8 Principles of Web Design: A Comprehensive Guide

The squeaky wheels get the grease and the prominent images attract attention. Consistency in website design matters a lot. Pay attention to combining the design elements on each of the pages. It can be understood that fonts, sizes, headings, subtitles and button styles must be the same throughout the website.

Finalize the correct fonts and colors for your texts, buttons, etc., and stick to them throughout development. CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) would be useful for keeping complete information about styles and design elements. Accessibility is crucial for developers and organizations that want to produce high-quality websites and online tools without preventing people from accessing their goods and services. These css tabs are a good example of implementing accessibility.

The visual hierarchy refers to the arrangement of components in ascending or descending order of importance. This is achieved through proportion, color, images, contrast, typography, white space, texture and style. A fundamental purpose of visual hierarchy is to provide a focal point; this tells visitors where the most important information is. Although text occupies most of the area of a website and reading is one of the main activities that people do online, typography is sometimes underestimated because of its influence on the overall performance of a website.

If your website dominates the fundamentals of typography, it will be well ahead of the competition. For starters, modern looking sans serif fonts without ornamental finishes, such as Arial, Helvetica and Verdana, are the easiest to read online. Alexander Sakhnenko's website is an outstanding example of a clean and simplified font design. The site uses a limited number of font types and colors, keeping the user's attention focused on the content.

Limit the color palette to no more than five shades. Color choices that are pleasing to the eye increase consumer engagement & make the user feel happy. You've probably heard of responsive design, since the concept has been around for some time. Responsive web design (RWD) is a method of web design that strives to provide the best possible viewing experience to site visitors on a wide variety of devices.

When creating responsive websites, use a proportional grid, flexibly sized images, or media queries via CSS. In today's environment, you should usually aim to design a responsive website. The number of mobile users accessing websites on their devices will continue to grow, so make sure your website is built on a platform that provides the best possible experience for each user on any screen size. Yes, but its wording frames this trend or natural rhythm as something exclusive or inherited from the Western world, and that is not true. There are designs from non-Western countries that follow the F pattern design that predate the concept of the West.

Personally, I try to write a code for accessibility, first approach. Users have become accustomed to sites working in a certain way. While a website can remain distinctive and original, navigation should always be logical, intuitive and fluid. An effective web design shows only as many pages as is really necessary. Don't think that the more pages you have, the longer they will browse your content.

Along with navigation, usability tops the list of items that deserve your full attention. Users want to go from one page to the next as easily and quickly as possible. Facilitate hyperlink recognition, search for tabs or contact forms. Effective web design goes beyond the mere visual beauty of it. From concept to creation, always keep purpose and user in sight.

If usability conflicts with your personal taste, choose wisely. Internet users are demanding and not indulgent. An effective website design must fulfill its intended function by conveying your particular message while at the same time engaging the visitor. Several factors such as consistency, colors, typography, images, simplicity and functionality contribute to good website design. Simplicity is key when you consider user experience and usability. Below are ways to achieve simplicity by designing: Color has power to communicate messages and evoke emotional responses.

Finding a color palette that fits your brand will allow you to influence behavior of your customers towards your brand. Keep color selection limited to less than 5 colors. Pleasant color combinations increase customer engagement and make user feel good. Typography has an important role to play on your website; it attracts attention and works like visual interpretation of brand's voice. Fonts must be legible and use only maximum 3 different fonts on website. Navigation is guidance system used on websites where visitors interact and find what they are looking for.

Website navigation is key to retaining visitors; if website navigation is confusing visitors will give up and find what they need somewhere else. Keeping navigation simple intuitive and consistent on every page is key. The visual hierarchy is arrangement of elements in order of importance; this is done by size color images contrast typography white space texture and style. One most important functions of visual hierarchy is establish focal point; this shows visitors where most important information located. An effective website has great design and great content; using engaging language excellent content can attract influence visitors by converting them into customers. Grids help structure design keep content organized; grid helps align elements page keep it clean. Grid-based design organizes content into rigid clean grid structure with columns sections that align feel balanced impose order result aesthetically pleasing website. Waiting for website load will lose visitors; nearly half web visitors expect site load 2 seconds less potentially leave site isn't loaded 3 seconds.

Optimizing image size help site load faster. The “one page one purpose” principle actually makes web design easier by removing options from your design toolkit. White space....

Gloria Foulke
Gloria Foulke

Wannabe twitter lover. Freelance social media maven. Friendly twitter nerd. Hipster-friendly zombie advocate. Avid zombie practitioner. Amateur baconaholic.