10 Best Practices for Exceptional Website Design
normally, when you think about a website, the first thing that comes to your mind is the information. However, information only makes up half of what it takes for a great website design. The other half is visual appeal and whether or not the site’s design will engage users. If you want to create a website that is engaging and attractive, use these 10 best practices for exceptional web design.
1. Get rid of pop-ups
It’s been said before and it will be said again: pop-ups are simply annoying. They get in the way of many things such as reading the entire article, following a link, or doing anything at all. You’ve had this experience, right? Pop-ups are mainly used for advertisements and some websites integrate them well while others don’t.
However, regardless of where you find pop-ups, they should be eliminated from your website. It’s not that the advertising is annoying, it’s just that you really can’t put too much faith in them. When it comes to advertising, what you see isn’t always what you get – so don’t rely on pop-ups for advertisements.
2. Have enough white space
This is one of the most important elements in web design because it gives your site room to breathe. White space breaks up large blocks of text and allows users to visually take a break when they need to. Too much text on a page without any white space will not only look cluttered but will also be difficult for users to read.
3. Keep it simple
The internet is many things (a source of information, and entertainment hub) but one thing it isn’t is simple. Websites are designed with many different people in mind and so this means that if you want to successfully attract readers, your web design needs to be simple. While you can care about the details of your web design it’s important not to overdo it or else users won’t be able to focus on any one thing.
4. Make good use of images
People like images. Images can say a lot about what you’re writing and the message that you’re trying to convey. That’s why images are one of the best tools in web design because they’ve been known to boost reader participation and time spent on a page by as much as 50%.
5. Make navigation clear and easy
People should be able to navigate around your website with ease. It shouldn’t be difficult to find what you’re looking for or where you want to go next. Your site’s navigation should be clear, flawless, and simple in design.
6. Incorporate links back to your homepage
Just because users are browsing around on your website doesn’t mean that they don’t want to know about your site as a whole. It’s important to include links back to the homepage on every page of your website so that users can easily find their way around if they choose. There’s nothing more frustrating than not being able to find where you want without wasting too much time.
7. Keep design simple and easy-to-use
It doesn’t matter how great your website looks if it is not usable. Don’t sacrifice function for aesthetics, but remember to have a good-looking website that’s also easy to use. This way you can keep users engaged and coming back for more. If they find a website difficult to navigate or they find the design too complicated, chances are high that they’ll just leave.
8. Use a minimum of graphics
Graphics are great but they can also become distracting if you’re not careful. If you don’t want your website to look busy or cluttered. Try minimizing how much you use graphics and stick with a more streamlined design. This will allow users to focus on the content of the page rather than the layout.
9. Use white space to add emphasis
White space is a great design tool that speeds up the reading process and allows users to focus more on the content of your website rather than its design. It can also be used to emphasize certain elements in order to draw attention to key points in articles and other pieces of writing.
10 Don’t overdo it with colors
While the choice of colors may seem like a small detail when it comes to web design. Having too many or clashing colors can cause confusion. Keep in mind that when designing your website you’ll want to use colors that work well together and are easy on the eyes. So don’t be tempted by bright ‘web 2.0’ colors because chances are you’ll just end up losing readers.
11. Don’t go overboard with graphics
Like we said earlier, using too many graphics can cause clutter and this will make your website hard to read. It might be tempting to use a lot of images and colorful icons but if you do, it’s important to keep the overall design small and to use your graphics sparingly.
12. Make sure that links are clearly identified
Just like links need to be easily visible within the body of articles, they also need to stand out when it comes to images. You can do this by making images active or linking them so that users know where each link will take them. This makes clicking on images more reliable and helps the user understand what’s going on.
13. Keep your target audience in mind
It’s easy to get caught up with all of the fancy bells and whistles of website design but it’s important to remember that you’re designing for your readers first. Remember, if the page isn’t readable then it’s not going to be used. So design for the user rather than the search engine, unless you’re designing for SEO purposes of course.
14. Create a clean layout that’s easy-to-read
If your website has multiple pages then it’s important that they are clearly marked and organized in order to make it easier for users to find their way around. Having a simple color-coded system of pages is an easy way to keep your website organized and easy for users to read. Plus, if they find the page difficult to navigate they’ll head back to your homepage which will then give you more traffic.
15. Create templates that can be easily edited
It’s important that every page on your website looks the same, minus the content of the course. Try using templates that can be easily edited and then just adding in relevant articles and pictures. If each page is too different from one another it will confuse users and they’ll spend more time looking for what they want than actually reading your articles.
Why You Need Professionals To Create Websites For You
With the above 15 and 5 tips in mind, it might be tempting to just go ahead and design your site yourself. However, this isn’t the best approach to take. Instead of taking on a task that you’re not qualified for, why not let website creation professionals take care of everything? This way you’ll save time and money as well as get the perfect website that meets your needs.
All you need to do is hire a professional and they’ll handle everything, from designing the site to set up hosting and email accounts for you. This way you can sit back and relax while your new team works hard in creating the website of your dreams.
Conclusion
As you can see, creating a website doesn’t need to be hard. So why not hire professionals and get the perfect site without all of the hassles, for an affordable price? This way you’ll save time and money while also getting the perfect website that’s easy to read and looks great too. Plus, if you’re having any troubles or problems you can always contact your team for help.
You will have to work with the professionals in order to get the website that works for your preferences and needs, but this shouldn’t be a problem. Most of these professionals will provide a free consultation so that you’ll feel comfortable working with them and they’ll also give you plenty of options for the site that you want.