Most website developers have access to a team of professional designers and front-end experts to help them create the ideal sites. However, when you work as a one-man development team, you are often required to complete tasks that are out of your comfort zone.
(Pixabay / Photo-Mix)
Whether designing is your forte or not, you can make use of the following practices as you develop a WordPress website:
- Respect for WordPress coding standards – It is always painstaking to work on a website designed by someone else that doesn’t work cleanly, doesn’t use child themes, etc. Don’t be that guy.
- Stay current – Be familiar with what is in style and what is not. No matter how much you like a design that was popular years ago, you need to innovate and keep a pulse on what is trending. Otherwise, your sites will look dated.
- Little details – Pay attention to the little details, like fonts. The choice of fonts is limited only by the amount of time a designer has to search the web for the perfect selection to coordinate with their design.
- Embrace responsive design – Responsiveness refers to the ability of a design to adjust to different screen sizes and platforms. Humans are always on the go, gravitating from desktops to mobile devices and back again. People switch from one device to another as the situation allows. Make sure your designs allow for such flexibility.
- Think international – WordPress has become a worldwide phenomenon, used by roughly one in five websites. This means that not all WordPress users are English-speaking. Designers must appeal to international users but at the same time retain their appeal to a local group.
- Test, test, test – You don’t want to waste hours developing your design only to take it live and discover that it is full of flaws. Make sure to test your website before launching.
Designing a WordPress website can be easier when you stick to a few tried-and-true practices. Need help? Utah sites is a team of web designers servicing Orem to Ogden. Click here for a free consultation.