subject: 3 Basic Web Design Principles [print this page] There are so many options available these days when you want to design your website that it can be confusing. It can also be too easy to forget basic web design principles, which in turn may stop you achieving your objectives with your website.
So what are these principles?
1. Stay focused.
Start with your end goal in mind. What is the focus of your website? What do you want it to achieve for your business? Write this down and use it as a regular reminder when you go through the design process.
It is too easy to get distracted by the latest widget that can make your website sing and dance, but is that really what your visitors are going to be looking for? Probably not!
Think about the market you are operating in, and go visit some other sites in that market. What features do you like? What features make you want to click away? This simple exercise will help you to avoid overloading your own site with gizmos and gadgets that will turn your visitors away.
2. Draw your overall design before you build your first page.
You need to think about your site from a user perspective. Give it a consistent look and feel throughout and make the pages clear and concise. You should also think about future expansion plans you may have and build this into your design plan. Also, make sure you have your own domain name - don't cheapen your efforts by using a free hosting service.
Think about your site in tiers, with your Home Page being the top tier, your section summary pages being the middle tier, and your individual content pages being the bottom tier. As a rule of thumb, don't make someone click more than three times to find your content - would you search so hard?
Have clear navigation menus and links throughout your site and provide your contact details in clear view for visitors to contact you if they need to. If you are selling a product on your site, make sure you let your visitors know how to buy it and what to expect at each stage of the purchasing process.
3. Develop your content strategy.
How many times have you heard that content is king? If you think about why you surf the Internet just now, it's most likely that you are looking for some form of information or specific product, i.e. content. Think about the sites you visit - what is it that makes you go there?
Think about how easy it is to find that content, and also what other parts of the site you may click on when you're there? These sites have already been at this stage and most likely have tested user experiences to redesign their site to increase revenue, so learn from their experiences.
Having completed this simple exercise, you need to decide what your content strategy is for your site. How are you going to make people want to come to your site and then spend time there after they've arrived? And how are you going to generate revenue from these visitors? You should also think about how you are going to keep your site fresh and updated so that people want to come back.
Using these principles when you design your website will help you to avoid expensive and time-consuming redesigns in the future.
