November 3, 2015

WEB DESIGN TIPS: HOW TO MAKE A WEBSITE WITH A USEFUL HOMEPAGE

Learning how to make a website isn’t just about cool colors, multimedia presentations and flashy images. How well the site works for customers, staff, team members, stakeholders or whomever your audience may be is just as important. Here are some Web Design Tips to keep in mind as you learn web design, starting with how to make a website with a useful homepage.


Exactly what makes an award-winning web design? In this case, is the beauty of a website strictly in the eye of the beholder? Or, is there some sort of web design template that makes one website better than the next? In our opinion, having a useful homepage on your website is key to it being valuable to your audience.

QUESTIONS TO ASK IN ORDER TO CREATE A USEFUL HOMEPAGE

In order to ensure that you make a website with a useful homepage, ask yourself the following questions:

  • Can visitors easily and quickly find what they’re searching for on the site?
  • Is it easy for site visitors to maneuver around the website?
  • Does the website encourage users to engage with others on the site?

3 TIPS FOR HOW TO MAKE A WEBSITE WITH A USEFUL HOMEPAGE

What do we mean by useful homepage? Well, by useful, we mean that it gets visitors to make that next click effortlessly. You want website visitors to click through in various ways, without having to maneuver around or scroll down the page. For tips on various tools you can use for this, see How to Make a Website.

Here are three tips to help you learn website design, starting with creating a useful homepage:

  1. K.I.S.S. – “Keep It Simple Stupid” is a concept you should keep in mind as you learn to make a website. A common mistake many web design schools neglect to point out is the tendency to cram way too much content onto a homepage. Instead, it should be simple to read and should guide visitors to relevant information.
  2. Quick Links – There should be clearly visible links to the most requested site features. These help visitors save time by helping them get where they want to be quickly. Quick links can be added to sliders, sidebars, customized navigation menus, etc. to make a more useful homepage.
  3. Images – Sliders, which are rotating images, are great visuals. They help to keep the audience updated on new products, services, announcements, blog posts, etc. But, never allow a slider to be the dominating force on a homepage. Make sure that quick links and an easy to use layout also exist if you want to make a website with a useful homepage.

Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, said it best: “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”


STAND ABOVE YOUR COMPETITION FOR WEB DESIGN CAREERS

Interested starting a career in web design? Attend web design school! There are web design schools that teach you all about the design industry, but you need one that will help you stand out amongst the competition too!

Here at F.I.R.S.T. Institute, we strive every day to be of service to our students and provide them with the very best that we can offer — from a faculty made up of experienced design industry professionals to a broad spectrum of courses to teach you the basics of how to make a website and beyond to advanced techniques, we do all we can to ensure that our students receive the best possible educational opportunities.

Learn how to make a website from the accredited Graphic Design and Web Development school at F.I.R.S.T. Institute and start a career in web design today!

How to make a website with a useful homepage.