There are various aspects of active web design, which include the layout, UI, and more. With that said, below are ten tips that are important when creating any web layout which is also too important in terms of your website SEO.
Simplicity
With web design, less is more. You don’t want to clutter your page, and you want it to be simple. You don’t want too much text because a lot of people are impatient, and if it’s too much to read, then chances are they will move unless it’s something they need. So, if they are browsing your site, and comparing it with other sites they are looking at, too much text and clutter can cause them to look somewhere else. Therefore, keep it simple, you want the most important aspects of your site to be displayed above the fold, and you don’t want to overload people who are visiting your website.
Consistency
You always want to stay consistent across your entire website with design elements such as typography, fonts, font sizes and styles, and colors. Even the content on your site should be consistent across all of your pages. Furthermore, the kind of images and the style of your images should also remain consistent as your building various pages across your site.
Readability
Readability is essential since people will need to be able to read the text on your website. This includes contrast. Generally, you will see a lot of issues with contrast on someone’s portfolio website. For example, they will have a background image with the text over it. You want some document overlay over the image and then have the text over that which allows the text to be seen clearly.
The same goes for having a colored background. You don’t want to have a dark grey background with slightly lighter over it. You want your text to be clear if your background is going to be dark; that way, it has good contrast. Other factors that play into readability is your spacing, line-height, the font size, and you don’t want too much text since that takes away from your readability.
Responsiveness or Mobile compatibility
There is no excuse in 2019 or beyond for your website or your mobile application to not be viewable on mobile devices. It may not be perfect, but you shouldn’t have the text go off the page. If you use CSS grids with media queries, it’s relatively simple to make your site mobile compatible. You have resources such as bootstrap that are known for being responsive and mobile-first.
Navigation
Navigation is extremely important since that is how people move around your site and find different things they need. Top navigation bars for the main navigation is a great technique to use and then utilize a sidebar for other categories if you have a blog or a content website.
Have a Purpose
Every website should have a purpose. It doesn’t matter what the niche is; there needs to be a purpose to your site. Even if it’s a small business brochure type of website and there’s not a lot of functionality, the purpose should still be to convey your services or products. You should also always have a contact page because you need a way for your customers to get in touch with you if they want to buy your services or products, which brings us to our next topic.
Call to Action
It’s essential to have a clear call to action. Typically, you want the call to action to be above the fold, meaning that when they go to the site, the call to action is right there in their face. It could be a contact form, an email, sign up form, registration form, or a purchase button. Regardless of the purpose of your website, your call to action should be visible to the visitor when they first reach your site.
Color Palette
Some may think that color isn’t an important aspect of their site, but in reality, it’s very important. In many cases, you’re going to have specific branding colors. Therefore, if you’re doing a site for a business, they probably have colors already, so you will have to use those colors. However, keep in mind, any other colors you may choose, will need to go along with the branding colors. A three colored palette is a great option to start with, such as medium blue, and then a slightly lighter blue, and then another color that goes well with your first two. You also don’t want colors that are fluorescent or too gradient. It can make your website look old-fashioned and from the ’90s.
Load Speed
You always want your site to load fast. As mentioned above, people can be very impatient, and they are not going to wait very long for your website to load. Therefore, you need to ensure sure that your site is optimized. A big factor that can slow down your site is images or videos. For example, if you upload a 5000 resolution image and you don’t compress it, it will take a long time to load.
Minimal Advertisements
Although you can make money using advertisements and having sponsors, and there’s no problem with that. However, you don’t want to overdo it. If a potential customer goes to your website and sees ads everywhere, it can be a deterrent for someone. Too many ads can give off the impression that your site may be unprofessional and that it lacks quality.
In Summary
After reading these ten tips on website design, hopefully, they helped you out. Remember these tips next time you’re creating a layout or a custom design. TOLS is one of the best web design companies in orlando. So, when you’re looking for web design services, don’t hesitate to contact us today.
