Design a Website

This page explains how to design a website. More specifically, it explains the various options that are available to you when designing a website. Designing your own website is the first step to creating your website. By following the steps below, you will be able to design and create your own website easily.

To design a website, you usually need to have a bit of a "design knack". In other words, you should be a reasonably good designer. You should know what looks good and what doesn't. Many "non-designers" have attempted to design their own website, only for it to look "ugly" to most of its viewers. Often the "non-designer" was completely oblivious to this!

But... even "non-designers" can create a professional looking website if they know a few basic tricks.

Options for Designing a Website

Fortunately, you don't need to be an experienced web designer in order to create your own website. In fact, before building your website, you can choose exactly how much of the design you will be responsible for.

Below are some of your options when deciding how to design your website:

About Usability

When many novices attempt to design a website, they focus mainly on the "look" of the site. The "visual design". While the visual design is an important part of web design, it shouldn't be the sole focus of the web designer.

When you design a website, you should pay attention to the usability of the site. Usability simply refers to how easy your website is to use. If a website is not usable, nobody will want to hang around to use it.

For maximum usability, try to avoid using gimicky type elements on your website. For example, avoid using non-standard navigational items, and try to use a language that your visitors will understand - especially when it comes to navigation.

Usability extends far beyond navigation though, so I encourage you to learn more about website usability. Here's a 25 point website usability checklist to get you started. And here's a great article about the top 10 mistakes in web design.