Are you one of the many people who have seen the shift in jobs from the real world to the worldwide web? According to statistics from eMarketer, web surfers are expected to spend more money online in 2014 than ever before, with total eCommerce revenue set to surpass $1.5 trillion by year-end. What do businesses need to be successful online? They, of course, need a great website.
Recognizing this, more and more people are jumping into web development and design as a career. Unfortunately, as too many have had to find out the hard way, the market for professional web development services is saturated. According to IBIS World, there are more than 116,000 web development services in the U.S. alone. Unless you set yourself apart from the pack with your website development skills, you’re never going to get anywhere. Luckily, with these four simple tips, you can do exactly that.
Four Tips for the Business Looking to Improve Website Development and Design
- Keep Your Code as Simple as Possible
- Test Your Webpage Across Multiple Platforms
- Work SEO into Your Web Design
- Cut it with the FLASH Already
For Creative Bloq, a popular online web design community, the key to great website development is simplicity and cleanliness in your code. As the source suggests, the average line of code should have no more than 75 characters, ensuring that it’s easy to read, both for yourself and any other developer who needs to make some adjustments.
With the rise of mobile computing, designing a page that works properly across multiple platforms has never been more important. Mobile web users are the fastest growing eCommerce demographic, meaning you need to make sure that whatever page you build works for them. As Lifehacker writes, you don’t need to buy different hardware to check for compatibility. Free web tools, like Screenfly, can show you how your page displays across multiple platforms, allowing you to tweak your designs as necessary.
93% of all online experiences still start from a search engine results page. Subsequently, you need to do everything you can in your development process to help your clients get noticed in Google, Bing, and elsewhere. Clean code and implementation of keywords in your notes can boost a site’s online presence.
Too many developers and designers continue to use FLASH in their webpages, despite the fact that it is increasingly non-compatible with the latest generation of mobile technologies. HTML5 will allow you all the benefits of FLASH, while being viewable across almost every platform. It may take some time to adjust to the new language, but it will make you a much better, far more desirable developer.
Do you work as a web designer for a living? What other trade tricks would you give to up and coming web developers? Sound off in the comments below! For more information, read this website: www.globi.ca
