How to Implement a Website
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Designing a Website Homepage/Index Page
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| Here we will be dealing with the final checkout and uploading of the website.
Designing an index page (homepage) that loads quickly should be your first goal. There are several ways to ensure this;
- Keep the page short but be sure that the subject of your website is clearly evident. Also, provide at least 300 words of text for the search engines to digest.
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- Don't make the images on your index page any larger than necessary. Use graphic software to optimize images to a reasonable size.
- Don't include background music, it creates a distraction. Most visitors will have the audio turned off anyway.
- Don't include videos on your index page. They can be presented much better deeper in your website.
- Define the width and height of all image tags. Most browsers will load an image much faster if the image dimensions are given.
- If you need to use a large graphic, cut it into smaller parts and put them into a table.
- Use nested tables to separate text from graphics. Use the same images for several of your pages. Once these images are downloaded they remain in the browsers cache and appear instantly.
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 Ten Steps to a Winning Home Page |
Resize images
Most images can be resized, in a website graphics program, to a smaller file size without loss of quality or impact. Make your images only as large as they absolutely need to be to be for visual clarity.
If you really want to include music and/or videos on your website, place them on interior pages deeper in your website. Do not put them on the index page (homepage).
Give Your Graphics A Professional Look without the Price
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Navigation
When creating your individual web pages, be sure to include a Back and Next link (when appropriate) plus a Home link on each page. Don't make your visitors return to an index page to move around your website.
Website Navigation
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Make sure that your navigation images/text are prominently located when you implement your website so that users won't have to search the page looking for them. Your navigation links should all be in the same general location on every page.
Tips for Improving Website Navigation
If you use buttons, an image map, or other graphic navigation methods, include duplicate text links somewhere on the page for those with text-based browsers. A large website structure should contain a site index with website sections, subsections and topics listed.
Website Navigation and Theme
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