Please note this article was first published in 07 Oct 2009. Its content may now be out of date. We recommend taking a look at more recent website building blog posts or check out our comprehensive support pages. If you are looking for information on our 14 day free website builder trial we have a large number of webpages that guide you throug the process.
When a website has lots of different information about lots of different things, it's important to lay it all out in sections so that visitors can cast their eyes over different areas and fully take in the separate pieces of information. In addition to the information about your products and services, you may wish to tell visitors about regular special offers or provide general news. You may want to invite them to join a forum or blog, highlight different aspects of your business, emphasize the customer service you offer or advise about the delivery and postage options…
These days, websites without background videos run the risk of appearing old-fashioned. Even dinosaurish,
There’s nothing wrong with dinosaurs, or with looking like one. Dinosaurs are cool. Unless they’re chasing you of course.
But our new background videos have landed, exploded and changed the game. They have wiped out the old standards for beautiful websites, and have replaced them with a new standard that will leave all other websites looking like fossils.
Luckily, both our existing clients and our new ones have access to this brilliant new feature we’ve introduced, and we’d like to share its benefits with you today.
A superhero is only super because he or she stands out amongst the crowd. If we were a planet of flying, teleporting, time-freezing super-strong aliens, then we wouldn’t think there was anything super about us. When it comes to using formatting methods such as bold, italics, capitals or centering, all of these little text-enhancing superheroes will only stand out if they are used sparingly, in the right place, and when absolutely necessary…
Reviews, testimonials, recommendations – we all seek reassurance in them. We might even skip past the good ones just to see if there are any bad ones.Other people are sources of information for us. They can tell us whether this product or service is actually any good or not. Reading their testimonials builds trust in your business.
If I have multiple domain names, will my website rank better on the search engines? Will I be more likely to draw in extra traffic? Will my website become a supercharged powerhouse bursting with domain names that will become a magnet for new business? The answer might not be quite as positive as you would expect, but hopefully we can answer your questions during this article…
Choosing a domain name for your new business may not be as simple as you think. Most people just use their company name, but unless your branding is well recognised, this may work against you…
Is it possible for your business website to look too good? Too polished? Too slick? Too posh?
Perhaps it depends on how slick and posh you already are.
“If a customer fills out a form and adds their email address, what can I do with it?” This is a terrible question, asked by non-GDPR compliant cavemen and cavewoman who still think it’s OK to treat other people’s info as if it’s their own…
You are building a GDPR-friendly email list, and now you want to start sending out newsletters, the professional way. Where do you start?
“Don’t sell your product. Solve their problems.” Mark Cuban’s wise words sum up the art of selling – it is about helping people, fixing problems and improving the lives of others…
iF we’re honest, not many people will accuse you of clownery for not having a proper business email address. But they might not call you professional either…
Building a professional website to grow your business should be easy and seamless from start to end. We offer to build your business website for you, in four easy steps…
When July 2018 hits, Google Chrome will make sure a strong warning will pop up on any website that has not yet updated from “http” to “https”. The warning will include something along the lines of “Website Not Secure”. Here’s how to avoid it.
When you build a website with lots of different information, much of it could be missed or ignored if it's all grouped together in one big paragraph. Images are a very effective way of breaking up paragraphs of text and certainly add aesthetics to any web page, but sometimes certain pieces of information need to be given a stage of their own. Your DotGO Website Editor allows you to layout your pages in various formats by using the simple Table Editing facility.
Tables can be placed anywhere on your page within and around existing content. They also allow you to position text and images separately and independently. As you can see here, you can set a table to sit to the left or right of your main body of text. You can set both the width and height of the table to accommodate its content and to allow it to sit nicely with the rest of the content on the page. Special Offers are a common requirement on a website, so lets look at the various ways you can highlight this information.
A special offers area will grab attention in the top right of the page. Firstly, as the eye naturally goes to the right on first viewing a page, its going to stop people in their tracks to see what’s on offer. And lets face it, we all like a bargain so it would be very hard to ignore. It will highlight the products and prices easily and you can even set links to relevant shopping basket items or other pages to provide further information.
Being in a separate table will also make it very simple for you to keep this area updated, adding and changing products to keep visitors coming back to see what other bargains are to be had!
To set a Table top right of your page, on a page with existing content, place your cursor in
front of the first word of the first paragraph. Now click the Insert Table icon.
In the Table properties window:
* Select the number of rows you need x 2, dependant on the number of special offers you have then double it to allow a row between each. (Don’t forget you can always add more later)
* Select no more than 2 columns and ideally, the second column should only be used for prices or information of no more than 4/5 characters (it can’t be too wide otherwise it will dominate the page too much).
* Select a Border size – a fairly narrow border would be best for this purpose.
* Select “Right” for the Alignment.
* Next to Width – select 25 – 35 percent.
* Caption – Add a Caption, such as “Special Offers”
Click Add to Website.
At any time you can right click the table to; access Table Properties, add / delete rows, edit individual cells, cut, copy and paste. To add rows in specific places, right click from a particular row and select “Row” > Insert Row before or Insert Row after.
You could set an image in the top row to offer a visual idea of what products or services the special offers are for. If you’ve set the table with 2 columns, join the two top cells together by right clicking in the top left cell > Cell > Merge Right. This will remove the column line in the top row allowing you to centre align an image nicely.
Now enter the information for your first special offer, in a Font Size of Medium and remember to keep it short. Too much information will result in rows of text in each cell. You can link to shopping basket items, groups or product pages to provide your visitors with further information (see tutorial blog) but this table is only supposed to give the most important information: Name and Price.
The rows between each special offer are there to separate each one from the next and one of the best ways to do this is by setting them in a different colour. The rows holding the offer information are best left white, as they will then show up better against the coloured dividing rows. Pale colours work best, especially Pale Grey.
Right click in the first divider row and click: Cell > Cell Properties > Background Colour > Choose from the colour chart > Add to Website > Add to Website.
If you’ve set the table with 2 columns, join the two row cells together by right clicking in the left cell and go to: Cell > Merge Right. This will remove the column line and your chosen colour will run across the whole row. Do this to all your divider rows.
If you are going to create links from your special offers to your shopping basket or other pages (see tutorial blog), add an instructional line such as “Click for further details” underneath your image in the top row or just in the top row so customers know exactly what to do. To get this line immediately underneath the picture, place your cursor to the right of the image, and then hold down your shift (Arrow up) key while you click return. You could also add an extra line at the bottom of the table to explain how long the special offers will be available.
To add colour to all the lines on your table including the border, wait until you’ve finished then select the whole table with your mouse and go to Cell > Cell Properties > Border Colour > Choose from the colour chart > Add to Website > Add to Website. Play around with the colours and borders until you're happy. Now that you're a table expert, why not see where else a table could improve your page design.
Please remember, this article was first published 07/10/2009. The content may be out of date and you cannot post comments any more. Please check out our new blog.
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