site is to do – the “to do” will actually be made a lot clearer once you understand your audience.

The next phase involves figuring out what you are trying to communicate. This is probably one of the most important parts of the design process, and is often compromised on when more focus is on how it’s being communicated; the visual appeal of the website. If done right at the beginning, you will find the website coming together by itself, and the design will not require endless changes and maintenance.

The final phase involves the overall design on the page. Most times, an effort is made to provide as much information as possible, which is good. But at times, this leads to a very cluttered web page that will not be able to hold a viewer’s attention. Keep it simple. Providing links could be a solution to the problem of having to display lots of content. Making navigation within the site easy and distributing content over the entire window also adds to the appeal of a webpage.

A balanced approach that takes into account the content and the need for an aesthetic visual appeal will give you a great way to express yourself and make your content reach a wider audience.

Ocarda is a digital marketplace where you can get everything from website templates to Wordpress themes and plugins to design your dream site.

Not to worry, you have two choices. You could spend hundreds of dollars to hire a professional designer or web design Company to design an entire site, or you could purchase readymade web templates and edit them as per your needs within a short span of time. There is no doubt that readymade web templates will definitely reduce your work load.

We all know that having a professional and unique website will increase your credibility among visitors and potential customers. Before selecting a template, decide how your site should look and how you would like to impress your visitors. Quality templates will be easy to edit and upload to your site; it saves precious time.

There are many templates available in the market, all you have to do is select the template that suits your business and customers’ needs perfectly, and then download and edit it. The editing process involves adding own content, logos, pictures, graphics and more to the template to make it unique.

Some templates are available free of cost, and some templates have to be bought. Before buying a template, you can preview loads of them, and chose the best one so you’ll know exactly what you are buying beforehand.

The business site must be user-friendly, free from bugs and have a professional look. A well-designed site will help you stand out of the crowd. With busy schedules in business, no one really has the time to design their site. It is best to pick a professional web design company that will design your website effectively.

With a large number of web design companies in the current market, it is tough to select the best one. Before selecting a company, make sure that the company will work with you in defining your company’s services worldwide. Here are a few tips that will help you select a good web design company that will be able to fulfill your needs.

• The most important thing that you need to do before selecting a web design company is to check the credentials of the firm. Make sure that the web design company has not been involved in any fraudulent activities.

• Keep in mind that the web design company is capable of designing an attractive and SEO friendly website so that you can get a higher page rank in popular search engines and maximize profits.

• The firm should design a website using international quality layouts, search engine optimization techniques and attractive color combinations.

• The company must have a professional web design team which is well aware of latest designing tools including dream weaver, HTML, graphic software, scripting, flash, animation, coding, decoding, CGI, Perl, XML, Java scripting etc.

• They ought to develop simple to complex e-business based websites like Real-Estate website, E-commerce site, Database driven Website, online community sites and so on.

• If they have worked for many clients, you can ask for some samples through emails and review them to check whether the look and feel of the site conveys the business need with high quality, and the site reflects a unique visual identity of their business or organization. If you don’t like any of their samples, move on to the next company until you find one that satisfies your needs.

• If you’re going to invest in the web design company, always check their portfolios and see how they work. It not only displays the quality of their work, but also the types of services that they perform on a regular basis.

• Don’t hesitate to raise questions that come to your mind when you outsource web design services to the web design company. Questions such as: what is your pricing structure? Do you meet deadlines always? Do you offer images, logos? Will my website be Search Engine friendly? Will my website work in all internet browsers? The list goes on.

Most visitors enter your website through search engines. Websites are searched for through keywords. Keywords should hence be present in your web pages. While designing your web page, add all the important keywords in title tags, meta tags and alt tags.

Some information to be kept in mind while designing your website:

· Simplicity with regard to number of features about products and services is the main resource for any powerful website.

· A simple navigation system is enough and should be very clear to the visitor.

· Try to reduce the page weight of all your web pages, especially your index page, as a result of which uploading time will be minimized.

· Present the links of important pages in the home page, to guide the visitors to the important pages easily.

· Link colors should be synchronized with page colors; underline links so they instantly catch the viewer’s attention.

· Choosing appropriate background colors, images, and setting different font sizes for text, headers, footers etc… is another way to attract the visitors.

· Centrally position your website design to ensure proper display of your site in different kind of monitors.

· Use good visual elements because aspects like drop shadows, reflections etc can really attract more visitors.

· Use innovative icons which explain the concept better than plain text.

· If you want to offer any promotional discounts, use labels.

· Use attractive logos.

· Make sure columns of your text are narrow because it makes reading easier on the screen.

· Highlight important elements by setting a larger font size but be sure not to make it too large.

· Use traditional design because it makes visitors comfortable.

· Design your web considering the nature of visitors you want to attract.