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Website Design Graphics - An Overview
Website graphics definitely play a major role in marketing your website and are therefore, a very efficient and effective way of boosting your sales. It is very likely that your graphics give the potential customer their first impression of your site and it is very important that a consistent overall image of your site is created. The quality and positioning of the graphics contained in your website are essential for it to look both attractive and professional. If all else fails in your website design, using professional looking graphics can only serve to enhance your site
Obviously, in launching a website, you are trying to get a message across to the public, whether it be informative or strictly sales. In either scenario, the content of a website must be easily read. One way to achieve this is by breaking up the text with well positioned and relevant graphics, ensuring that the viewer's interest is held while you get your message across. The graphics should be complementary to the text and aid in conveying the message. The visitor should be able to look at a web page and instantly know what to expect from the rest of the site, remember that first impressions only count once, so make it count. Website graphics and their positioning play a vital role in website design to the point where they could either make or break your website.
Image Formats
Generally, the formats used for website graphics are either JPG or GIF, as they load quicker than most others. The JPG format is mainly used for photographs and the GIF format is mainly used for buttons, logos or menu bars. A word of warning regarding working with graphics in JPG format. This format is a lossy compression, which means that every time the image is edited and saved, it loses a small amount of quality. The best way to avoid this is to edit the image in the native format of the image manipulation software you are using, and then save the final version in JPG format.
Size Does Matter
Whenever someone visits a web page, that web page is downloaded onto their computer, which means that your graphics are downloaded as well. There are two very important factors that come into play here if the site contains large graphic files. The first being that if the viewer is using a slow internet connection, the graphic will take a very long time to download, causing the viewer to lose interest and probably leave the site. The second being that graphics can use a lot of bandwidth, which means that if there are alot of very large graphic files on the site, and that site becomes popular, then the cost of running that site may escalate. Therefore, if your graphics are more than 50kb, then seriously think about reducing their size. I will cover this in more depth in my next article, but there are two points that you should consider. One, stop thinking about inches or centimetres and think in pixels, as this is what your web page is measured in. Two, screen resolution wont be much better than 96 pixels/inch on most computers, so why use a graphic that has a resolution of 600 pixels/inch and therefore six times bigger?
Summary
Professional website graphics are attention grabbers and will make your site stand out in the crowd. They can enhance your website and increase it's popularity and thus generate revenue. Good website graphics add professionalism to your website, which will in turn entice viewers to return. On the flip side of the coin, poor quality or badly positioned graphics can cause your site more harm than good. Large graphics files can cause web pages to load slowly, potentially losing viewers and damaging your business. Working with graphics is very time consuming and an art form in itself. It might therefore, be more practical/economical, at times, to pay a professional to alter/construct the graphics you require.
www.selfseo.com
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Your Choice of Web Site Color
01-26-2000 by Scott Pamatat of DesignMore.comA discussion forum at the Internet marketing challenge web site (http://www.marketingchallenge.com?13417) sparked the idea for this article. It is a great place to discuss ideas and receive informative suggestions and because of that I visit the forum often.Many web designers overlook the importance of color when designing a web site. Color should be one of your first concerns when it comes time to start your web site design. If you don't pay close attention to the colors you chose, your site you will end up either plain and boring or so chaotic it's hard to look at. The color you use should only be chosen after careful consideration.
Unfortunately web browsers can only see 256 colors. Even that number is hindered because all browsers don't share the same 256-color pallet. Currently web browsers only share 216 common colors. When designing key elements in your web site you should stay within the 216-color pallet.
If you go outside the 216 color pallet you start to use colors that do not exist within that browser. The browser has to mix the colors that do not exist. In order for the browser to display the color, it needs to take tiny dots from the colors native to that browser to come up with an approximate color. This is known as dithering. Some displays will distort the tiny dots to the point where the image is so speckled that it does not appear to be a solid color. This makes text very hard to read if it is placed over the dithered color. You should always use a browser safe color when using solid color as a design element. Some of the browser safe colors should be used with caution though.
Most of the eye operations are muscular and just like all other muscles it tires out. I will illustrate with an example. (This is a test I learned about 7 years ago and is very effective to get the point across). This is a simple test that should take only 45 seconds. If you do this short test, you will be better able to understand what I'm about to say. Go to this page and then come back. http://www.designmore.com/ctesta.htm
What did you see when you looked at the white box? Did you see a bluish green color? (If not go back and do the test over). No this is not a trick or hallucination. There is a simple explanation. Without getting too technical, I'll tell you what just happened.
In the back of your eye there is a thin layer of tissue that contains millions of tiny light-sensing nerve cells called rods and cones. Cones respond to specific wavelengths of light. Your eye is filled with color decoding cones. When you looked at the red box the cones that detect the red wavelength become tired and fatigued. When this happens the opposite cones in your eye start to kick in. Hence the bluish green color you saw. Now that you know there is a scientific reason behind eye fatigue you should apply it to your web site.
I'm sure you have you noticed that caution signs are usually yellow. Pure yellow strains your eye more than any other color because of that, it is the first color your eye will fix on. Using these colors (I still advise you to use it sparingly) for banners and advertisements will receive more attention from the viewer's eye. Once the visitor comes to your site there is really no reason you should irritate the visitor with bright colors. You have done a good job if they are viewing your site.
You should use yellow and red colors sparingly in your web site itself. Only use them in areas where you want the visitor to focus on. Do not make large parts of your web site with bright color. It might get your visitors attention but they will either consciously or subconsciously notice their eyes getting fatigued. This will make them not want to look at your web site for long periods of time. There are enough reasons why a visitor would leave your web site. You don't need to add to that list by using irritating color.
source:www.pageresource.com
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Don't Make Them Wait
01-13-2000 by Scott Pamatat of DesignMore.comI have noticed that many web sites are trying to portray themselves as if they were a TV network. They put top-notch graphics and sound into their web page. What these companies are missing is that their visitors are not watching TV. This works fine for those with broadband high speed connections. The fact is, most are viewing your web site on a screen that is between 15 and 19 inches wide, can only see 216 colors, and can only download at 28.8 kb per second.What does all this mean?
You as a web site owner, designer, CEO, or any one who has control over a web site should follow a simple rule. Are you ready? Here is the rule: make sure you are on a 28.8 connection; type in the URL for your web page; hit enter, and hold your breath. If you needed to gasp for air before the page was fully down loaded you really need to cut down on the size of the page. I'm sure some of you can hold your breath for a long time. So I will give you all a suggestion that your web page should be no larger then 50K. I would shoot for less than 30K. The number one visited web site home page is under 21k. That's right, Yahoo's home page is only 20k. This might seem like very little but you really can do a lot within that size.How can I get it under 50K? 30K?
First, all your graphic images should be as small as possible. Try to get them smaller than 4k. Going up to 6k is reasonable. When designing a graphic for the web site keep in mind the number of colors being used. I know, as a graphic designer, it was hard for me to go from millions of color to only 216. Yes, 216 is the number of colors you have on a web safe color pallet. Use solid colors when designing your image. PhotoShop has made the gradient such a popular tool. It looks good to fade things in and out. I always see a background border made up of this gradient. I always right click on that image to see the size. The 8k-12k is not worth the space. The problem with the gradient is it uses many colors and dithering. Both take up big time K. The more color you have in an image the bigger it's going to be.Use design more, graphics less. For a web page to be successful it needs to download quickly and look good. Here is the dilemma download quick or look good? Instead of designing graphics and taking pictures and turning them into jpgs to make your web page look good, try using color schemes. Use cell colors to make boarders. Use the negative space on your web site. What is not there is just as important as what is there. Remember sometimes less is more. When in doubt think of a typical visitor coming to your web page. Would that extra graphic sell them or keep them coming back again and again. If the answer is yes, by all means keep it. If the answer is "well maybe" or "it just looks good there", yank it. Viewers will appreciate not waiting more then they have to. The web is here to make our life easier not to sit in front of a screen waiting for heavy web pages to download.
source:www.pageresource.com
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