Website design has never been easy. Even today when there are many powerful tools out there, web designers still have to do a lot of labor themselves and, perhaps more importantly, a lot of thinking and planning before actually commencing work. In fact, once you know the practicals of the design, which you learn by doing, it all boils down to how well you organize your ideas and how much optimization you do in the end. Here are 3 quick tips on how to become better at web designing.
Choose One Web Editor and Stick To It
There are a few attractive web editors out there that are alluring and that may temp you: can you keep your curiosity in check? Its fine if you check them all and draw your conclusions, but you must in the end pick one and stick to it, else you’ll just become a jack of all trades and master of none. Web editors are based on the same fundamental concepts, but they are still different, very different. This difference is especially noticeable in time, as your style becomes more and more defined.
Is it Dreamweaver? Is it something else? It doesn’t matter as long as you stick to it until you’re an expert. Nothing will stop you then from trying other editors and learning from them tricks that you can add to what you already know. But you need a foundation. And don’t worry about making the wrong choice no editor is perfect.
Find the Right Sources for Your Templates
Don’t think that you can always design great websites from scratch. You need inspiration and as they say- the better your sources, the better your work. Templates can be of great help. You don’t have to rely exclusively on them to build sites, but you can draw a lot of inspiration from them. So finding good sources from which to grab templates becomes imperative.
Rich resources are there on the Web awaiting discovery. Regardless of your style and personal preferences you’ll always be able to find templates, most of the time free. Choose with care and borrow wisely.
Improve Your File Management
File management may not be on your list of concerns but it’s essential if you want to work effectively. Moreover, file management becomes even more important when you collaborate with other web designers on the same project.
Never keep your files in one large folder. It’s clumsy and impractical. Sort the files logically, but also according to their type. For example, photos should always be kept separate. Think of your sub-folders as the actual navigation sections that will go on the live site and put them in the right order.
Backups
Making frequent backups should also be one of your priorities. Try to use an online backup service as well as a USB stick, just to be sure. Whenever you make major changes to your files copy everything to a new folder and save it as a new version. Sometimes you may want to revert to a previous version, especially when the project is a large one.