Responsive design has become the new web standard. Many companies have accepted the challenge and have created specific design solutions (such as mobile only) or have attempted to address the issue cross-platform.<\/p>\n

Even if you create a website design that’s worth a wait, visitors faced with slow download speed aren’t likely to stick around. So how can you make sure that time is on your side? Pay close attention to seven professional Web design tips to create a website that won’t slow your business down.<\/p>\n

#1: Limit use of flash<\/strong><\/p>\n

Flash is a classic example of style over substance and, while it definitely has its place in professional Web design, it must be used sparingly when you create a website. Even if your visitors have the right flash player (and many won’t), it will increase your site’s download time. Flash is also one of the\u00a0Web site design\u00a0elements that is not yet accessible to search engines, which means it can only hinder your search engine optimization efforts.<\/p>\n

#2: Compress your images<\/strong><\/p>\n

Images are a great example of how looks can be deceiving in professional Web design. You might not realize just how much space they occupy when you create a website design. By compressing your images before adding them to your professional Web design, you can reduce\/shrink a GIF or .JPEG image by up to half its original size. You may also want to specify the height and weight of your images in your HTML, which can decrease loading time.<\/p>\n

#3: Clean up your code<\/strong><\/p>\n

While HTML text is much faster than graphic text, there are ways you can make it even faster. Watch out for extraneous HTML coding \u2013 like spaces, unnecessary tags and even white space — that can increase the size of your files. Remember that less is more, and use defaults for tags or remove them wherever possible.<\/p>\n

#4: Use thumbnails<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thumbnails are an especially helpful website design technique for ecommerce websites. Provide customers with a small, fast-loading image of your product and let them decide whether they want to view the larger version of the image.<\/p>\n

#5: Switch to CSS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many Web designers now use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) instead of the more traditional table layout. CSS is a styling language that has a dual purpose in professional Web design: it can save you time when you\u00a0create a\u00a0website\u00a0and save your visitors time by drastically reducing page size and download time.<\/p>\n

#6: Reduce server requests<\/strong><\/p>\n

Any element of your design that loads from a different server \u2013 whether it be a graphic, an audio clip, or an ad \u2013 will elicit an HTTP request each time the page loads. Create a website with limited external content to reduce loading time.<\/p>\n

#7: Pay attention to page size<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even if you use all of the tips above, your page size may still be big enough to cause a slow response when all the pieces of your website are put together. Remember that less is often more in professional Web design, and use only the content that is absolutely necessary. Ideal page size is around 30KB.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Responsive design has become the new web standard. Many companies have accepted the challenge and have created specific design solutions (such as mobile only) or have attempted to address the issue cross-platform. Even if you create a website design that’s worth a wait, visitors faced with slow download speed aren’t likely to stick around. So […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[19,13,17,31,18],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":651,"href":"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649\/revisions\/651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}