Web
Page Design
"Clean and Simple" Page Designs
Get Good Results
by Phil Hanson
In a recent article about doing business on-line, a spokesman
for a nationally recognized corporation voiced displeasure over
his company's dismal Internet sales performance. While sales
from their traditional outlets continued to do well, sales from
their Web site remained absolutely flat. Why would sales do
well in one venue, but not in another? Curious, I logged onto
the site. Seventy-five seconds later, I knew the answer.
Two
common problems, "bells and whistles" and claustrophobic
page layouts, made the Web site a disaster area for visitors.
Slow-loading pages are bad, but when they're disorganized and
cluttered with too many banners, advertisements and animated
graphics they repel even the few visitors who hang around long
enough for the page to finish loading. Time-strapped consumers
and business professionals rarely appreciate time wasters.
When
creating a design theme for your Web site, keep it simple. Avoid
using layers, frames and Java Script applications whenever possible.
Some Web browsers don't support them, some search engines penalize
you for using them, and all of them slow your Web page loading
times perceptibly.
Keep
your Web page layouts neat, and organized. Strive for harmony
and balance. Precise alignment and generous amounts of white
space ensures that your most important information doesn't get
lost on the page.
Use
one or two fonts styles, but never more. Use complimentary colors,
but be sure the text color contrasts with the background color.
You want your text to be readable. For the same reason, use
font sizes large enough to be seen. For body text, 2 is not
a good number.
Maintain
good separation between the various elements on the page. Don't
let text from an element nudge shoulders with text from another.
Judicious applications of cell padding and cell spacing adds
white space to help you achieve an open, uncluttered look.
The
Internet is a very large place (approximately the size of infinity)
so don't feel like you have to put all of your information on
one page. Build lots of pages, instead, and connect them with
logical, easy-to-use navigation.
Make
your Web page design consistent on every page of your site.
Using the same background color, the same font styles, colors
and sizes, and the same positioning for header graphics, logos
and site navigation elements avoids confusing your Web site's
visitors.
When
you design and build your Web site for ease of use and customer
satisfaction rather than for personal ego gratification or to
elicit competitor envy, you'll not only attract more visitors
to your site, you'll convert more of them into paying customers.
And that's exactly the result you want.
Copyright
© 2003 — 2008 by Phil Hanson
All rights reserved.
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