Website design is increasingly gaining attention from businesses and individuals. A well-designed website not only enhances the interaction between a business and its customers but also helps “close deals” and improves business effectiveness.
Simplicity is beauty. Cramming too much into each page creates confusion. Visitors become frustrated when they have to scan through rows of links and images to find what they are looking for. By keeping your pages simple, your website will be more user-friendly.
Design is supreme. When you meet someone for the first time, you want to make a good first impression. The same is true for your website. The overall interface of your website is the first thing your visitors will notice.
Navigation must be intuitive. There are few things more frustrating than not being able to find what you want on a website. Pages need to be well-organized with a top-down design so visitors can easily browse through the different sections of your website.
Consistency is key. Visitors should not feel like they are visiting a new website every time they open a new page on your site. Consistent design across the pages on your website makes navigation much easier.
Color is very important. Color choices can make or break a website. Most of us have visited websites that are simply painful to look at. When choosing colors, use a suitable color palette that is easy on the eyes and ensure strong contrast between text and background.
Make your website responsive. People will access your website using various devices – from smartphones to desktop computers. Therefore, it is important that your website displays correctly across different screen sizes. CSS media queries are a great way to implement responsive web design.
Develop for multiple browsers. Browsers are supposed to display web pages the same way, but they don’t. Therefore, make sure to check your website in multiple browsers to ensure everything appears correctly. It is best to catch issues beforehand rather than rely on complaints from your visitors.
Proofread your website. As any experienced editor will tell you, a great work can be marred by a small error. If you are a webmaster, regularly check your website for spelling mistakes, broken links, and images that do not load properly.
Write your own code. Whether it is HTML or PHP, nothing beats writing your own code from scratch. If you build your website from templates and pre-written scripts, you will not avoid issues when things go wrong. When you write the code for your own pages, you have full control over how they look and behave.
Don’t forget content. Even if your website is beautifully designed, it is an empty shell without content. A good website has both great design and great content. Therefore, make sure your pages have unique, original content that makes them worth visiting.
