Basic Guidelines for Web Design
by: Brian Lee
Designing a good website isnt as easy and simple as one might think. To design an exceptional site, there are a few guidelines that should be followed. These tips will not guarantee a successful website but it will provide you with how to develop and maintain admirable web site.
Navigation
To start off, having proper navigation is essential to a good website. Having a straightforward and logical navigation system will help users keep control and enjoy surfing through your site.
If the user keeps getting lost or if the links keep bringing him every which way then theres a problem. If one decides to apply a navigation bar on their website, it is mandatory that it be place at the same location on each webpage.
Generally, the navigation bar is placed across the top or on the left margin. The most frustrating thing for any user is being unable to find what they are searching for when they are positive that your website has what they want.
Your website must ensure that all visitors will be able to locate what their looking for in a quick, easy and straightforward manner without trouble.
Under Construction sites
Before I go any further, for those who are thinking about submitting an under construction site, DONT. If your website isnt ready to be launched on the web yet, then just dont.
After users visit your site and see the under construction signs, chances are they wont come back but will instead go visit your competitors.
Details
Secondly, having detail in ones site is crucial. From poor page layout, grammar to spelling errors, these are all point one should be careful with when designing their web site. The smallest mistake in detail can cost you a viewer since it will give your web page a bad image.
Information & Content
Having information, in other words proper content, is also quite important. Building a site with informative, detailed and original content will help your visitors and will also aid your search engine rankings.
If your website is one that sells products or services, having well structured, informative information will definitely be useful. Because content is so important, updating that information regularly is a good idea.
The ability to retrieve correct, valuable and up to date information is what makes the internet so popular. Updates for your website can vary from current world news, new offered products and services to new icon, graphic buttons, page layout and structure. Having an up to date website will show visitors that it is indeed a respectable and fully functional site.
The Contact Us Link
To continue, no matter if your website sells products and services or not, having a visible and easy to find Contact Us link is helpful.
Your website should give a option for all visitors to ask questions or to ask for more information about your website. When designing the Contact Us form or any other form on your site, keep it as short as possible.
People do not enjoy answering a long list of questions. Chances are they will get annoy or bored and check out other websites. So if possible, try and use small forms or in some cases, multiple page forms.
Consistency
Finally, consistency is a key factor in creating a professional website. Having consistency between colors, page layout, structure, icons, fonts, pictures and text will give you page a competent look and will put your visitor in a more comfortable atmosphere to navigate your site.
Confusing the user with different layouts on every page might not be such a great idea, so keep it consistent!
You may or may not have found all of these tips useful. Again, following these guideline will not guarantee a highly successful site, but following them is a good place to start for any developing website.