Web design is the planning and creation of a website. It is also part of the process of web development.
Web designers use images, texts, digital media, and other interactive elements to design a website. They also use HTML and CSS for structure and presentation. JavaScript is also used to add interactivity to develop pages that can be read by people.
Visuals
Pictures do not need to be big. The bigger the picture is, the longer it will take for your website to load. If an internet user waits too long, they will eventually give up and look for another website. The suggested size for a picture is usually 10-12 KB.
Do not use flashing or blinking images, for instance, animation. Studies show that it is distracting to people and their attention ends up being diverted to the animation instead of to the information.
Layout
Stick to the standard layout, which is the three-column layout, especially if you want to create a website to inform people. Some websites have several columns on their page, around 6 to 8, and it drives people crazy. You don’t want to drive people away from your website. Make sure to also have a table of contents on one side of your website, so your readers won’t have the inconvenience of having to scroll down a long time to find what they are looking for. It might look like a boring layout, but at least you’ll have more traffic coming to your website.
When you layout pictures, make sure that you arrange them properly, so your site will look neat and attractive at the same time. An example would be wrapping text around the picture.
Fonts
For headlines or banners, you can use a fancy font, as long as it is readable. For bodies of text, it is best to use “normal” font like Times New Roman, or Sans-serif.
Limit the number of fonts on your website. It would look amateurish to constantly change the font on your site. Stick to two or three fonts at the most. It will make your website look more professional.
Advertising
If you have any control over the advertisements on your site, do not be too greedy. Readers go to your website for the information; not for the ads.
You can have a few advertisements; maybe just three would be okay. Treat them just like pictures. Keep them small, and simple, not big and/or flashing.
Here Are Some Other Tips:
- Test your pages in multiple browsers and operating systems. For example, your website may work or look presentable in Google Chrome, but it won’t look as good in Internet Explorer. Or your site may look good in browsers on Windows, but may not be the same as browsers on Mac computers.
- Write content that you think your readers want to see. Of course, you want to bring people to your website, so writing about what they want is crucial. You can’t just have the “what you see is what you get” attitude. You are making money from having a website, so you do need the traffic.
- Put a little color on your website too. It will look very plain if you will just keep it simple – black and white or maybe just one color. There is a saying that a colorful life is better, so why not put a little life into your site? Just don’t make it look like the rainbow, because then that will be a little too over the top. Just two or three colors would suffice.