Best Website Builder HQ

Image by paul bica via Flickr

We all know how the waterfall process works in web design. Everything is connected in widgets and layout build onto wireframes and the biggest issue is that you can’t be flexible in how the site looks. Everything is set into very exact sizes and the grid which is employed mean that the layout is very generic and any sort of adjustment can put everything out of kilter which means that some part of the navigation may not be clickable by site visitors.

The best website builder can of course make alterations and changes to makes sure that doesn’t occur and it is where all of your skills as a web designer come to the fore. There is no easy way to rectify the issues related to how the layout can aversely affect site navigation. You have to be able to adapt and be “responsive” in web design so as to anticipate how elements will work on the website and how they will look on different resolutions and browsers.

It is important to not look just look at a web page, and think, that is how it looks for everybody. No, you have to go deeper than that and consider what effects could occur to the different elements on the page such as the content space, sliders and forms. Creating different widgets to accommodate the different layouts which may occur on different platforms is an integral part of this.

Whether you see the site on a 22″ monitor or on a small iPhone display, it has to have the best look possible and for this to happen the layout has to be adaptable; wireframes must be representative and take into account variation in screen size. It may mean that your site may only be one column width on a smartphone but two or three on bigger screens. You cannot just restrict yourself to simple layout considerations either as other elements like navigation, forms and sliders will change on different displays, and need to be clicked by either touchscreen or mouse.

Experimentation is very important and your skills as a website designer will be tested to the fullest extent possible. Can you change these wireframes into dynamic tools, which can adapt to any screen they are displayed on? Are they good enough for other designers and web developers to continue with further down the design process? Answers these questions and produce something which shows the real talent that you possess.

Follow me on Google+ here: +David Tully
Read more about David and website builder
David has also written lots of articles for Best Website Builder HQ.

Image by arnoKath via Flickr

Text is a critical component to any website. The way it is presented on the page, and what typeface you use can have a dramatic effect on how readers react to the website in general. For any newbies out there, not entirely sure what they should be considering when utilizing text on a web page, I have split the topic into two commonly known aspects:

Macrotypography – In some ways this can be seen as an integral part of web design. How your text is laid out on the web page can determine how successful the web design actually is.

To this end, the lay out of paragraphs, the arrangement of text into columns, headers and footers is a top priority when learning about web design. A good website builder will know how best to arrange text on the page to fit a particular niche market. A lot these techniques can be learned in CSS but there are so many different options and techniques, some of which you can read about here, that it is important to keep abreast of latest developments. For macrotypography, think readability and layout, what is the best way to layout text so it can be read in a way which interests the reader and reflects the style of website?

Microtypography – This is to do with how legible a font type is. Rather than readability (how the text flows), microtypography focuses on the letters themselves and how easy they are to look over. As a website builder, you will be tasked to make choices on style which will impact the nature of the site. The style of text used is critical to represent the website’s style in general and to ensure people can read through the text without hassle.

A lot of these techniques can also be applied in CSS, and have been in the news for web design recently because web browsers are allowing more and more styling code which means that web designers can get a better grip in the finer details of what the text should look like.

Keep these two aspects in mind while designing websites as they have a very important role to play in your website’s final design and conception.

Follow me on Google+ here: +David Tully
Read more about David and website builder
David has also written lots of articles for Best Website Builder HQ.

Image by Nod Young via Flickr

Web design has many different aspects to it. You have to create an excellent design to fit a particular market or group of people and images, functionality, text layout and navigation are just some of the elements you have to think about. One which is often overlooked though is color. When first going onto a website, the user instinctively reacts to the colors put in front of them. Within the first few seconds,  the color and presentation can attract people to stay on the site or move away from it. It is therefore important to get the colors right, depending of course, on what style of website you are looking for. So let’s dive straight in shall we, what does each color represent in web design and how do people instinctively react to them?

Read the rest of this entry

Image by jasniepanjan via Flickr

The New York Times reported a story on their blog which was a bit worrying to say the least. A web engineer called Justin Watt was using the wi-fi in a Marriott Hotel in Manhattan when he starting noticing some rather odd occurences on the web pages he normally visits.

Read the rest of this entry

Image by kurafire via Flickr

Web Designer Depot is definitely one of my favorite places to go for some tips if I ever need any as a website designer. For anyone just starting out in web design I would wholeheartedly recommend them, and I recently spotted an article mentioning a new piece of software which is useful for designers who are just at the beginning of learning process in HTML and CSS.

Read the rest of this entry

Image by Ferran Rodenas via Flickr

The co-founder of Google, Sergey Brin, is concerned about the lack of web freedom. He believes that applications and networks such as Facebook are making things less widely available to the outside world because they prevent certain information from being picked up by search engines. This is not the lack of internet freedom which was disputed in regards to the SOPA bill in the US, which would have affected web hosts such as Blue host, but more to do with how information is governed onlin. In an interview with the Guardian, Brin said:

Read the rest of this entry

Image by stephanevial via Flickr

Not every person starts out in life with dreams and passions they want to fulfil. They may come as a surprise for some of you reading this as you may have always a burning ambition or drive to succeed at something which you always wanted to do. It doesn’t come naturally for everyone and many of us get into lines of work which don’t really get us excited and motivated. With web design such a massive business these days, I am sure too that there are many website builders out there who feel less than enamored with the work you are doing.

Read the rest of this entry

Image by rgddesigns via Flickr

As I have mostly talked about web design on this website so far, you may presume that the best website builder HQ is primarily about the creation of a website. For me though, to build a long lasting website you have to think about the long term and social media marketing, which you can use a Tweet Adder coupon code to help with, is crucial for the establishment of a website in the long run and to attract good amount of visitors.

Read the rest of this entry

 The proponents of a new cyber security bill in congress have defended it against criticism that it may be the next SOPA. SOPA was the bill that got the internet community up in arms regarding the nature of copyright law online. One of the authors of the CISPA (Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act), Representative for Michigan Mike Rogers said:

Read the rest of this entry

I am a big believer of simplicity in web design. Part of the reason for this is because I have experience in internet marketing as well. The entire principle of marketing online is to encourage the visitor to take an action of some kind, or a call to action. The more complicated the design of a website is, the more complicated it will be to tell a user what to do next once landing on the website. Too much information, color and fancy graphics, causes too much confusion, and if you are to be the best web designer possible, you have to grab this fundamental concept of marketing. It is for this reason why in 2012, design has gravitated towards simplicity underlined in the 5 style points I have highlighted below.

Read the rest of this entry