In this highly online world, your website design is the only thing that gives it an edge over other websites. Designing is like an apparel for your website, which if selected and worn rightly can help you become the show stopper of your industry.
So in this post, I will let you know some key elements to be considered while designing your website.
1. Keep layout simple and clean
Layout of web page should be simple and clean in structure. Ensure that you utilize the available space effectively. Keep whitespace to the minimum. Graphics and text should be visually well balanced and properly aligned on the page. Also ensure that width of the text is readable enough to convey required information.
2. Use effective typography for enhanced readability
Typography is about how well you make your text or type readable. While choosing the type, ensure that it best fits into your design and its theme. Use different typefaces, color contrast, size for text, as they facilitate visual hierarchy and prevents confusion. Pay attention towards proper use of punctuation marks, uniform text alignment and correct spacing between lines letters and characters.
3. Use clutter free designs reflecting your brand
Websites which are designed clearly are impressive, easy to read and understand. Moreover, designs correlating with brand’s objective prove to be of immense help in recognizing and branding your business. Always remember, you must design a website such that it reflects the quality of your company or product.
4. Use customer- centric color theme
Colors play an important role in setting mood of visitors. Each color symbolizes different emotions and elicit different responses. While designing your website, try color schemes as per your target customer, like vibrant colors if you are a cosmetic company or dull dark colors if your target customers are professionals or business owners.
5. Make navigation easy
People normally like clear, direct and easy paths. Develop a navigation system which makes movement of visitors from one place to another on your website a cakewalk. Show clearly where hyperlinks are and use contrasting colors for setting navigational bars apart from other content which facilitates easy access to required information. But try keep navigational bars to minimum.
6. Add a site map to the website
Site map is just like a table of content, the most helpful section of a book. Map acts as guide to your site. Do not forget to revise sitemap regularly.
7. Reduce site loading time with proper design
Use that design in your website that can make your website load faster like using CSS, avoiding nested tables, removing excess white space, keeping code clean, splitting long pages into multiple shorter pages, reducing number of plugins, reducing scripts, and removing unnecessary images.
8. Place call to action buttons effectively
While designing your site, add call to action buttons to direct the viewers to take an action like buy, know more, add to cart and such. These buttons should ideally be the largest buttons on a given page and should be made in contrasting colors to make them stand out and attract attention. They should have direct and simple language so as to easily convey as to what action the viewer is supposed to take.
9. Add Header and Footer for quick information access
Header is placed on top and Footer is placed at the bottom of the webpage. Design them to be informational and not cluttered. Provide links to all those important pages on your site that viewers or your potential customers would like to visit before making any enquiry or purchase.
10. Use uniform and simple coding
Use clear and accepted conventions- left to right and top to bottom. Tags should follow an order. Use standard and uniform file names for documents and follow SEO friendly coding pattern while designing your site.
I have tried to cover only the ten most basic points that one should take care of while designing his website. In case you need more details or have any feedback, please use the comments section below.
Source: ZNETLIVE