What should you look for in a Fort Lauderdale web designer? Here's a list of basics that a quality provider should be able to deliver on ...

A Compelling Home Page

It sounds obvious, but a home page should clearly indicate what the site is about, and many do not. Providing top level navigation on the first page, as well as your logo, and information for the visitor as to what can be found on your web site is of utmost importance.

Any good Fort Lauderdale web design provider knows a home page must be very informative, but also concise. The page is the place where a visitor must decide what he or she will do next - either click on some of your links, or try another site. In this respect, content is king.

If you decide to implement flash on your first page, make sure to give the user possibility to skip the flash as well. A “skip intro” should be made available outside of the flash, because you force visitors to wait until the Flash is loaded if not. Many visitors don't have the longer attention span (or the software) to put up with that.

Use a Simple Navigation Structure

A basic key to web design is to put the navigation in a location where the people you're targeting are used too looking for it. Don’t experiment with the navigation, and keep it the same on all pages. Visitors are not ready to learn a navigation system for every site they visit.

Consistency and usability are the most important things a Ft. Lauderdale computer service should offer, and this extends to web design.

Pick the Right Font Size

Your font size should be enough big so the text can be read without a big struggle. Many people won't bother to read very small letters. The optimal size seems to be 12-13. As visitors should be able to read your text with little effort, but without it being so big that it looks unprofessional.

Also, a web designer must balance the need to break up large chunks of text and utilize white space so that the site is easy to read and professional looking.

Find the Right Line Length

Like the font size, the length of a line of type should be comfortable to read. The optimal length for printed materials seems to be about 10-12 words, or 60-70 characters. Somewhat shorter lines of 40-50 characters might be more appropriate for larger displays as well.

Choose Your Emphasis

An experienced Broward County web designer knows that creating emphasis is an integral part of designing and typesetting. Handled with taste and good judgment, this step can direct and inform the reader. When these qualities are lacking, though, your web page starts to look like a mine field, and you can pretty much kiss that new business goodbye.

The Use of Graphics

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. This rule certain applies on the Internet... to an extent. Show clear, attractive photos of whatever products you are offering as well as the stock art you choose. If you offer a service, find the photo which will best describe it.

Be careful about file size. Don’t compress your photo to that level to not be clear, but also don’t leave it at full resolution, making it so big as to delay download time.

GIFs vs. JPEGs

Less experienced Ft. Lauderdale web design companies use the wrong format to store their picture.If your photo has small number of colors (less than 64), a GIF file will be better choice. If your image contains any text, GIF format should be your choice as well. JPEGs use compression and cause text and edges to become blurry. If you are saving a photograph, save it as a JPEG, which can contain far more colors at higher quality.

The Need For Speed

Do your best to reduce the download time. Attention spans are short. We live in a busy world. People want the information they want and they want it right now. Try to reduce size of your images as much as possible but without compromising the image. The image must look good, but size (KB) should be as small as possible.

Test Before You Publish

One thing any good web designer will do is his or her homework - and a good job of it, to boot. Visitors will not bother to send you email saying that your links don't work or that some images don't appear (even if you have a nice contact us form up for just such an occasion).

It stands to reason, therefore, that a Fort Lauderdale web designer should perform spelling, grammar and link checking to stop these problems before they start. Remember, a visitor will build his opinion about you or your company on base on the first impression of your site. “Under construction” or “coming soon” messages should be avoided at all cost.