The Basics of Good Web Design

The Basics of Good Web Design

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  1. What exactly is Web Design?

    The intent of Web design is to create a collection of Web pages which are delivered via the Internet to visitors interested in the specific topic a Website covers.  Good Web design utilizes a variety of HTML, XHTML and XML tags to build pages full of relevant, informative text, graphics, multi-media and various other scripts to enhance viewing for visitors to the site. 

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    Principles of Web Design

    The principles of Web design are the same principles as those used in print. The end-goal of good Web design is to optimize the Website’s space to allow for the utmost usability for future visitors to the site.

    As a Web designer it is your duty to manage the layout of the Website, select the appropriate font types, sizes and colors and create an overall look and feel that gets your point across in a way that is not only appealing to your visitors, but user friendly and easy to navigate.

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    How to Determine the Best Design for Your Website

    While the basic principles of web design are generally accepted, the topic of your site as well as your future goals for the site should ultimately be used to determine what type of design would work best for your Website.

    When selecting the various aspects of your Website design, there are many factors you should consider.  Here are some basic guidelines to follow when determining what type of design is right for you…

    • Your design should match the topic of your Website as well as the content you publish on it.  If you own a food Website it’s certainly not a good idea to fill your pages with images, videos, and advertisements suitable for a dog training Website.
    • The home page should have that wow factor. It’s the first page your visitors see when visiting your site and first impressions are everything to an Internet surfer. If they don’t like the home page, they’ll click the back button and be out of your site before they even got to the meat of your site.
    • The home page should be free of unnecessary pop-ups, flashing banners or advertisements and introduce your visitors to what your site is all about. If they are bombarded with pop-ups and flashy ads before they find what they are looking for, they are less likely to stick around and look for what it is they really came for.
    • Your content should be easy to follow and free of spelling and grammatical errors. Let your personality show through, but not so much that it hampers readability.  If the content is informative, beneficial to your visitors, and easy to read and understand, visitors are more likely to stay and check out more of your site.
    • Break your paragraphs up into 2-3 sentences each to make reading it easier on your visitors. Breaking your content up into short readable chunks makes it easy for them to see what the page is about and to find what they are looking for.
    • Use bold keywords and text throughout your pages to highlight the important parts for visitors who do more scanning than reading. This way you’ll not only capture the attention of the readers, but that of the individuals who merely scan through a page to find what they’re after as well.
    • The site navigation should be clear and easy to read, so your visitors can make their way through the site without confusion.
    • Select colors that match the topic and content of your site. Don’t use anything too flashy or in your face. If your content is hard to read and the colors of your site are hard on the eyes, you could very well lose some otherwise satisfied visitors.
    • Bigger is not always better. Using loads of oversized images just to fill space will make your pages load slower, and the slower they load, the more time your visitors have to click the back button before they ever even see your page.
    • Use Cascading Style Sheets to style the elements of your design that will be used throughout your site. For instance, font color, font size, your header image, your overall color scheme and anything else that will be used site-wide or many times throughout your site should be added to your Cascading Style Sheet for easy maintenance in the future.

    Whether you are a seasoned professional or a complete beginner in the world of Web design, the above mentioned guidelines will help to keep you on the right track when selecting the various aspects of your design. Keep them in mind throughout the process and you’re sure to come out with a design that works to the benefit of your site and your visitors.

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