Text Advice
Below are tips on using text in your website:
- Minimize the number of words - Use the minimum number of words to convey your message. As a general rule, you can remove 25-50% of words, without losing anything important.
- Default font testing - always ensure you test your Web pages using a browser's default settings; font typeface, size, text and link colors.
- Multiple font typefaces - when you set your font typefaces, use approximately three to four options. This way, if your first choice is unavailable, your second, third or fourth typeface choice can be used by the user's browser. For headings, it's common practice to use a different typeface from the typeface used for the body text.
- Variable font sizes - use various font sizes in your website, so that users can increase the text size in their browser. This is very useful to low vision users. Many Web designers use fixed font sizes, which disables this feature.
- Printer-friendly web Pages: Offer a printer-friendly version of your various Web pages. This will enable your users to print out a page for easy reading off-line or reference.
Images
Below are tips relating to images.
Always ensure you set image sizes in the image tags. Two advantages exist to setting image sizes:
- It increases the speed at which your page renders in web browsers. Images are downloaded after the page's text content is displayed on the screen. The page will appear to download quicker than it really has.
- If the user turns off graphics, the alternative text will be visible in the empty image frame.
Alternative Text
Importantly, set alternative text in images. There are two advantages to setting alternative text in image tags:
- If image sizes are set, and the user has turned off graphics, the alternative text will appear in the empty image
- Alternative text will appear in a pop-up window when the cursor hovers over the graphic.
It’s important to optimize image file sizes to help minimize the download time of your Web page and improve the usability of your site. Google & other search engines place large importance on page speed load time. This will help your website rank organically on the search engines.
For more information on web design Melbourne and online marketing, get in touch with Whiteblack Digital on 1300 559 971 or info@whiteblackdigital.com.au.
