WEBEXPEDITION18 Never Stop The Exploring

Web designing is not just creating a site with colorful images. You need to follow various rules and use tools for designing a website to attract target traffic. Using free web site templates has simplified the process of web designing. It is important for a web designer to utilize these options for developing smartly designed sites. Here are top principles that should be followed by a web designer while designing a website.

Use of graphics

Make sure to optimize the graphics used for designing a website. Try using only .jpg and .gif file format. Minimize size of image files and use thumbnail view for gallery. These are some good practices of using graphics in web designing that also helps in decreasing page loading time. Clicking on thumbnails should lead the user to enlarged image. Using ALT attributes for all images is desirable.

Spaces are vital

Use of space between lines, between words and in the page layout helps in creating a balanced view. Space between the lines of content makes it easier to read or scan it quickly. While too little space cramps the view, using too much space gives a vacant look. Line spacing can be controlled at comfortable level with line-height selector of CSS.
Padding is referred to the space between text and other elements like images. It is necessary for creating a comfortable view. It ensures that the text portions don’t get overlapped with other elements. White space or empty spaces have a special place in designing. They can be used for balancing contrast and creating an elegant look.

Smooth navigation

Visitors should be able to find out desired information very quickly. This can be done when the site has a well planned architecture for site navigation. The buttons for navigation should be clearly visible and well described. The links or buttons should clearly state where it is leading. The visitors should be able to locate their location on a website while navigating through several sections and sub-sections. This can be done by using bread crumb trails or linking each page with the homepage.

Drawing attention

Drawing attention of the visitors and guiding them towards definite navigational links or content is crucial for success of a site. While navigating a site, visitors should be led around the screen by site designer. This may be done by planning a sequence of steps where the visitor is attracted by an image or text and clicks through to move to a desired page or destination.

Drawing attention of visitors can be done by positioning of the link or using contrasting colors. Using a different font or larger image may do the trick. Think of using designing elements like a big arrow or colorful banner.

Optimizing for search engines

Most visitors of a site are routed through the SERP (search engine result pages) of major search engines. As such, it is necessary to ensure that a site designed with care figures prominently in SERP.
Creating a sitemap helps the search engine robots in locating and indexing content from your site in SERP (search engine result pages). Write short and smart page titles to entice major search engines. Using appropriate keywords in the content guides the search engines. However, overusing them may be penalized.
Try to use the keywords in Meta tag, page title and body of the text for getting the best result. From SEO perspective, minimizing use of Flash and JavaScript and maximizing use of text is helpful.

Typography

Selecting appropriate fonts for the content is crucial part of web designing. Different types of fonts have different stories to tell. You can create a modern or retro look by using different fonts. Try maintaining a consistent font size that is large enough for smooth reading. Make sure that the headings and sub headings stand out clearly. This may be done by using a different font color or different font sizes.

Establishing a brand

It is very important to make your website a bit different. This makes a visitor curious about the site. Creating a logo that reflects objectives, adding an apt tagline that reflects purpose of the site is helpful. Creating a “favicon” helps in getting noticed and building first impression about a site. Favicon is the cute little graphic appearing next to URL in the address bar. Sections like “About us” or “Contact us” should be displayed properly on the homepage so that a visitor can easily access them.

Browser friendly

Ensure that the site is compliant with commonly used browsers. Abiding by standards of W3C helps in crafting browser friendly websites. It is desirable to craft a site that supports latest versions of browsers.

Make it light

Light pages are easy to download. Images, text and codes add up as total weight of the page. Size of a webpage should be preferably within 25K-64K and focus should be more on functionalities than images.

Test it

Follow TETO (test often test early). Regular debugging of a site and testing functionality is crucial for maintaining quality and standard. Testing is considered crucial to website design, since it can solve problems that a designer may not have predicted while designing the site.

Authored by Roxanne Peterson

The above article is composed and edited by Roxanne P. She is associated with many technology and designing communities as their freelance writer and adviser. In her free time she writes articles related to technology, business logo design , etc.