What makes a good or bad web page design.
There is no right or wrong way to lay out your web page, if you like the look of it then it must be OK!
Have a look at how other people have arranged the text and graphics on their web pages, if you see what you think looks like a good layout you can use it as a guide to how to arrange things on your pages. If you are using HTML editing software writing a web page is very similar to writing a normal letter or report. The guidelines below should give you a basic idea!
Make It Easy
When
you start writing your web pages, you can make a basic page as a template then copy it to create
your new pages. This will help you maintain a consistent look and style to your web site. You can
also copy bits from page to page where you have similar layouts.
Keeping the layout consistent will help the viewer navigate more easily. For example: if you put a block of hyperlinks to other parts of the site at the top of one page - don't make people search for them by putting them at the bottom of another page. You can use tables to hold your text and images in place - this text is part of a table that occupies most of the page.
Page Layout
Put the name
of the web site at the top of the first page that visitors will see, so that it is visible while
the page is still loading. This will confirm to the person visiting the page that they have arrived
at the right place! Make sure the first page loads quickly by keeping it small and not using too
many complicated images. This page will have the principal links to all other parts of the site.
Colour
Use
colour carefully, if you use too many different or contrasting colours it will give your viewer eye
strain. Choose a few colours as a colour scheme and in general stick to the basic colours so that
they will work on most browsers.
The Browser Safe Colour Palette http://www.lynda.com/hex.html
Spelling and Grammar
One
of the most common mistakes in web page design is incorrect spelling or
grammar. However cleverly designed or well written your document, it will be
spoiled if there is a spelling mistake in it. Your web design software might include a spell
checker and grammar checker. You could write your content in your preferred word processor package,
use the built in checking facilities then copy and paste the text into your web document.
Readability
Research
has shown that people scan web pages, instead of reading them like a conventional printed document.
It helps to highlight words or phrases to help people
find the information they want as they scan the page. For example, hyperlinks are displayed in a
different colour to the main text and are usually underlined,
therefore a hyperlink to a related page or item will draw attention to itself. Bulleted or ordered
(numbered) lists will make information easier to find and more readable, bold sub headings
can also help.
People dislike scrolling down long web pages, so in general a web document should contain just 50% of the text that you would write for a printed document. If you must make a particular page very long consider putting a content listing at the top of the page with hyperlinks within the page to the relevant sections. You can then also add hyperlinks at regular intervals to navigate back to the top of the page.
Images and Hyperlinks
If
you use images as hyperlinks make sure that your images look like something that can be clicked on.
You also need to make sure that it is obvious what the link is for, this is easy if the image looks
like a button. You can always put a text link as well as the image, it is common to put a block of
text links at the bottom of a page. The examples below should give you a few ideas.
(The hyperlinks are for demonstration purposes only and are not functional)
Content
Keep the content
of your web site relevant and up to date, this will give visitors a reason to visit
again. Think about putting a feature on your home page that you can change periodically. You
might highlight a specific section or page of your web site and include a link to the page and a
relevant image. Next time the same person visits if you've changed the featured item the site will
look like it is active and being kept up to date. If you let people know that you intend to add new
features or improve your web pages they are more likely to visit again!