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How to create a good links directory
Every webmaster is spending a serious amount of time online in order to promote a new site or even an older one. We are all talking about quality of content and layout and the truth is, for a site traffic is also important. If nobody has got the...
How to Create Different Textures with Photoshop
Creating a multitude of textures is easy if you have the know-how and Adobe Photoshop. There are numerous plug-ins that you can make use depending on your need and your level of mastery. One such plug-in is the Eye Candy: Textures. Eye Candy 5:...
IE, Firefox, Opera, Netscape, Mozilla and more?
This compilation of information is Copyright March 2005 by Ziff Davis, all the posting subscribers, http://www.organicgreens.us, and Loring Windblad. This article may be freely copied and used on other web sites only if it is copied complete with...
The Secret Benefit Of Accessibility Part 1: Increased Usability
Web accessibility has so many benefits that I really do wonder why such a large number of websites have such diabolically bad accessibility. One of the main benefits is increased usability, which according to usability guru, Jakob Nielson, can...
The True Meaning of Freeware
The vast majority of us will have, at some point, had freeware games or applications installed on our systems. If you’ve played an online Java or Flash based game, you’ve used freeware. In a very real way the Internet itself is freeware, a...
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Web Page Optimization
We all want to have the most attractive website that leaves a
visitor wide-eyed and completely dazzled. Usually an extremely
attractive website design involves lots of graphical elements,
increasing the overall page size which causes the page to
download slowly to the browser. This article will provide some
useful tips on how to keep your website design attractive but
still downloads quickly.
As the average internet bandwidth rate per computer is raising,
more and more webmasters allow themselves to develop complex
websites laden with heavy graphic elements. In extreme cases you
can find websites that take as much as a few minutes to load
their content in your browser. Of course the user will never
wait that long for a website to load, and will move on to the
next website in his search results.
So why are webmasters still developing slow loading bloated
websites? Primarily due to a lack of knowledge of simple graphic
optimization techniques that will allow them to maintain an
attractive website while keeping the page size smaller.
How many of you are aware of the fact that a box with rounded
corners can be achieved using CSS code only, without the need
for any graphic image. Well it is possible! Before those of you
familiar with CSS say that it cannot be done for every type of
browser and a relatively high level of programming is required,
I say that dealing with the most common mistakes web designers
make regarding optimization can have simple solutions.
Never limit the web designer by placing any restrictions that
impact the final outcome. You might make the claim that what a
web designer can do with graphic software is impossible to
implement by code. I disagree. When the design is finished and
you are ready to slice it into small images to be used in the
html code, your creativity is been tested. Everything you do at
this stage will affect the total page size. If your design
contains rounded shapes that overlap each other or areas with
color gradients, then you must slice it carefully so the outcome
is a small file size.
Let's look at what efficient slicing means:
1. Do not make large slices that contain lots of different
colors. Use a small number of slices where each slice contains a
limited number of colors.
2. Do not make a large slice that contains the same graphic
structure. Slice a small portion of it and duplicate it in your
code. This is a very common mistake that webmasters/programmers
make when dealing with gradient color background.
3. Do not use JPEG file format all the time. In some cases a
GIF
format will be much smaller in size. A rule of thumb - a slice
with high number of colors will be smaller in size using the
JPEG format rather than the GIF format, and the opposite is also
true. Check each option separately. Every 1KB that you reduce
from the image file size will eventually add up to a significant
reduction in page size.
4. If you have text on a solid color background, do not slice it
at all. Use code to create the background instead. Remember that
you can define both the font style and background color of the
area using CSS.
Advanced Techniques
Graphically optimizing a website is more than just knowing how
to do image optimizations. There are some advanced techniques
that required a high level of programming. CSS2 has much more to
offer then CSS does. Although not all browsers have adopted this
standard yet you should be ready for when they do. JavaScript
also gives you a set of options to create some cool effects
without needing to overload the page with Flash. Using limited
tools like JavaScript compared to an advanced application like
Flash to create the desired effects can be difficult. However
think about the outcome. For a onetime effort you can
differentiate your website from others. You will have an
attractive professional looking website that loads quickly.
Back to the Future
As PDAs, smart mobile phones and mini laptops are used with
wireless internet connections for internet browsing, publishing
fast loading web pages will enhance the browsing experience not
only for those using wide bandwidth connections but also will
make the browsing experience user friendly (or may I say,
bandwidth friendly) to the wireless clients.
For those who insist that web design optimization is not
necessary because everyone will have high bandwidth connections
eventually, I agree up to a point. However, the software
companies are creating applications that use more bandwidth
because they know it is available for them to use. Get used to
writing well optimized web pages because this cat and mouse game
will never end, and it is better to learn the rules of the game
then it is to be bitten.
About the author:
Warren Baker is an Internet business consultant for
WebDesigners123.
WebDesigners123 connects the Freelance Web
Designer with Webmasters who need their services.
If you would like to read more of Warren Baker's writings,
visit our Website
Design Articles page.
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