Web Design: 30 Ways to a Way Better Website
Web Design: 30 Ways to a Way Better Website
These days, virtually anyone with a mouse, a monitor, and a connection can create a website.
The main problem with new websites, however, is that a basic principal is often overlooked – the design.
Whether it's poor navigation, unreadable text, or dreadful graphics, a lot of developers forget that users need an enjoyable web experience if they want people to visit, and revisit, their site. Before web design becomes something of a long lost art, let’s review 30 ways to create your site so it’s more user-friendly, better constructed, and "easier on the eyes".
Planning Your Website.
Successful design is not only about appealing images – it’s about taking the right approach, and having the right attitude.
1. Purpose. Clearly define the purpose of your site. Do you want to educate people? Solicit business? Or simply make people laugh? The more you know about the purpose of your site, the easier it will be to design it.
2. Flexibility. Anticipate the possibility of your website growing or expanding in the future. Having the flexibility to accommodate things like add-ons, modifications, and/or improvements to your site will help you avoid problems down the road.
3. Industry. Put your website into context by learning as much about your industry as possible. Visit websites that are relevant to yours and/or have the same audience or business goals. Examine the styles they use to communicate with visitors and evaluate the website’s statistics using using alexa.com and compete.com to get a better idea what you’re up against.
4. Audience. Try to envision your audience. How old are they? What kinds of things do they enjoy? What would they be looking for in your website? A better understanding of your target audience will allow you to create a website that is tailored to their wants, needs, and interests.
5. Site map. Try to fit your website content into a logical and intuitive structure. A simple map of your website will help visitors find information quicker and easier.
6. Web Pages. Define the goals for each page of your website. Whether it’s to inform, educate, or drive a sale, each individual web page should have its own purpose and its own goal. Write down the aim, title, and description for each page and ensure it aligns with the overall purpose of the website.
7. Flow. Make a list of web pages that your visitors may go to when searching for similar types of information, and create links to your website wherever possible. This will help to make your website content more accessible to your audience.
8. Result. Determine the short-term and long-term goals for your site. This will help you to specify and track the efficiency of your website. In the meantime, monitor your website and ensure your web pages are fulfilling their preset tasks.
9. Documentation. Draw up a detailed plan for your website. It will help you to focus better on your website design.
Creating the prototype.
A prototype will help you avoid potential hidden reefs while developing the design of your site and allow you to correct the mistakes in advance. This can help you save time, money, and a lot of stress.
10. Experience. Get acquainted with the general practice of using webpage elements. For example, a logo is often used as a link to a homepage and is usually located in the top left corner. Integrate commonly used webpage practices like this so users can navigate your site with comfort and ease.
11. Sketches. Take a pencil and draw up what one of your web pages is going to look like. It’s important to clearly define a place for the menu, webpage contents, and images.
12. HTML version.Create HTML versions of your principal web pages based on the sketches you’ve created. Once you have the basic pages ready, it’ll be much easier for you to envision and develop the entire website.
13. Navigation. Identify the most important sections of your website and highlight them in the main menu. If necessary, you can create a submenu for every section of your website. Keep the navigation as easy as possible. A good rule of thumb is to make sure your visitor can navigate to any two pages on your site in three clicks or less.
14. Additions. Add the required elements to your HTML pages in order to:
* help your visitors achieve their goals;
* achieve your own website goals without distracting your visitors.
15. Unity. Group all the elements of your site according to their functions and meaning. This will help create consistency and unity between your web pages.
16. Analysis. Testing the web pages and putting yourself in the shoes of a visitor will help you anticipate problems with your site and allow you to correct them in advance.
Designing Your Website.
Remember that a successful design makes content more understandable and user-friendly. Design is the language of your website - it should be attractive, simple and understandable for everyone.
17. Consistency. Use the same formatting for all pages. A consistent look will make your website more user-friendly while also making site administration easier.
18. CSS. Create a cascading style sheet for your site. That way, you’ll be able to test various font styles and sizes and choose the one that suits your site the best.
19. Readability. Choose a combination of background and font colors that complement each other so as to make the text easy to read and scroll through.
20. Spacing. Proper spacing on your web pages – deciding where to place content and where not to place content –is very important for the design and readability of your site. Empty spaces can help visually split the text into fragments and make readability easier.
21. Graphics. Use graphical images only if necessary. Keep an appropriate balance between the file size (kb) and quality of the images to reduce the load time of your pages.
22. Significance. Make sure the most important content is displayed first on each web page. Highlighting the most important information will catch the user’s attention and help communicate the message faster.
23. Insignificance. Keep the content of secondary significance reduced to minimum. This will allow you to keep your website content clear and focus your visitor’s attention on the most important things.
24. Scenarios. Anticipate the behavior of people who will visit your site. You can adapt by letting some elements of your web pages change if you anticipate certain actions from a visitor. That will bring some life to your website
25. Resolution. Ensure your web pages are compliant with standard screen resolutions (800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024, etc.). Avoid using the horizontal scroll bar.
26. Fonts. Ensure that your design is equally suitable for larger and smaller fonts to accommodate those with vision impairment.
27. Validation. Check an HTML code of pages and CSS for the approved standards compliance at validator.w3.org. It will help you correct possible mistakes appearing while using various browsers.
28. Opinions. Ask people to test your site and give their feedback. Remember, a successful website is one which communicates effectively with its visitors..
29. Optimization. Ask yourself if your site’s efficiency optimizes the content effectively. Optimizing your site will make things a lot better in the long-run.
30. SEO. No matter how well your site is designed, you still need to make sure people can find it. Ensure your site is easy crawable by search engines.
Have you enjoyed this article? Give us some love link.
Oh, and don't forget to bookmark this page!
Web Design 30 Ways to a Way Better Website - To learn more about this author, visit Max Entin's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
Did you know over 45,000 new websites are created each hour? That’s a lot of surfing.
These days, virtually anyone with a mouse, a monitor, and a connection can create a website.
The main problem with new websites, however, is that a basic principal is often overlooked – the design.
Whether it's poor navigation, unreadable text, or dreadful graphics, a lot of developers forget that users need an enjoyable web experience if they want people to visit, and revisit, their site. Before web design becomes something of a long lost art, let’s review 30 ways to create your site so it’s more user-friendly, better constructed, and "easier on the eyes".
Planning Your Website.
Successful design is not only about appealing images – it’s about taking the right approach, and having the right attitude.
1. Purpose. Clearly define the purpose of your site. Do you want to educate people? Solicit business? Or simply make people laugh? The more you know about the purpose of your site, the easier it will be to design it.
2. Flexibility. Anticipate the possibility of your website growing or expanding in the future. Having the flexibility to accommodate things like add-ons, modifications, and/or improvements to your site will help you avoid problems down the road.
3. Industry. Put your website into context by learning as much about your industry as possible. Visit websites that are relevant to yours and/or have the same audience or business goals. Examine the styles they use to communicate with visitors and evaluate the website’s statistics using using alexa.com and compete.com to get a better idea what you’re up against.
4. Audience. Try to envision your audience. How old are they? What kinds of things do they enjoy? What would they be looking for in your website? A better understanding of your target audience will allow you to create a website that is tailored to their wants, needs, and interests.
5. Site map. Try to fit your website content into a logical and intuitive structure. A simple map of your website will help visitors find information quicker and easier.
6. Web Pages. Define the goals for each page of your website. Whether it’s to inform, educate, or drive a sale, each individual web page should have its own purpose and its own goal. Write down the aim, title, and description for each page and ensure it aligns with the overall purpose of the website.
7. Flow. Make a list of web pages that your visitors may go to when searching for similar types of information, and create links to your website wherever possible. This will help to make your website content more accessible to your audience.
8. Result. Determine the short-term and long-term goals for your site. This will help you to specify and track the efficiency of your website. In the meantime, monitor your website and ensure your web pages are fulfilling their preset tasks.
9. Documentation. Draw up a detailed plan for your website. It will help you to focus better on your website design.
Creating the prototype.
A prototype will help you avoid potential hidden reefs while developing the design of your site and allow you to correct the mistakes in advance. This can help you save time, money, and a lot of stress.
10. Experience. Get acquainted with the general practice of using webpage elements. For example, a logo is often used as a link to a homepage and is usually located in the top left corner. Integrate commonly used webpage practices like this so users can navigate your site with comfort and ease.
11. Sketches. Take a pencil and draw up what one of your web pages is going to look like. It’s important to clearly define a place for the menu, webpage contents, and images.
12. HTML version.Create HTML versions of your principal web pages based on the sketches you’ve created. Once you have the basic pages ready, it’ll be much easier for you to envision and develop the entire website.
13. Navigation. Identify the most important sections of your website and highlight them in the main menu. If necessary, you can create a submenu for every section of your website. Keep the navigation as easy as possible. A good rule of thumb is to make sure your visitor can navigate to any two pages on your site in three clicks or less.
14. Additions. Add the required elements to your HTML pages in order to:
* help your visitors achieve their goals;
* achieve your own website goals without distracting your visitors.
15. Unity. Group all the elements of your site according to their functions and meaning. This will help create consistency and unity between your web pages.
16. Analysis. Testing the web pages and putting yourself in the shoes of a visitor will help you anticipate problems with your site and allow you to correct them in advance.
Designing Your Website.
Remember that a successful design makes content more understandable and user-friendly. Design is the language of your website - it should be attractive, simple and understandable for everyone.
17. Consistency. Use the same formatting for all pages. A consistent look will make your website more user-friendly while also making site administration easier.
18. CSS. Create a cascading style sheet for your site. That way, you’ll be able to test various font styles and sizes and choose the one that suits your site the best.
19. Readability. Choose a combination of background and font colors that complement each other so as to make the text easy to read and scroll through.
20. Spacing. Proper spacing on your web pages – deciding where to place content and where not to place content –is very important for the design and readability of your site. Empty spaces can help visually split the text into fragments and make readability easier.
21. Graphics. Use graphical images only if necessary. Keep an appropriate balance between the file size (kb) and quality of the images to reduce the load time of your pages.
22. Significance. Make sure the most important content is displayed first on each web page. Highlighting the most important information will catch the user’s attention and help communicate the message faster.
23. Insignificance. Keep the content of secondary significance reduced to minimum. This will allow you to keep your website content clear and focus your visitor’s attention on the most important things.
24. Scenarios. Anticipate the behavior of people who will visit your site. You can adapt by letting some elements of your web pages change if you anticipate certain actions from a visitor. That will bring some life to your website
25. Resolution. Ensure your web pages are compliant with standard screen resolutions (800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024, etc.). Avoid using the horizontal scroll bar.
26. Fonts. Ensure that your design is equally suitable for larger and smaller fonts to accommodate those with vision impairment.
27. Validation. Check an HTML code of pages and CSS for the approved standards compliance at validator.w3.org. It will help you correct possible mistakes appearing while using various browsers.
28. Opinions. Ask people to test your site and give their feedback. Remember, a successful website is one which communicates effectively with its visitors..
29. Optimization. Ask yourself if your site’s efficiency optimizes the content effectively. Optimizing your site will make things a lot better in the long-run.
30. SEO. No matter how well your site is designed, you still need to make sure people can find it. Ensure your site is easy crawable by search engines.
Have you enjoyed this article? Give us some love link.
Oh, and don't forget to bookmark this page!
Web Design 30 Ways to a Way Better Website - To learn more about this author, visit Max Entin's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
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Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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Jay Kubassek(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek) In five years, Canadian-born entrepreneur Jay Kubassek went from selling mufflers at a Midas franchise to revolutionizing Internet marketing with the 2004 launch of CarbonCopyPRO, a online marketing education company, now worth over $20 million with customers in over 160 countries.
As an independent film producer, his upstart film fund Aliquot Films is currently producing a films with Spike Lee and Abel Fererra (starring Ethan Hawke and Dennis Hopper.)
Jay's entrepreneurial spirit is irrepressible. He’s the owner of five companies, a professional speaker and trainer, international real estate developer/investor, extreme sport enthusiast and emerging philanthropist. Jay resides in NYC with his wife Jamie, son Milo and dog Cooper. Visit Jay's official website: www.JayKubassek.com - Visit Jay Kubassek's Website |
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