The three C's set you on your way. (General Web Design Tips)

Member Name: topherbenn

Product:	General Web Design Tips
Date:	24/03/09 (31 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Users prefer to look at a site that works and is practical.

Disadvantages: It can make some sites a little dull, but less is always more.

My experience in web design is not professional, yet I have designed and built sites in the past to know a little about what works and what doesn't.

Firstly getting the layout of a site is key to the success of a website, get this wrong and you won't get customers returning; there are lazy people in this world that like everything to be right at their finger tips, at times I fall into this category, which is why you need to make sure they don't have to do much to get to what they want.

I always design websites that don't have scrolling pages; if necessary they might have scrolling sections within a page, but never the whole page. The user wants to see everything right there in front of them, it can get tiresome having to keep scrolling down which some people just might not be prepared to do, especially if they don't think it's necessary and feel that the site could have been better designed. How may times have you scrolled down a page, and then needed to navigate away from this page, only to find the navigation bar is stuck up at the top? It's a faff! Unfortunately if you're designing a site with lots of content, then scrolling is unavoidable, but to keep your user happy, it is always best to keep the scrolling to an absolute minimum!

The navigation bar needs to be created so that it isn't just stuck up at the top, yes this is where we usually find them, because they only take up a small proportion this way, but people's eyes are focused on the centre of any screen, so being at the top is a little out of the way. I prefer navigation menu's at the left hand side, it covers a larger area yes, but this means it's easier to see, also part of the navigation fills the centre edge of the screen inline with our eye site. Additionally it doesn't get lost in links and tabs, unlike being at the top. Keep your users happy with a neat and tidy menu that is decluttered and easy to see.

The content of your site is the most important part so make sure that it gets most of the screen space. Don't make the mistake of having a banner at the top of the page that takes up a half the page! Think of the scrolling. And although it might look nice at the beginning, users aren't here to see a nice background, they have come for the content. Think realistically about the colours of text, white text on a black background can look quite effective, but all it means is that it puts more strain on the eyes, and it becomes lost in the page. Black text on a white background however works. It works because people are so used to it and the text is clearly defined. You'll never hear anyone complaining that the text isn't a pretty colour, they'd rather be able to read! Also think carefully about links, it's always good to have links of a different colour because they stand out, but remember that some colours are lost on a white background so a bold colour is best.

A lot of website design comes down to what feels right, you as a user know what you like to see, you know what looks best and what not, what can be the most appealing page but at the same time the most impractical.

The key things to remember about website design is the three C's:
- Composition
- Content
- Colour

Get these right and you're on your way to creating a great site.

Summary: Composition, Content and Colour, get these right and the design should work wonders.