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1st Golden Design
rule: Your web site should be easy to read
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The most important rule in
web design is that your web site should be easy
to read. What does this mean? You should choose
your text and background colours very carefully.
You don't want to use backgrounds that obscure
your text or use colours that are hard to read.
Dark-coloured text on a light-coloured background
is easier to read than light-coloured text on a
dark-coloured background.
You also don't want to set your text size too
small (hard to read) or too large (it will
appear to shout at your visitors). All
capitalized letters give the appearance of
shouting at your visitors.
Keep the alignment of your main text to the
left, not centred. Center-aligned text is best
used in headlines. You want your visitors to be
comfortable with what they are reading, and most
text (in the West) is left aligned.
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2nd Golden Design rule: Your web site should be easy to navigate |
All of your hyperlinks should
be clear to your visitors. Graphic images, such
as buttons or tabs, should be clearly labelled
and easy to read. Your web graphic designer
should select the colours, backgrounds, textures,
and special effects on your web graphics very
carefully. It is more important that your
navigational buttons and tabs be easy to read
and understand than to have "flashy" effects.
Link colours in your text should be familiar to
your visitor (blue text usually indicates an
unvisited link and purple or maroon text usually
indicates a visited link), if possible. If you
elect not to use the default colours, your text
links should be emphasized in some other way
(boldfaced, a larger font size, set between
small vertical lines, or a combination of
these). Text links should be unique -- they
should not look the same as any other text in
your web pages. You do not want people clicking
on your headings because they think the headings
are links.
Your visitors should be able to find what they
are looking for in your site within three
clicks. If not, they are very likely to click
off your site as quickly as they clicked on.
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3rd Golden Design rule: Your web site
should be easy to find |
How are your visitors finding
you online? The myth, "If I build a web site,
they will come," is still a commonly held belief
among companies and organizations new to the
Internet. People will not come to your web site
unless you promote your site both online and
offline.
Web sites are promoted online via search
engines, directories, award sites, banner
advertising, electronic magazines (e-zines) and
links from other web sites. If you are not
familiar with any of these online terms, then it
is best that you have your site promoted by an
online marketing professional.
Web sites are promoted offline via the
conventional advertising methods: print ads,
radio, television, brochures, word-of-mouth,
etc. Once you have created a web site, all of
your company's printed materials including
business cards, letterhead, envelopes, invoices,
etc. should have your URL printed on them.
Not only should your web site be easy to find,
but your contact information should be easy to
find. People like to know that there is a person
at the other end of a web site who can help them
in the event that:
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- they need answers to questions which are
not readily available on your web site;
- some element on your site is not working
and end users need to be able to tell you
about it, and
- directory editors need you to modify
parts of your site to be sure that your site
is placed in the most relevant category.
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4th Golden Design rule: Your web page
layout and design should be consistent
throughout the site |
Just as in any document formatted on a word processor or as in any brochure,
newsletter, or newspaper formatted in a desktop publishing program, all graphic
images and elements, typefaces, headings, and footers should remain consistent
throughout your web site. Consistency and coherence in any document, whether it
be a report or a set of web pages, project a professional image.
For example, if you use a drop shadow as a special effect in your bullet points,
you should use drop shadows in all of your bullets. Link-colours should be
consistent throughout your web pages. Typefaces and background colours, too,
should remain the same throughout your site.
Colour-coded web pages, in particular, need this consistency. Typefaces,
alignment in the main text and the headings, background effects, and the special
effects on graphics should remain the same. Only the colours should change.
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5th Golden Design rule: Your web site should be quick to download |
Studies have indicated that visitors will quickly lose interest in your web site
if the majority of a page does not download within 15 seconds. (Artists' pages
should have a warning at the top of their pages.) Even web sites that are
marketed to high-end users need to consider download times. Sometimes, getting
to web site such as Microsoft or Sun Microsystems is so difficult and time
consuming that visitors will often try to access the sites during non-working
hours from their homes. If your business does not have good brand name
recognition, it is best to keep your download time as short as possible.
A good application of this rule is adding animation to your site. Sure,
animation looks "cool" and does initially catch your eye, but animation graphics
tend to be large files. Test the download time of your pages first. If the
download time of your page is relatively short and the addition of animation
does not unreasonably increase the download time of your page, then and ONLY
then should animation be a consideration.
Finally, before you consider the personal preferences of your web page design,
you should consider all of the above rules FIRST and adapt your personal
preferences accordingly. The attitude "I don't like how it looks" should always
be secondary to your web site's function. Which is more important: creative
expression/corporate image or running a successful business?
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Do you want a website or do you want a website design and marketing service to make you money,
and get you noticed? Read our article on profitable website design and marketing and what we will do for you!
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EPNET build Profitable Websites |
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For further information contact Gordon Barker Internet Strategist co.za design4 |
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