Good Web Design

When you try to do too much with a web site, it ends up looking like “a dog’s breakfast” … distinctly unpalatable!

So put these tips into action for a web site that really works.

1. A consistent layout style, fonts, colour ranges and navigation method help bond a site together. Consistency from page to page is not boring, it’s user-friendly.
2. Build for speed. Audiences are less patient than ever before.
3. Develop a hierarchy on the page. Put the most important information in the hot spot of the page, which is just above the centre of the page. Titles and subtitles should be treated differently to provide a visual hierarchy to guide the reader’s eyes.
4. Limit the use of graphics. Use photos with impact.
5. Fonts: instruct your web developer to use sans serif fonts, and to limit the number of different fonts employed. Use a font that most computers will have (such as Times).
6. Text size: too big is as bad as unreadably small.
7. Colour and contrast are critical (See separate article).
8. Where possible, do not make the viewer scroll down too far.
9. Visitors to the site should not have to click more than three times to get to the information they are after. A site map can fast-track this process.
10. Good navigation is easy and intuitive.
11. Avoid clip art.
12. Always identify where the person is on the site.
13. Use white space. A crammed page is daunting and hard to read. A professional will know where the white space works best to aid reading and comprehension.
14. Test pages using different browsers.
15. Embedded music is loved by a few, hated by many.
16. Use a professional designer.