Do you want to design a website for your personal or business need? Are you feeling confused about how to do it? Are you looking for how to design a website? Look no further! In this article, we shall discuss the steps to design a website from scratch. Also, we shall highlight the web design best practices you need.
Step-by-Step Guide On How To Design A Website
1. Know Your Goal
The first and most important step is to know your goal. What do you seek to achieve with your website? Are you designing the website for personal or business purpose? This will help you to avoid issues that may arise later. For instance, it will help you to decide the best web design plans to adopt. It will also help you to decide the kind of web design elements and platform to use. After this, you can now proceed to the next step.
2. Get An Attractive Domain Name
The next step is to get an attractive domain name. A domain name is the identity of your website. An example of a typical domain name is www.example.com. The .com refers to the domain extension and there are hundreds of extensions you can choose from. For instance, if your company is related to the technology sector, then you can choose a tech domain extension.
One of the web design best practices is to choose a domain name that contains your business keyword. Similarly, if you want a website for dog breeds, go for names with pet, puppy, or dogs in it like www.dogbreeds.com. This will help your website at the later stages in SEO.
3. Sign Up To A Hosting Plan
A host refers to the platform upon which you build your website. Just like building a house, a host represents the land upon which you build the website. There are different hosting plans. These plans are characterized by their bandwidth and disk space. Bandwidth refers to the maximum number of visitors you can receive monthly. Disk space refers to the maximum size of files you can upload on your website. Your choice will ultimately depend on your needs and website goal and website design plan.
4. Start The Design
You have purchased a domain and acquired a hosting plan. The next stage is to commence the designing of your website. Again, your choice of the website will depend on your goal. If you want a website for personal or official use, a website is good. If you want to sell through your website, then you need an e-commerce website. Otherwise, a blog is the best for content marketing. You can develop your websites using different web design elements.
To learn how to design a website, there are three basic web design elements you should know. These include HTML, JS, and CSS.
- HTML: HTML is an acronym for Hyper Text Markup Language. It is generally referred to as the building block of a website.
- JS: JS simply means JavaScript. It is an advanced coding system that determines the behavior of a web page.
- CSS: CSS is the acronym for Cascading Style Sheet. It determines the color and style of a web page.
For a website to function effectively, all the three web design elements must be well and properly utilized.
Likewise, there are three sections on a standard website design plan. These sections include the head, body, and bottom.
- Head: The head section usually starts with the <head> HTML code. Codes inside the section reflect on every page of the website. This is usually where the site name, logo, and tagline are encoded. Here is a sample of a typical head section.
<head>
<title>BIG WEBSITE</title>
<img src=”logo.png”/>
</head>
- Body: The body section of a website contains the major contents of a particular page. A website with more than 1 page will have different body section for each page. A typical body section of a website is represented as thus:
<body>
<p> Here is the content of the website page</p>
</body>
- Footer: the Footer section of a website works similarly to the head section. The only difference is that the footer displays at the bottom of the website. The section usually houses the link to primary pages like about and contact us links. Web designers also prefer to display social media icons here. The footer section also reflects on every page of the website. Here is a sample of a typical bottom HTML code:
<footer>
<a href=”/about-us”>About Us</a>
<p>Thanks for visiting</p>
</footer>
There are free HTML, CSS, and JS codes online on how to design a website. If you aren’t an expert web designer, you may find it difficult to understand these codes. This is why we often recommend that you hire a professional web designer. This will ensure that your website wears a decent and attractive look. It also ensures that your website contains all the necessary features.
5. Test The Website
Once you have finished the design, the next step is to test the website. Some people often skip this website. Don’t be deceived by the appearance of a website. The appearance of a website does not mean all the functions are perfect. Test all the links and images and be sure they are working fine. You can make a reverse image search to make sure no duplicated images are found on your site. In the case of a shopping website, you need to test with credit cards. Make sure all money is delivered into your account.
Another function to test is the website compatibility and flexibility. Do check your website on different browsers. Also, test on different versions of each browser. This will ensure that you correct all errors before you launch your website.
Conclusion
Before you set out designing a website, you first need to define your goals. Also, focus on simplicity and avoid adding too much content on each page. Simplify the website navigation and use an appropriate color combination. Consistency is another factor to watch out for. Choose and maintain the same features throughout the website. We hope this on how to design a website is useful for you.