Designing for the web

When you are designing for the web, you may sometimes get caught up in all the technology side of it. This can therefore make the designs diluted creating more and more generic websites that are now filling the web which are no fun for the web users.

Although the technology part of building a website is extremely important (it should be easy to use and navigate, be content rich and comply to the W3C standards) we still must think about the basic design. If a website does not look attractive, then users will not want to use it, so all the rest will be put to waste.

Some main points of web design to remember is that the menu and links should be stylish and simple. Too many websites use images as links which is all a bit dated now. Layout is important for putting across information. The most important content should be in the middle of the page, where it is most likly to be seen. Try and create something unique that will make the design stand out from the millions of other sites you will be competing with. Use colour to enhance and impove the balance of the layout, as well as keeping users interested. The design should reflect the content of the web site, giving users a better experience. Another factor that should be considered is when designing for the web is search engine optimisation or SEO. If done properly, it can insrease the ranking of a website, which increases the traffic to your site.

Overall, simplicity is key for a well designed website. If it is functional and actually useful to the target users then it will be successful.