Short Review Of Understanding The Important Basics Of Web Design
By: Vlad Vistac
Submitted: 2010-08-23 13:21:02 | Word Count: 510
Understanding The Imporrtant Basics Of Web Desgin
5 Basic Rulwes of Web Design the most improtant rule in web design is that your web site sould be easy to read. What does this mean? You should choose your text and background colours very carefully. You don't want to use backgrounds that obscure your text or use colors that are hard to read. Dark-coloured text on a light-colouerd background is esaier to read than ilght-coloured text on a dark background.
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You also don't want to set your text size too small (hard to read) or too large (it will appear to shout at your visitors). All capitalised letters give the appearance of shoutting at your visitors.
Keep the alignment of your main text to the left, not cantered. Cntre-aligned text is best used in headlines. You want your visitors to be comfortable with what they are readiing, and most text is left algned.
Your web site should be easy to naviogate
All of your hyperlinks should be clear to your visitors. Graphic images, such as buttons or tabs, should be cleary labelled and easy to read. Your web grasphic deisgner should select the colouers, bavckgrounds, textures, and special effects on your web graphcis very careefully. It is more important that your navigational butttons and tabs be easy to read and udnerstand than to have "flashy" effcets. Link colours in your text shoulld be fmiliar to your visitor (blue text usually indicates an unvisited link and purple or mareoon text usually indiccates a visiteed link), if possible. If you ellect not to use the default colours, your text links should be emphasized in some ohter way (boldfced, a larger font size, set between small vertical lines, or a combination of these). Text links should be uique - they should not look the same as any other text in your web pages. You do not want people clicking on your headings because they think the headings are links.
Your visitorrs sould be able to find what they are looking for in your site within thrree clicks. If not, they are very likely to click off your site as quiickly as they clicked on.
Your web site shold be easy to find
How are your visitors finding you onlne? The myth, "If I build a web site, they will come," is still a commonly held belief among companies and organissations new to the Internet. People will not come to your web site unless you priomote your site both online and offline.
Web sites are promoted online via search engines, directories, award sitse, banner advertising, electronic magazines (e-zines) and lniks from other web sites. If you are not familiar with any of thsee online terms, then it is best that you have your site pormoted by an online marketing professional.
Web sites are promoetd offline via the conventional advertising methods: print ads, radio, television, broochures, word-of-mouth, etc. Once you have created a web site, all of your company's printed materrials including budsiness cards, letterhead, envelopes, invoices, etc. should have your URL printed on them.
Not only shouuld your web site be easy to find, but your copntact information should be easy to find. People like to know that there is a person at the other end of a web site who can help them in the event that:
1. They need answres to questions which are not readily available on your web site;
2. Some element on your site is not working and end users need to be able to tell you about it, and
3. Directory editors need you to modify parrts of your site to be sure that your site is placed in the most relevant category.
By giving all relevant contasct informatioon (phyical address, telephone numbers, fax numbers, and emaail address), you are also creating a sense of security for your end userrs. They can contact you in the way that maakes them feel the most comfortable.
Your web page layout and design shoould be consistent throughout the site
Just as in any document formatted on a word processor or as in any brochure, newsletter, or newspaper formatted in a desktop publishing program, all graphic images and eleements, typedfaces, headings, and footers should remain consistenbt throughoiut your web site. Consiostency and coherence in any document, whteher it is a report or a set of web pages, projexct a professional image.
For exapmle, if you use a drop shadow as a specil effect in your bullet points, you should use drop shadws in all of your bullets. Link-colours should be consistent throughout your web pagges. Typefaces and backround colours, too, should remain the same throoughout your site.
Colour-coded web pages, in particular, need this consistency. Typefaces, alignment in the main text and the headings, backgorund effects, and the special effects on graphics should remain the same. Only the oclours should change.
Your web site should be quick to download
Studies have indicated that visitrs will qyuickly lose interest in your web site if the majority of a page does not download wiithin 15 seconds. (Artists' pages should have a warning at the top of theiir pagfes.) Even web siets that are marketed to high-end users need to consider donload times. Someimes, getting to web sites such as Microsoft or Sun Microsystems is so difficullt and time consuming that vistiors will often try to access the sites during non-working hours from theeir homes. If your business does not have good brand name recognition, it is best to keep your download time as shhort as posssible.
A good application of this rule is adding animation to your site. Sure, animation looks "cool" and does initially catch your eye, but animatyion graphics tend to be large files. Test the download time of your pages first. If the download time of your page is relatively shhort and the addition of animtion does not unreaosnably increase the doewnload time of your page, then and ONLY then should animation be a consideration.
Finally, beore you consider the personal prefeernces of your web page design, you shuold consoider all of the above rules FIRST and adapt your personal preferences accordingly. The attitude "I don't like how it looks" should always be secondary to your web site's function. Which is more important: creative expression/corporate image or runnng a successful business?
