10 Top Principles of Effective Web Design

By Diane T Ong  |   Submitted On April 13, 2016

  

Similar to the expression "beauty is in the eye of the beholder", effective web design is assessed by the users of the website and not the proprietors of the site. Numerous components affect the usability of a website, and it is just not about its functionality but as well as the structure or how great it looks.

Web sites that are not well designed have a tendency to perform inadequately and have sub-optimal Google Analytics metrics. So what makes a good web design?

Below we discover the main ten web design principles that will make your site pleasing, simple to use and efficient.

1. Purpose

Great web design always takes into account the requirements of the users. Are your web guests searching for entertainment, information, or some interaction? Your website pages need to have a definite purpose and to satisfy a particular requirement for your website visitors in the most compelling way possible.

2. Communication

Individuals on the web want quick information, so it is necessary to communicate clearly and make your information simple to read and digest. Some effective strategies to incorporate into your web design include: sorting out information using headlines and sub-headlines, using bullet points rather than long, blustery sentences, and cutting the waffle.

3. Typefaces

In general, Sans Serif text fonts such as Arial and Verdana are simpler to read online. The basic font size for reading without difficulty online is 16px and a maximal of 3 typefaces in a maximal of 3 point sizes to keep your design rationalised.

4. Colours

A good web design and a well colour palette can go far to boost user experience. Complementary colours create harmony and balance. Using contrasting colours for the content and background will make reading simpler on the eye. Vibrant colours create emotion and ought to be used sparingly. To wrap things up, white space/negative space is efficient at giving your website a modern and uncluttered look.

5. Images

A picture paints a thousand of words, and picking the right pictures for your site can help with brand connecting and positioning with your target audience. If you don't have professional photographs on hand, consider buying stock pictures to lift the look of your website. Likewise, consider using infographics, graphics and videos as these can be a great deal at conveying than a written piece of text.

6. Navigation in your Website

Navigating concerns on how simple it is for individuals to take action and move around your website. A few strategies for efficient navigation include an intelligent page hierarchy, using bread crumbs, designing clickable buttons, and following the "three click rule" which implies users will have the capacity to discover the information they are searching within tree clicks.

7. Grid Based Layouts

Placing content randomly on your website page can end up with a heed-less appearance that is untidy. Grid-based layouts organise content into areas, sections and boxes that line up and feel adjusted, which prompts a better-looking website design.

8. "F" Pattern Design

Eye tracking studies have distinguished that individuals scan computer screens in an "F" pattern. A large portion of what individuals see is on the top and left of the screen, and usually, the right side of the screen is seldom seen. Instead of trying to drive the viewer's visual flow, efficiently designed websites will work with a reader's natural behaviour and show information in order of significance.

9. Load Time

Everyone hates a website that needs ages to load. Tips to make page load times more active include streamlining picture sizes (size and scale), consolidating code into a basic CSS or JavaScript document and minify HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

10. Mobile Friendly

It is currently typical to get to websites from numerous devices with different screen sizes, so it is essential to consider if your website is mobile friendly. But if your website is not mobile-friendly, you can either rebuild it in a responsive layout or you can construct a committed portable website.

It is easy to make a pleasing and functional website, basically by remembering these design elements in mind. These effective web design principles can offer your website some assistance with being all the more captivating, helpful, and vital for visitors.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Diane_T_Ong/2275457

Traffic Tips for the Week

By Anne O'Dwyer  |   Submitted On December 28, 2015

  

This morning I am dipping into a little book with great ideas, "SEO Step by Step", it is a book for beginners giving simple tips for improving search engine rankings to bring you free traffic. Many people think spending time on SEO is unnecessary and would rather spend time and money on paid advertising. However a few simple actions are well worth the time spent.

Meta tags, tags and images are today's topics. On your website there are three meta tags. First is the title tag, it is for the title of that particular page and is usually automatically taken from your title. The second is the keywords tag, as this has been abused by spammers it is pretty much irrelevant now.

Thirdly there is a meta description tag, which allows you to accurately describe what the page is about. You have probably seen these short descriptions when you are making a Google search. A good description is about 160 characters long, very relevant to the content of the page, Google is very keen on relevancy to help their searchers find what they are looking for. Although Google may select their own summary, write an inviting message to encourage people to click on your website in the searches, is always good practise.

If your website is created by WordPress you can add a plug-in in the <head> to set meta descriptions.

To get you pictures photos and images picked up by Google, make sure you set the tags correctly. Also make sure they are all stored on you website hosting, not on the picture directory as they would then get the search engine attention not your website.

The name of the image file, separated by dashes (maximum 70 characters) don't leave it as September 2014 jpg - give is a memorable relevant title.

Alt and Title tags describe the image. All tags should be short.

Where the picture sits on the page there should be a relevant description.

When you share a link on multi-media sites your picture will automatically be chosen, if it is not the one you wish to display you can choose a different image by clicking the arrow in the preview.

Pictures photos and images are picked up by search engines and make articles on Google and social media more clickable, so include them with your tags and titles to get your post noticed. The more clicks and shares you get, the better you website will be ranked.

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Here is the book mentioned, you will find many more great tips within its pages - "SEO step by step" by Caimin Jones.

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"The Power of Your Subconscious Mind" by Joseph Murphy.

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"500 Social Media Marketing Tips" By Andrew Macarthy

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Anne_O'Dwyer/1211696

5 Benefits Of the Wix Website Builder

By Jovia D'Souza  |   Submitted On February 15, 2016

  

Wix is one of the many website builders. The tool has many benefits which include:

Professional templates

if you aren't creative and need help in coming up with beautiful designs, Wix is your best bet. It comes with over 500 professional looking templates that are more beautiful than those that you will find in other website builders.

It's easy to use the templates as all you need to do is swap in your pictures, content and text. Most of the templates are HTML based. This makes them search engine friendly thus you have an easy time ranking your site. If you love flash-based designs, there are several of them that you can use.

Rich app market

The Wix app market has almost everything that you need for your site. There are Google maps, survey forms, shopping cart and anything else that you may need.

All you need to do is visit the market and pick the feature that you want. There are both free and premium add-ons. If you have a large budget you should use the premium features, but if you are strapped for cash there is no harm in going for the free features.

Easy to use

As mentioned above, Wix has an intuitive drag and drop interface. To use it you only need to pick what you want (whether image, text, slideshow) and position it in any area without any restrictions. There is a slideshow that shows you how your website will look like once you have made any change. This saves you time and energy.

Support

In the online world things can go south any time and you need to have someone to run to when things go wrong. Wix has made it easy for its users to reach them any time of the day and night.

The tool also allows you to directly call the representatives and get all the help that you need. The unique thing is that you can schedule time for the Wix specialist to call you back.

If your site is down or you have a question you should contact the representatives and they will solve your problems. If they can't solve your problem, they will direct you to where you will get the help.

There are plenty of tutorials and videos that guide you on every step of the way.

Free version

Many people like trying out something before they can purchase it. Wix has a free version that gives you access to all the tools that you need to build a professional looking website.

Conclusion

Wix is a great website builder especially if you don't know much about web building. For your site to have a professional appeal, use a custom domain.

If you are looking for an honest Wix review we have a thorough one. Visit the given links to know the ins and outs of Wix website builder.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Jovia_D'Souza/2007086