February 2007
5 Key Reasons to Redesign With CSS
Many small business owners have a hard time seeing the necessity of a website redesign. The typical belief is, "If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it". And this is understandable. Unless you are constantly staying up to date with the moving target of Internet business and technology, you're not likely to know intuitively if your site needs a redesign.
As a small business owner, you may be concerned about the up-front costs of a website redesign. But once you understand how a redesign can potentially help drive more traffic to your site, convert more users and even save money, you'll feel more positive about making the investment in your business for the long term.
First we will start with a bit of the background on Tables vs. Standards Compliant CSS.
Old Web Design Standards - Table-Based HTML
Not long ago, fax machines were the best way to deliver business documents fast. As with all technologies however, this has been replaced for the most part by email and desktop scanners. Fax machines still hold their place in the business world, however their use has been dramatically lessened as the ease of other technologies have quickly come into place.
Tables-based HTML websites are very much like the fax machine. At one time tables were the best way to structure and build sites on the web. But similar to faded ink and smeared documents, tables left something to be desired. The clean, professional and creative layouts seen today are created with a combination of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and XHTML.
New Web Design Standards - Cascading Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets separate the presentation elements of a website (code) from its content (words). CSS allows web designers and developers to format the layout and style (fonts, spacing, text size, colors and so on) of multiple Web pages using one file. Once this file is created, then it drastically speeds up the process of maintaining and updating your website since the CSS can be linked to multiple pages in a website. There is less room for error, and the website maintains a professional consistency.
Now it is clear to see why web designers and developers benefit from the use of CSS, but it is equally important to see how you as a business owner can benefit even more.
1. Branding and Aesthetics
Consumer behavior experts tell us that, presented with many similar product or service options, and little prior knowledge and experience with these brands or companies, consumers will rely on mental shortcuts to make purchase decisions. The way your website looks compared to your competitors has a large influence on how a visitor perceives your company's professionalism and goodwill. If your website looks modern, crisp and clean, you leave a positive impression on your visitors about your company.
2. Better Usability
CSS also reduces the amount of HTML code a website requires. Tables and extra tags for fonts and colors cause pages to load slowly. The longer it takes for your page to load, the more likely a visitor will hit the back button. Even though the majority of people use a broadband connection, many are still using dialup. And others may be using a high speed wireless network which, depending on how many others are sharing the same wireless channel, may experience fast or slow connections.
3. Accessibility
Rapid advances in wireless communications have made it easy to surf the 'Net using PDA's and cell phones. Tabular page layouts simply don't display properly on small screens. A business that wants to be accessible to anyone, anywhere now and in the future needs to have a website that can be viewed on mobile devices. With CSS you can be sure that your site is staying up to date with all of the new technologies and options people now have to view web sites.
CSS design also greatly improves the user experience for the visually impaired, as they cause fewer problems for screen readers and Braille programs.
4. Search Engine Benefits
It has been estimated that up to 80% of all purchases online begin with a search engine. And an entire industry is dedicated to helping businesses rank highly for specific search terms to take advantage of the power of search engines.
Although the relevance of a webpage to a search term is determined by HTML elements like title tags and heading tags, content is still "king" because visitors are looking for content, not code. When you have a high code-to-content ratio, your keyword density (the relative frequency of your targeted keywords on your page) is diluted by HTML instructions for how tables, fonts, styles and colors should be rendered. With CSS, there are no tables, and formatting information is contained in one style sheet. So search engines see more keywords and less code.
Search engines are more and are more likely to index deeper pages of your site and send you more referral traffic.
5. Bandwidth
Cascading Style Sheets can save you money and increase the number of eyeballs that see your page in other ways. "Bandwidth" refers to how much website traffic your hosting company will allow you to have each month. Because every time a user lands on your site, he or she must load your pages in his or her browser. Not only visitors, but search engine spiders consume bandwidth too. The more code your pages have, the more bandwidth you use.
If you exceed your bandwidth usage, your site will be suspended until you buy more bandwidth or reach end of the month. Suppose your site receives a sudden surge of traffic shortly after a popular magazine features your company. That would be the worst possible time for your website to go offline! CSS makes for a more efficient use of bandwidth, and reduces the chances of such problems.
So Are Tables Completely Useless?
Absolutely not. Tables are necessary to display tabular data and there is no better way to format this type of information than with tables. The beauty about CSS is that you still can use tables when it is proper to do so, but you don't need to use tables for everything which significantly reduces your "code load."
How Do I Know If I'm Already Using CSS?
A quick test to see if your site is using CSS is to load your website in your browser (any page will do). Right click anywhere in the window, and a menu box will appear. Click "View Page Source." You should see keywords like rel="stylesheet" or type="text/css" near the top of the window that pops up to view your source code.
If you're already using CSS, there may be other ways your business could benefit from a website redesign. Driving traffic, improving the customer experience, making your website more accessible to users and saving time and money on webmaster updates make it well worth the investment. Whether you choose to redesign now or in the future, make sure that your web designer and developer are skilled in CSS.
We hope you found this tip useful! To read more Tools and Tips to help your business grow and succeed online click here.
Best Wishes!
Your santex-net team