When you start your own website, you're confronted with so many choices: colors, fonts, how to lay out your pages, what to put on each page, etc. It can be overwhelming! The good news is that
there are a lot of shortcuts to help you get going, so you don't have to start from an entirely blank page.
Here are some of our best hacks to save you time on setting up pages, choosing colors and fonts, finding photographs, and more.
1. Choose a template quickly
Templates are important, but you don't have to wade through all 40+ to find one that will work for you.If you’re having trouble deciding, you might start with these tried-and-tested options that
are pretty much guaranteed to look good with your website.
Our three most popular templates, Zurich, Berlin and Rio, are the
people’s choice for good reason. Zurich has a large header for a wide photo and a flexible design, perfect for portfolios and multilingual websites. Berlin’s large background image and easy-to-use navigation menu has made it a quick customer favorite. And If you
really want to show off a prominent logo, then Rio is for you. These dynamic templates can work beautifully for your website whether you are setting up a small business, portfolio, or blog!
Pro Tip: Did you know that all updated
Jimdo templates are now “responsive” which means they look great on any device. Make sure you have the latest version by updating to a new template, so you can enjoy our new
features. If your template is named after a city, like “Miami,” then it’s one of our new templates!
2. Use Suggested Layouts to create pages
When you create a new page on your website, you get a blank space to play around with. But if all that empty space is a little intimidating, we’ve got a shortcut for you that will give you a
guide to work with: Suggested Layouts.
Our designers created these pre-made pages to be well-organized and user-friendly. All you need to do is replace the default content with your own. You can then take out what you’re not
interested in, or add some extras. So you can still be creative and customize your pages without starting from scratch!
3. Save time by copying pages
You wouldn’t re-structure your whole CV for a different job, so why do the same for your website pages? If you’ve built a
page that you like and you want to use that same structure somewhere else, JimdoPro and JimdoBusiness customers can make a copy of that page and then replace the content. This saves you time and
gives your website a more consistent feel as the page structure stays the same. Simple, smart and easy!
To copy a page, open your Edit Navigation
menu and click on the small “copy” icon next to the page you want to duplicate. Our Support Center has step-by-step instructions.
Pro Tip: Use a similar shortcut to also copy your blog posts then just
change the content.
4. Find a ready-made color palette
When you open the Style Editor, there is a rainbow of colors to choose from. But what if you're not sure where to start? Fortunately, there are quite a
few tools out there that recommend color combinations guaranteed to look good.
ColorHunt and DesignSeeds provide some amazing, ready-to-go color palettes to choose from. Or, if you already have a specific color or image that you want to use, you can
upload it to a tool like Pictaculous or Adobe Color CC and they will give you ideas of colors to match.
The general rule is to stick to two or three colors to make up your color scheme. Once you have your colors, this
tutorial will walk you through how to get an exact match on your website.
Pro Tip: For color matching inspiration check out our #MatchMonday posts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
5. Use beautiful, free stock images
You know photos are important for your website, but maybe your camera is a bit dusty, or just don’t have the time to get that perfect shot. With the vast amount of free high quality images available on the internet there is no
reason you can’t have spectacular photographs on your website.
These are just a few of the options out there that provide you with beautiful stock photos:
Unsplash: Display all their latest high-resolution photos on their homepage,
so you can get inspired from the get-go!
Death to the Stock Photo: If you are looking for a more
artsy feel, this is your perfect choice.
Pixabay: With over 730,000 free stock photos, art illustrations, and more, this
is a great pick.
If you have no clue how to start out, our quick guide will teach you the basics of choosing stock photos.
Pro Tip: Large images can slow down your website. Use the free tools TinyPNG or TinyJPG
6. Get help with font combinations
It's great that you can use any Google Web Font on your website, but then you see that endless list of 800+ fonts and it's really hard to choose!
In general fancy fonts should only be used for titles or small amounts of text, as they can be strenuous on the eye and hard to read. A clearer, more modern “sans serif” font will work best for
the main body of text.
Still confused? Fortunately there's a lot of people who spend a lot of time thinking about font combinations so that you don't have to—and they post about their recommendations here.
Fontpair: has a pretty good list of font pair recommendations, sorted by type.
Even better, you can type in your text to see how each font combo will look.
25x52 Initiative: This ongoing project
offers beautiful font inspiration with passages from Aesop’s Fables set in different Google font combinations.
Type.io: Type.io is like a museum of beautiful websites curated from around the web, with
information on the fonts used in each. You can sort their library to only show you examples of Google web fonts. See one you like, then use it on your own website!
Pro Tip: Follow Jimdo’s #FontFriday on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
for some fontspiration.
7. Ready-to-go icons
Marilyn Monroe, Amy Winehouse—icons are an inescapable part of our society. They play an important role on websites too, as decoration and to help guide users. For example, no matter what
language your website is in, people understand what that shopping cart icon means.
Fortunately you don't have to design your own icons to use them on your website. There are lots of sites that
provide free, professionally drawn icons that you just need to download and then add to your own website as a Photo Element.
Pro Tip: Flaticon lets you change the icon color so you can match it to your website’s color scheme!
8. Get ideas from other Jimdo websites
Still having problems getting started? In our everyday life we are inspired by the trends around us—whether it’s jumpsuits, man buns or beard oil. The same can apply to websites.
If you want some visual inspiration, you can browse these amazing examples of portfolios,
small business websites and online stores to see the endless possibilities for your Jimdo website! Each one lists the template that they are using, so you can try to recreate the same look
yourself. Alternatively, you can browse these stories for some real-life examples of users who made their website a success.
Pro Tip: If you’re looking for some bitesize inspiration, we post regular tips to improve your website on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
Shortcuts get us to the place we want to be faster, so there is no shame in using them to get your website up and running with the look that you want. Over time as you play around with the
different elements and gain more experience, you can start experimenting with your own twist on colors/fonts/designs/photos, etc. Maybe your website will be the next to appear on the Examples page!
Do you have any other shortcuts that you would like to share with us? Let us know in the comments section!
Tara Santiago
Content Editor
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