Thursday, April 14, 2011

Web Design Fundamental Rules

Graphic and web designs are tailored specifically to attract maximum attention or interest. A great looking design is more likely to be easily recalled than a plain and simple one. Designing is governed by basic rules. The most important rule is that a web site must be easy to read. The text and background colors are selected very carefully so that the background does not obscure the text. The dark and light colors should be matched that it does not defeat the purpose of showing each color on a different angle.


The use of dark colored text on a light colored background or vice versa is an example. Methodical use of size should also apply to convey the right message. Texts that are extremely huge may be interpreted as screaming to visitors or readers while text that are too small are difficult to read. Capitals or bold letters also relays a shouting message thus a mixture of small and capitalized text is better.

You do not want to appear shouting at customers right?

Thus a balance in everything is equally important. Correct alignment such that the text is aligned to the left and not on the center, is easier to read. Central alignment of text is used mostly on headlines. The second rule is that the web site should be easy to find. Although we are already in the computer age where everybody is expected to be computer literate and can navigate the internet single-handedly, the thought that everybody will be looking for such site is sometimes not true because people will be looking for a certain site if there is an online and offline promotion.


Relevant information creates a sense of security to the end users. The third rule is navigational accessibility which means that graphic images such as buttons are properly labeled.

The navigational buttons should serve its purpose to guide end users rather than confuse them using flashy colors and designs. Consistency through the use of color codes should also be maintained such that, for example, a blue text should only indicate an unvisited link and not for any other purpose. Uniformity in their function should be prioritized. The fourth rule is consistency and coherence in every detail such as headings, footers and background effects. Last is the speed of download.

If you are looking to optimize the number of people who are visiting the website, that is referred to as SEO which means search engine optimization. You need more and more people to take a look at what you have created for your website. This will ensure that you have the best website which definitely emerges right on top of any search engine. For this you can even hire professional help. It is entirely up to you to decide on what is needed or relevant. So make sure that the website design process goes off well.


Human as we are, we have a limited attention span and we are bored easily. Your visitors will quickly lose interest if the page they are trying to open does not load in fifteen seconds. Who would want to stare on an empty page?


Web page design is such a complicated field that web page designers need to do continuous research to develop their style without being stereo-type. Before you embark on your Bethesda web design, you have to consider the basic rules in DC web design so that you will be guided to make your own personal preferences.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Web design process

So you are ready to build your website? How do you do it? Do you just hire someone and let them throw a bunch of mud against the wall and you see what sticks?


The launch of a website with a proficient web design process is often the most exciting time for the client. The most critical step in the web design process is creating an accurate project definition. Make sure you and your designer have a clear and concise definition of what is to be done. Trust me, this can save you money, time and a lot of grief and bad relationships if you make sure everything is in writing before you start. For the Designer, following a well-structured web design process is by far one of the most important steps that many web designers choose to neglect.


Process


If you are like most people, you have little or no experience with website design, so you may feel like you are drifting blind when it comes to the best process for selecting a designer and what you can (and should) expect from that designer as the project proceeds.

Building a website is just like any other business process – the more informed and educated you are about the process, the more likely?you are to?achieve your goals and stay within the budget and timeframe you have available. Web design process play a great positive role in web designers professional life if it is simple and organized. Make sure your designer has a specific plan to take you from start to finish building your site. With no plan, you will be flying blind and most likely waste a lot of money.

Project


A project definition includes a project brief and a project plan. We use a client survey when we start any project. The client assessment is used to gather the information needed to develop the project brief and plan.

A simple form to gather pertinent information from the client is a clever way to begin with your survey. Proficient design is dependent on proficient site structure and a solid project definition. Your project plan should now include a detailed list of concrete tasks, assignments, target dates and dependencies between tasks. Thankfully, after a little bit of research, we discovered a project collaboration tool called Basecamp. Basecamp solves this problem by providing tools tailored to improve the communication between people working together on a project. Basecamp (and project collaboration tools like it) allows multiple users to access a website which stores all of the messages, milestones, file uploads, to-do lists, time it takes to complete parts of the project, etc. The system will send you emails but the only e-mails you will ever receive are notifications whenever something is contributed or changed within a project inside of the project manager.

To sum up this brief article, a web design process is meant to speed up, and also organize a project for a web designer, and organization can always lead to better results. The entire web design process is continually evolving.


Shannon Cox is the owner of www.argonstudios.com. Argon Studios produces high quality Custom web design and development and has been in business for over 10 years providing work from Fortune 500 companies to small to mid-sized businesses.