Being on the internet and thriving is now a rat race if you don’t have a good website. But what makes a good website that attracts people? Is it the design, presentation, or loading speed? It is all three but moreover so the third option: loading speed. How fast the website works and loads can decide if your visitors are staying and returning or leaving and never coming back. This is why as a company, you need Charlotte website design experts and follow these tips to build faster websites.
Start from the top
Building a faster website should start from the top, AKA when you decide what will go on the site. This is especially important because the content you add can weigh your website down, causing it to load slow. The key is getting the right balance between impressive content and required content. Your visitors mostly don’t care what the website looks like and only want the content.
Avoid massive images
Massive images can slow down your website because not all your visitors have fast enough internet to load them. However, they also sell better because one can see your products and message clearly. You have two options here. The first one is to use the bigger images sparingly and is either compressed or in SVG format. Your second (and most useful) option is to make responsive images that change according to the platform.
Be careful with 3-party content
A lot of websites monetize the content by allowing ads. Alternatively, they add RSS feeds to give more value to the visitors. However, such 3rd-party content can slow your website down if the networks of the ad and your visitor are slow because the browser will wait for these before loading the entire page. Therefore, double-check any 3rd-party content you put on your site.
Look into the code and designs
Many website developers, and brands that hire them, want to go for fancy elements on the website. The result is a slowed-down website, even if the images and content used are lightweight. So, when building a website, look into the code and designs used to ensure you have not overused any of them.
Cut down on the fancy
The effect elements like animation or shiny whatsits cannot be stressed enough. All the fancy stuff you add to the website can slow it down and ruin your visitor’s user experience. This is not to say that you should go for plain backgrounds and websites, but you can always look for stylistic options with a smaller byte size.
Use the right amount of code
The cutdown on the unnecessary elements applies not just to the design but also to the code. When building frameworks for your website, always customize it and remove anything you don’t need or won’t use (most HTML or CSS frameworks allow you to do this easily). Doing so will help you build a faster website.
Code over images
To finish off this list, let us come back to images. This time look at the place you are using images at. Are you still using images for background colors, gradients, shadows, and icons? These can slow your website down when combined with other elements on your site, and you are better off using code for these.
Conclusion
Designing faster websites start right from the top, i.e., when you visualize what the website would look like. The reason is that the way you design the website and the content you add can eventually slow it down. Therefore, care must be taken when choosing the images and adding content and code.