Making Graphics Earn Their Keep in Website Designs
By Suneva Lightfoot
You may have heard that "Content is King" when it comes to website design but that doesn't mean that your visitors have to be bored during their stay: if you use graphics appropriately with some smart techniques you can provide an enjoyable experience that will give them the desire to visit your site on a regular basis.
There are two issues you have to resolve in your website design when you are using graphics; loading time and cross platform compatibility. When the Internet visitor to your website is using a dial-up 56k modem, the graphics in your design can take an eternity to load, so the key is always to make them as small as possible. There are techniques and software utilities you can use to compress your images. You can also use a thumbnail of the image on the page to accelerate the loading time, providing users with the option to expand the image to full size if they so desire.
The statement that if your site takes a long time to load will cost you visitors is only partially true. If the purpose of your website is entertainment, for example if it's a gaming site, the visitor to this type of site is prepared for a reasonable download wait, but once the game is loaded the action should be able t keep pace with the player. Another example is a website featuring online webcasts or music/movie downloads. All of these websites are graphic dependent and the best examples of how they can be used to attract visitors to your site without adverse results.
Search engines spiders ignore graphics and the text within them unless they have HTML coding attached to them that give them some text content value. And using flash animation has to be done with special attention and balanced with a reasonable amount of content.
But the appeal of graphics with visitors cannot be denied when it plays a role in satisfying their reasons for coming to the website. What turns many visitors off is not so much the loading time, but the fact that the images used do not give them a valuable experience; using a cartoon to illustrate a point made in the content text of an article makes sense, it can convey the jest of what the reader will learn instantaneously. On the other hand if the visitor is coming to the site for health related information, being greeted upon entry by the graphic image of a bear dancing serves no purpose.
The visitor's agenda is where you start to decide whether or not graphics are appropriate to use as part of your
Usability is not just important with graphics; you need to use your text effectively as well. Using paragraphs of 50-75 words with 1.5 lines of space between them makes it easier for the visitor to read. The width of your page is also important, using the full width of the window is considered efficient to some, but reading text formatted in this manner can be tiring. Use a magazine style format that visitors prefer instead.
When you use colors for your website design background, keep them subtle with a contrast to the color of you text that is compatible. The closer you are to the highest readability of a white background with black text the better. Always use the "web palette" of 256 colors to ensure consistent resolution on different computer systems.
Suneva Lightfoot is the creative writer for Website Design and Marketing Projects, specializing in quality Internet presentation and advertising services for small and medium-sized businesses
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