Quick and Simple Tips for Great Website Design
When it comes to website design, there are far too many important things to mention in just one article. Some people go to school for a very long time to master the art of website design and others still spend years upon years honing their craft. However, there are some basics you can learn about designing quality websites that will help you in designing your own or if you are working with a professional to build your website.
First, you need to understand that there are different sections of website design. It’s not all about making it look pretty. Graphics are actually only one part of the entire package. You also need to have a good layout, proper placement of the content, functionality and more.
So let’s take a look at some quick and simple tips for great web design that keep these points in mind:
Smaller graphics: larger images take a longer time to load which slows your pages. Focus on optimizing your images to about 10-12KB each.
Relevant graphics: You should also make sure you use relevant graphics on your website. Just because something is “cute” or “funny” doesn’t mean it has a place on your site, at least in the permanent design. Maybe you can use it in a future blog post?
Avoid flashy graphics: Things that move, flash or spin are highly discouraged. You really don’t need to look like the Vegas strip to get your reader’s attention and many studies have shown that these things are distracting and can cause a user to click away from your site instead.
Use a standard layout: Keep your layout simple and standard. It may be fun to build the cutesy stuff but it’s going to throw your readers off and overall hurt the website. Keep it simple.
Browser test your site: Make sure you test the site in all the common and popular browsers. You want the site to be friendly to the users who will come to it, not just the ones who use the same browser as you.
Use graphics in your layouts: Remember to implement graphics into the layout and overall design of your site and don’t forget the whitespace, too. All of this needs to come together seamlessly to give the overall professional look you need to the site.
Limit the number of fonts: Too many fonts will make your site look amateur. There should be limited fonts, typically from the same font family and make sure it’s easy to read online, like the San-Serif font family.
Don’t get crazy with the ads: While advertising might be important to your profit, don’t let them overtake the site or might not get any visitors at all. Ads should not eat up the design on the site. You should treat them like graphics and they should be smaller and complementary to the site overall.
Blend content with graphics: While graphics are important, it’s the content that really makes the site. Your job as a designer is to make sure the graphics blend well with the content that is on the site so they each complement one another and give you a great site overall.
Again, these are just a few quick tips for designing a great website. There are many more factors that go into building and designing websites but with these simple tips on par, you know you’re headed in the right direction.
Do you have any web design tips to add?
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