general tips to make your website more liked by visitors?

[rubixguidemaker]

after the main title on your site, should all your headings be in the same font style, font colour, font size etc?

what about the rest of the text on your site? should it all be the same font, size etc?

backgrounds? is it always best to avoid backgrounds? what about a background which is just a dimmed version of the name of your site?

i'm trying to make a rubik's site...if i had dimmed rubik's cubes as the background, would this be good?

here's my (crappy) site:
www.rubiksguide.com

could you make a list of what i should change? headings? colours, font sizes, pictures etc...

please don't be too rude about the site...i didn't do computing in school, and up until when i started making this site about 2-3 weeks ago, i just used my computer for word documents, email, youtube, ebay and amazon.

[dmcleary]

Hey rubixguidemaker,

Firstly, congratulations on being able to do a puzzle that has always baffled me

At first glance the good thing about your site (far from being crappy) is that it is very easy to read and follow ... a definite plus! People all to easily go over the top with graphics when there is absolutely no need.

Having said that there are (like all sites) a few good pointers that people can throw your way; here's mine:

1. Yes, the text needs to be in the same font/format throughout. Serif fonts look messier from a design point of view but are easier to read.
2. Try to box the text so that it doesn't hit the side of the screen. Simply apply the following DIV to the page or block of text:

<div style="margin:0px auto; width:780px;">
TEXT
</div>

3. Try to sort out your vertical character spacing to stop the text being crushed up. Again, easily done in the style sheet:

p{
line-height:20px;
}

That will give you a good start but - to re-iterate - I found the site very readable, informative and easy to navigate. well done.

Regards,


David

[lee_hdi]

Like dmcleary said, congrats on doing the rubik cube, I've broke a few of them in frustration in the past.

I think its a good start to say you've only been doing websites for like 2-3weeks.

A simple way to start a website to 'liven it up' a bit is to download a template. Theres loads of free good ones out there. Thats all I originally did, and changed the borders and stuff to suit my website.

Here's a site I liked when I first started - http://www.freewebsitetemplates.com/

[jpstokes]

Using a template is a good way to start as Lee recommended, but you should also learn the code and looks like you are getting a handle on that. I would recommend learning css-based design since that's what being used now a days. So get a way from using tables and start learning how to build your layouts using css immediately and just keep learning.

Here's a link to my site. I've been building site for like 7 years now and I'm still learning new techniques all the time. Hope my comments help.

My site: http://plecco.net