Good Web Design Guide - part 1

So, you got your brief, got the content and the ultimate programming skills BUT, without a decent design of a page, your viewers will be nauseated within seconds and without a shadow of a doubt, get themselves the hell out of there – that’s not the publicity any web designer is after I’m sure. Although, a site these days has to be perfection on the inside, there is nothing stopping you making what 99% of users are actually interested in, look good. In this tutorial, I will be showing you how to defeat those design demons and perhaps showing you a few bad examples on the way. So without further ado, I give you my design tips ‘n’ tricks.

1. Planning is essential

Before being faced with a blank html page, always plan. Open Fireworks, or Photoshop, and play about with layouts, colours and patterns. The key to most plans is to set out a definitive position of content, columns and most importantly menus, making sure that it are completely dummy proof. After all, you should be able to look at the home page of any site and figure out what the site is about within four seconds. If you can’t, your site has failed.

2. Navigation

One of the most annoying things on a website, which really (and I mean really) is annoying is the fact that when you enter a website, and once you clicked a link, *poof* the navigation has gone. A website (in theory) should be consistent and therefore you need a clearly laid out menu which is the same on every page. Navigations should be your friends, and even make them a main vocal point of a website.

Also please note that the navigations should be simple and not squashed up with 1001 links. This is another major predicament which many people fall into. In most cases people cram as many links as possible into what’s usually the smallest possible space and think that’s its easy to find. Wrong. People enjoy the internet with as little effort as possible and looking down a huge list isn’t easy. Set out with about 5 headings of categories which covers everything you want on the site now and anything you may want to add the future. Then simple place every topic on your site into one of the five. To navigate on the site, use a stylish dropdown or even flyouts. By keeping your main links together, your visitors can absorb them at one shot and know what your site conveys about your company.

3. The “Fontage”
Choice of words matters, but what matters even more is appearance of words on sites. However, fonts on the web are a major dilemma. You can only really rely on a petite selection of fonts which work on everyone’s screen. However in some ways, this save a lot of people everyday from their very own fontage disaster. As much as colour, layout and navigation are important, so is the font. Simple, clear-cut and pretty much undemanding fonts should be used because of the sheer fact that no-body enjoys trying to work out what the damn page actually says, never mind comprehending it. It’s similar to making a webpage out of teachers hand-writing…no one really can read what they’ve written so we just nod, smile and hit the back button before questions are asked.

Part 2 ... coming soon.