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What Makes a Website Design a Good One?
A lot of people can recognize good design when they see it on the
web. But most people don't really know what makes that design good.
How do you define "good design?" Is it subjective, like your
favorite flavor of ice cream? Although there is some subjectivity
within good design, there are artistic principles that good design
is built from. Here are a few that form the foundation of good
design.
1. Proximity
Because items that are in close proximity to one another become one
visual unit, items that are related to one another should be grouped
together. Laying out related items on a website page this way helps
the eye associate the information and enables the viewer to mentally
categorize the information easily. The flip side of this principle
is that items that are not related should not be placed in close
proximity to one another.
The purpose of the principle of proximity is to organize information
in a way that enables viewers to quickly and easily comprehend. When
information is organized, people are more likely to read it and
respond. People are also more likely to remember information that is
organized.
How can you determine if items form a visual unit? Squint your eyes
and look at the page on a website. Now count the number of times
your eye stops as it views the page. On a page that is using the
principle of proximity well, your eye will stop three to five times.
In other words, there will be three to five groups of information
for the eye to comprehend separately.
2. Alignment
You've seen website page layouts where the text and graphics are
placed wherever there happens to be space. The effect is messy, with
no impact. Nothing should be placed on a page arbitrarily. There
should be a visual connection between each item and something other
item on the page. When items are aligned, it creates a cohesiveness
that the eye appreciates.
The purpose of alignment is to unify the website page. Imagine a
well-organized kitchen. All the pots and pans are stored in the
organizer, the fruit is nicely displayed in a basket on the counter,
the spices are all on the rack-everything is in its place. A page
layout needs the same thing.
Look at a website page that you feel is good design. Now focus on
the main visual element. Where does your eye go from there? Do you
see how other elements are aligned with that one main element both
vertically and horizontally?
3. Repetition
Good design repeats some aspect of the website design throughout the
site. It's this repetition that makes all the pages in a site look
like they belong together. Color scheme, graphic elements,
typefaces-all of these elements should be repeated-used
consistently-throughout.
The purpose of repetition is to create consistency and to add visual
interest. Repetition creates a professional, polished look that the
eye is drawn to. When a website design uses repetition and is
consistent, it is more likely to be viewed and read.
Here are some was you can create repetition beyond simple
consistency in typefaces and colors: Use some element in your logo
as a major graphic element in the design. If you are using a ruled
line, make the line more interesting visually by perhaps making it
with tiny dots or dashes, then repeating the line element throughout
the design. Create patterns that are repeated throughout the design.
Take a small element and place it somewhere on each page for a
whimsical look. Just be careful not to overdo the repetition, or
viewers will be annoyed rather than pleased.
4. Contrast
The principle of contrast states that if two items are not the same,
then they should be different-very different. Contrast creates an
organizational hierarchy of the information and graphics on a
webpage. When using contrast, you can't be a wimp! The contrast must
be strong to be effective.
The purpose of contrast is two-fold: to create interest on the page,
and to organize information. A page that is interesting to look at
is more likely to be read. And contrasting elements will help a
reader understand the way the information is organized.
Contrast can be created in many ways. You can contrast large type
with small type, a serif font with a sans-serif font, bold with
light, smooth texture with rough texture, a small graphic with a
large one, a dark color with a light one.
A design that integrates these principles will automatically gain a
professionalism and polish that it would otherwise lack. Next time
you stumble across a website design that makes you say "wow", cheek
for these principles-you'll find them quietly working to make that
design a good one!
Navigation And Intra-Linking
Your navigation menu and internal links should be prominently
placed, easy to see, and easy to follow for the spiders. It is good
practice to include a text link from the home page to a compliant
sitemap on your site, alleviating any potential problems that might
arise from broken links or the use of graphical or flash based
navigation menus. You can also consider adding links into the main
body of your content, although too many will make the page difficult
to read and therefore diminish the overall effectiveness so don't
get too carried away.
Title And Meta Tags
While search engines do not specifically use the meta tags to help
assess the value of a page like they once did, meta tags are still
critical to good SEO performance. The title and description tags
that you add at the top of a page are used in various ways including
in the compiling and display of Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs).
This is the first thing a potential site visitor will see from your
site so this mini listing needs to be as effective as any paid
advert or PPC ad. Poorly written titles and descriptions can put
many readers off viewing your pages so a little time and effort here
can have a very positive effect.
Using your keywords in the title and the description is good
practice because these will be highlighted in the search results if
they were used in the search query itself. This will make your
result more prominent and instantly identify your page as being
relevant to the user. Don't needlessly use keywords, however, and
don't throw extra keywords into the description at the cost of a
well written, short ad.
Other Formatting Tags
On-page content should always be written with the visitor in mind,
although obviously it can still be optimized for search engines. As
such, proper page structure is important to your reader as well as
to the engines. H1 and H2 tags are an effective way of breaking up
page content, and give readers the chance to skim through a page and
determine its relevance.
A page should only contain a single H1 tag at the top of the content
but can include multiple H2 and H3 tags. Alt tags on images should
also be included and these as well as the actual file path to the
image itself can include important keywords (but do make sure that
they actually make sense and are more than just a keyword thrown in
for the sake of SEO).
Page Content Optimization
Finally, we get to the heart of the page - the content itself. Use
the keywords you researched for a page including semantically
related keywords. Write as naturally and appealingly as possible
while keeping those keywords in mind and don't get carried away
stuffing or cramming them into the body of the text. Not only is
this unappealing to readers but is seriously frowned upon by the
search engines.
The reader really is the most important aspect of your content. If
the majority of your visitors are coming from the search engines
remember that they arrived using specific keywords. This means that
they are searching for equally specific information relating to
those keywords - make sure you deliver on the promise that you made
in your title and description tags. |
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