Kleinburg Brewery
- design
- / web
Including images on your website is a no-brainer. We are visual beings, and need to look at something visually appealing to peak our interests. But when it comes to websites, sometimes certain images can actually hamper the site.
Here are 5 mistakes you should never make when it comes to your website’s images.
Distorting the Images
If you’re trying to make a certain image fit perfectly on your webpage, don’t distort it through stretching and scaling it inadequately. You need to make sure that the images you include on your website are scaled at a 1:1 ratio, both vertically and horizontally. Fiddle with this number and you’ll wind up with an image that looks strange at best.
Using Art That’s Already Been Used a Lot
Many website developers tend to look to photograph sites like iStockPhoto.com or ThinkStock.com to grab photos from to include on their websites. While these are fabulous sources for professional images, you need to be careful not to use images that have already been used thousands of times on other websites. In addition, don’t use photos that are far too generic, as this will only compromise the feel and won’t create the visual that you want your users to see and connect to.
Try working with images that you’re allowed to edit (when using stock photos, make sure you’re allowed to do this, which will be specified under the restrictions). Or else, consider taking your own photos or hiring a photographer to do it for you.
Not Using the Crop Tool
Images that are far too big can make a webpage take forever to load. Not only that, but these images may not even fit properly on your screen. This is where the cropping tool comes into the picture.
This handy tool allows you to crop your image to the precise size you want so that it fits your webpage perfectly. Cropping is also helpful in helping to focus in on what you want your users to see in the image.
Neglecting Thumbnails
Many times web developers will include thumbnails, then totally forget about them. The problem with this is that they need to be updated every so often, especially when making any changes to a website.
Another big no-no is using a poor quality image for thumbnails that can only get as big as the thumbnail size itself. Don’t bother with bad images, even if it’s just for a thumbnail.
Uploading Massive Image Files
Full-size images can look amazing and impressive. But when it comes to websites, these can be nothing more than a nuisance. The bigger the image file, the slower the webpage will load. And slow load times = lost visitors.
No one is going to want to sit around and wait for a webpage to load when they can access another site that comes up within a fraction of a second. Make sure you identify what the ideal dimensions that common images should be for your specific website before posting them.
The Bottom Line
Choosing the right image for your website and tweaking them appropriately are important decisions during the design process. Make sure to do your homework, and take your time with images. After all, it’s these images that will draw your users in after they’ve landed on your site, so you want them to be perfect.