| How do I make my Website load faster? |
| The Number 1 rule that every web designer should follow is to create a fast loading web site. You might have a great design but very few people are going to see it if it takes forever to load. While designing a web site always think about how long it will take to load. Try out my tips to build a great looking web site that also loads fast. |
| 10 Tips on designing a fast loading web site |
- Minimize the use of images - The key to a fast loading web site is to minimize the use of images. Images do enhance a page but don't make 80% of your web site only images. Instead break it down as much as possible to simple HTML. Notice the popular sites like Yahoo, Google, Amazon etc. They have very few images because the load time is more important. Very often simple designs are the best. If you are bent on using a large header image like mine, slice the image, it can really help in minimizing the load time. I'm probabaly contradicting myself, because my layout usually contains a bumload of images, but my site is a graphics site so it's an exception. :P Just Kidding. But even though I use alot of images, I find other means of reducing my load time. If I didn't, imagine how long my site would take to load with all these large images. Too long for anyone to stay interested.
- Optimize images for the web - Once you have decided on the images that you need on your site, make sure that it is optimized for the web. They should be in the gif or jpeg format. You can also minimize the size of the image by choosing the number of colors you need, from the color palette. The less the colors you choose, the less the size of the image. You can also use online tools like Gif Wizard to optimize your images or to get a recommendation on how to cut down the size of an image.
- Use Tables creatively - You can get some great looking designs by using tables creatively . Tables load very fast because it is just HTML code. Tables can be used in the homepage, menus or anywhere you like. Check out my layout and my menu to see how I have used tables creatively for my site.
- Cut down the use of animated gifs - Don't use animated gifs unless it is necessary. Animated gifs take a long time to load and can also be very irritating. But since they catch your attention you could use small animated gifs to draw a visitor's attention to a particular section of your site.
- Design simple icons - Instead of using big, bulky images use simple and small icons that add a little color and draw the attention of a visitor. This is best for beginners in webdesign. Sometimes simplicity is better.
- Use background images instead of big images whenever possible - Use background images whenever possible. This is usually a very useful tip for headers and footers. Instead of using an image of width 580 which is a uniform design you can use just a part of that as a background fill. This reduces the size of the web page as the image is small. The code will look like this : <td style="background-image:url(http://www.images/header_backgroud.gif)" width="100%">
- Try out CSS Styles - Have fun with CSS styles to get some cool text effects. Again, a CSS Style is like simple HTML code in that it loads very fast. You can create cool rollovers using CSS Styles. Rollover the text on the left menu to see how I have used CSS Styles to get a simple but nice text effect.
- Use Flash sparingly - There seems to be a lot of hype about Flash but I recommend that you minimize the use of Flash on a site. Don't make entire sites using Flash. It may look great but it takes hours to load and can really put off visitors. If you do want to use Flash use it within an HTML site and make sure it loads fast.
- Design most of your site in HTML - As much as possible try to design your site using HTML. You can create great designs by just using HTML code. Use tables, CSS Styles and simple fonts to design your site.
- Keep checking your load time - Last but not least, before you decide on the final design of your web site, check its load time on NetMechanic. This site gives you a free analysis of your web site which is extremely useful. I kept using it to improve my site until I got a report that said good loading time!
Tutorial by: Nika
Last Modified: 07/31/08.
Last Modified: 07/31/08.
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August 14 2008: One New Affiliate: Please welcome Flamboyant!
August 12 2008: Added 2 New Manga Samples : 1) Lovely Complex and 2) Hana Kimi
August 12 2008: Added 2 New Manga Samples : 1) Lovely Complex and 2) Hana Kimi
4 New CSS Templates
New Iframe Layout
New Div Layout
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