Design Tips
Easy-to-use Web sites don't just suddenly create
themselves over-night. You must focus on its potential users from the start,
and checking at each step of the development with its intended users to be sure
they will like and be comfortable with the final design.
Create a Clear Visual Hierarchy
Organize and prioritize the page contents by using
size, prominence and content relationships.
- Size: The more
important a headline is, the larger its font size should be. This is often
referred to at the H1. Big bold headlines help to grab the user's
attention as they scan the Web page for information.
- Prominence: The
more important the headline or content, the closer to the top of the page
it should be placed. The most important or popular content should always
be positioned prominently near the top of the page, so users can view it
without having to scroll too far down the web page.
- Content Relationships: Group similar content types by displaying the content in a similar visual style, or in a clearly defined area so users become familiar of what to look for.
Break Up Pages into Defined Areas
Recent studies have shown that Internet users decide
which part of a page are most likely to be of interest to them and ignore the
rest.
Experience tells us where advertising banners and
buttons are usually positioned on a Web page and we have learned to ignore
those parts of the page as though they do not exist.
It is not recommend to include hidden advertisements
with content. This may seem like a clever marketing ploy, and it does improve
click though rates however users will get frustrated if they constantly end up
on an advertiser's Web site, when they thought a link leads to more free
information.
Use Standard Conventions
It’s always best to try following standard
conventions. A convention that has been developed on the Internet over time is
having the navigation bar at the top or left side of the page.
It does make more sense to have the main navigational
hyperlinks on the right side of the page next to the scroll bar. This way, we
wouldn't have to play tennis with our mouse. However, somebody had the bright
idea of adding the main navigation links to the left side of the page and then other
Web site designers had an even brighter idea of copying it! If you tried to change
this convention by placing the main navigational links anywhere else, it could
easily confuse most users and look wrong.
Other standard Internet conventions include:
- Blue underlined
hyperlinks
- Breadcrumb trails
- Bottom of page
navigation text links
For more information on web design Melbourne
and online marketing, get in touch with Whiteblack Digital on 1300 559 971 or
info@whiteblackdigital.com.au.
