Web Site Design Basics

It might seem like the best web site design is the most challenging and demanding, but—while it does take some care, some more time, and some attention to how the search engines find you and how the web users will stick with you for longer than 5 seconds—a few web site design basics are suggested by the web gurus: Web Site Design Does Not Mean Lots of Flashy, Twirly Things You are doing a web site design for the web users, not for yourself. That is, while you may love lots of graphics, take great delight in things that spin and make noise and flash, and feel an urgent need to advertise your site with banners and brochures…people searching for you are searching for valuable, useful information. So instead of dominating your pages with high-tech java, flash animation, and gigantic photographs, write content-specific, relevant informational articles for your site. Web Site Design Doesn’t Need to be Boring, Either In the same respect, a wall of words is also a turn-off for users, especially elder users and people with specific challenges. It is suggested by web site design pros to have one dominant element—one relevant photo, for example—that catches your audience’s attention and impels people to read the text, which should be broken into manageable chunks with headers and sub-headers that also catch the eye as it moves

down the page. Color Quality and Color Combinations are Important in Good Web Site Design Billions of dollars are spent on the study of how color and color combos impact and impel buyers—not just online, but in print, video/TV, and other media advertising, as well. If you can afford it, hire a color consultant to let you in on the current color trends; the color preferences according to gender, race, and age; and the effectiveness of color combining and contrasting. It does matter. There is obviously much more to web site design than the three points named here, so go to the web gurus online; study and model your site after theirs—without directly copying content, of course.