Hotel Website Search Engine Optimization
The basic ideas behind web design are centered on the visual appeal of the site. Catchy graphics and high-tech animation effects are used to make visitors ooh and ahh. Many designers, especially those just starting out, forget there are people out there that do not have the latest, greatest hardware or software. All the effort to make a visually appealing site just serves to complicate the experience of some visitors. For some visitors to a site, the high tech visuals just get in the way. Interminable download delays for slow connections; error messages when user hardware or software is incompatible with special effects or blank spaces in place of images encourage visitors to leave and stay away. What good is a website with no visitors?
With the widespread adoption of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) as the standard presentation controller for websites, the separation of presentation and content is nearly complete. Combining a scripting language such as Javascript to determine the visitor’s browser and hardware capabilities with separate and specific style sheets allows the developer to configure the presentation to match the visitor’s needs and capabilities. By detecting the characteristics of the visitor’s hardware and software, specific style sheets are enabled for the different setups. Certainly, this requires a bit of extra work by the developer but the user experience is much enhanced by the extra effort.
This practice allows more compressed (slightly less attractive) graphics for faster downloads on slow connections or eliminating graphics altogether for page readers used by visually impaired visitors. Separating the font selection, font size, colors and even layout from the content of a site makes the content more accessible to a wider range of visitors. It is even possible for the content of a site to be presented in a right-to-left text instead of left-to-right simply using Javascript and CSS to assign properties to the text.
Another major consideration is the use of hand-held devices for internet access. Smart phones have relatively small screens and some fancy graphics may not translate well to the small screens. Also a concern is the font size. A tiny font that looks OK on a 15 inch monitor may look like a solid line on a 2 ½ inch screen. As much as possible, developers should test their work on a variety of devices, browsers and screen readers. Most will be surprised at the problems that are revealed by this testing. The problems are easily corrected by adding specific style sheets and browser detection scripts to the sites.
The result of a properly tested and multi-platform optimized web site will be a larger group of loyal visitors. In many cases, testing and making a site accessible to more people takes more time and effort that the original design stages. Not all sites offer content or products for everyone and understanding the target audience is very important to the designer. If a site is simply a place for family members to share photos and vacation stories, the extra work is not justified. If a site can expect an international audience with accessibility-challenged members the extra work is justified.
