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Minimize the use of images
- The key to a fast loading web site is to minimize the use of images.
Images do enhance a page but don’t make 80% of your web site only
images. Instead break it down as much as possible to simple HTML.
Notice the popular sites like Yahoo, Google, Ebay, Amazon etc., they
have very few images because the load time is more important. Very
often simple designs are the best.
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Optimize images for the web
- Once you have decided on the images that you need on your site, make
sure that it is optimized for the web. They should be in the gif or
jpeg format. You can also minimize the size of the image by choosing
the number of colors you need, from the color palette. The less the
colors you choose, the less the size of the image. You can also use
online tools like Gif Wizard to optimize your images or to get a recommendation on how to cut down the size of an image.
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Use Tables creatively
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You can get some great looking designs by using tables creatively .
Tables load very fast because it is just HTML code. Tables can be used
in the homepage, menus or anywhere you like.
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Cut down the use of animated gifs
- Don’t use animated gifs unless it is necessary. Animated gifs take a
long time to load and can also be very irritating. But since they catch
your attention you could use small animated gifs to draw a visitor’s
attention to a particular section of your site.
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Design simple icons
- Instead of using big, bulky images use simple and small icons that
add a little color and draw the attention of a visitor.
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Use background images instead of big images whenever possible
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Use background images whenever possible. This is usually a very useful
tip for headers and footers. Instead of using an image of width 580
which is a uniform design you can use just a part of that as a
background fill. This reduces the size of the web page as the image is
small. The code will look like this :<tr background=”/images/header_backgroud.gif” width=”100%”>
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Try out CSS Styles
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Have fun with CSS styles to get some cool text effects. Again, a CSS
Style is simple HTML code so it loads very fast. You can create cool
rollovers using CSS Styles.
Rollover the text on the right menu to see how we have used CSS Styles to get a simple but nice text effect.
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Use Flash sparingly
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There seems to be a lot of hype about Flash but I recommend that you
minimize the use of Flash on a site. Don’t make entire sites using
Flash. It may look great but it takes hours to load and can really put
off visitors. If you do want to use Flash use it within an HTML site
and make sure it loads fast.
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Design most of your site in HTML
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As much as possible try to design your site using HTML. You can create
great designs by just using HTML code. Use tables, CSS Styles and
simple fonts to design your site. Minimize the use of animated gifs,
Flash, bulky images etc.
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Keep checking your load time
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Last but not least, before you decide on the final design of your web
site, check its load time on NetMechanic.
This site gives you a free analysis of your web site which is extremely
useful. We kept using it to improve our site till we got a report that
said good loading time!
