We've all seen them. Poorly designed web sites that make you cringe as soon as they load. But how do you keep your website from becoming, well, ugh. You could hire a professional web designer, and that's expensive, or maybe you already hired a professional, or someone who claims to be professional, and you don't like what they're doing with your site. It all comes down to the K.I.S.S. principle; keep it simple stupid. And you're probably asking well what does this really mean for web design.
Here are some basic graphic design/web design principles that you can use on your site:
1. Background, be careful what color you use for the background of your site. Yes I know that you're trying to get noticed, but really they've already decided to look at your page so why does it have to be orange? Seriously though, consider how long you want people to be on your site, half an hour, one hour, more? Whatever the time chose your background color and then sit in front of your computer and stare at it, for awhile. Is the color easy to look at? Difficult? Does it make your eyes water? Does it make you calm? If you can look at the color for about fifteen minutes without a problem you're okay.
2. Text, related to the above be careful what text color you use. Follow the rules above for determining a text color. It should be easy to read, and look at.
3. Font, no more that three fonts on the entire website. I mean that! A big mistake that I see a lot of times is the use of more than three different fonts, it get's hard to read no matter how neat you think it looks.
4. Font size, no more that three font sizes either. Now I don't mean three font sizes for each of the three fonts you've chosen. I mean no more than three fonts with a total of three sizes throughout the entire site, and if you can get by with less even better. It will simplify your site.
5. Scrolling, this is a big one literally. I've been on too many sites where I had to scroll down so far that my computer beeped at me. This is really important on your main page. Keep it very sparse, generally any information that someone has to scroll more than one full page down for will not be read.
This is only a start of course but it's a start and it is on these issues that I see so many problems. Always remember that simplicity is best.
Copyright 2004 Kelly Paal
About The Author
Kelly Paal is a Freelance Nature and Landscape Photographer, exhibiting nationally and internationally. Recently she started her own business Kelly Paal Photography (www.kellypaalphotography.com). She has an educational background in photography, business, and commercial art. She enjoys applying graphic design and photography principles to her web design.
Whenever singer John Mayer sings his romantic song, "Your Body... Read More
CSS is a new option for website designers that have... Read More
CSS or Cascading Style Sheets has opened up tremendous possibilities... Read More
Want to see an excellently constructed website? As a writer... Read More
One of the most frequent questions I get asked about... Read More
Over the course of the last decade, the Internet has... Read More
Whether you are planning on having a website built for... Read More
Whether a business has just got off the ground or... Read More
Designing your own successful web page can seem difficult and... Read More
The trend today to overuse animation in a website's opening... Read More
I often wonder how serious people are when it comes... Read More
New Web sites are springing up online by the millions.... Read More
So you're on the computer, as usual. Your eyes are... Read More
ASP.NET is a new programming framework from Microsoft for developing... Read More
The solution lies in creating a 'Database driven website', through... Read More
Dear web site visitor.I can't tell you how glad I... Read More
In today's world, a web site is virtually mandatory for... Read More
There is a widespread confusion among lots of new website... Read More
You've likely heard of the movie, Jerry Maguire, with its... Read More
You have only 10 seconds to impress your potential buyer.... Read More
Effective navigation stands out. It's clear, obvious, and highly visible.You'll... Read More
Regardless whether you manage a small business, charitable organization, or... Read More
1. Who needs an artists website?Not everyone! If you are... Read More
There are two important reasons to build your website from... Read More
Website design is a very competitive area and there is... Read More
A client asked me, at what point do you change... Read More
We all want high impact graphics for our Web sites... Read More
Every now and then, I receive a link exchange request... Read More
There are several very good reasons why you should consider... Read More
Here's a really simple way... any novice can create a... Read More
Content is king. Without content your website is an empty... Read More
Many people hire professional web site designers for as much... Read More
Squeeze pages are a very hot topic in the internet... Read More
CSS or Cascading Style Sheets has opened up tremendous possibilities... Read More
I'm not a professional web site designer and openly admit... Read More
The Basics You have a flourishing business ? everything is... Read More
An attractive and user-friendly Web site is crucial to attracting... Read More
These days, it seems that everyone has a website. Unfortunately,... Read More
There are many companies who build websites, all of which... Read More
Questions to ask when designing a Web Site for your... Read More
A long, long time ago? In a galaxy far, far... Read More
Choosing the right typeface for your website copy is important,... Read More
Internet Explorer, created by microsoft has been the most popular... Read More
Congratulations! You've got a brand new site and it's doing... Read More
If your website is falling through the cracks, the chances... Read More
Novice and professional designers alike ? you may probably be... Read More
I hate to imagine that in your web development project... Read More
We have all seen websites showcasing their testimonials either spread... Read More
With so many different configurations internet users have their computers... Read More
As search engine marketers, we spend an enormous amount of... Read More
Web Design |