Web Page Design: Best Practices
Your web site should be designed to appeal to your target audience. Follow these recommended design practices with your target audience in mind.
Web Site Organization Techniques
- Hierarchical
- Linear
- Random
Clearly labeled navigation on every page is helpful. The user should not be lost on your site.
Navigation best practices:
- Navigation Bars
- Short Pages
- Table of Contents
Four Visual Design Principles
- Repetition
- Repeat visual elements throughout design.
- Contrast
- Add visual excitement and draw attention.
- Proximity
- Group related items.
- Alignment
- Align elements to create visual unity.
Major Components of Web page design and
Three guidelines for each design element
- Page Layout Design
- Ice Design: Fixed design that hugs the left margin and generally either CSS fixed-width block-level
element or an XHTML table is used to format the page.
- Jello Design: Configures content that is centered and may be of a fixed width or a percentage width
such as 80%.
- Liquid Design: Results in a fluid web page with content that takes up 100% of the browser window regardless
of screen resolution. There is no blank margin on the left or right.
- Text Design
- Use common fonts such as Arial, Verdana, or Times New Roman.
- Be careful with the size of the fonts - 12pt font is the same as "Medium" and same as 1 em.
- Be aware of line length and alignment. Use white space and columns when possible.
- Graphic Design
- To have the most consistent display on many computers, choose from the 216 colors on the Web Color Palette.
- Use antialiased text in images. Antialiasing introduces intermediate colors to smooth jagged edges in digital images.
- Keep both the file size and dimesions of images as small as possible.
- Accessibility Considerations
- Interface components in the content must be operable.
- Content and controls must be understandable.
- Content should be robust enough to work with current and future user agents.