A lot has changed in the virtual world since its creation, and even in the last ten years the bounds made in technology have allowed for richer, more engaging content on the World Wide Web. So it’s easy to see why a person would want to brush up on their basic web design concepts. Without these four fundamental and essential building blocks, a site can never live up to its full potential.
Anyone who has ever succeeded in life will tell you organization is the key. This concept holds just as true for web design as anything else. The organization of a site’s structure and navigation is just as important, if not more important, than how the actual content is arranged. After all, if a user decides that your site is too complex or too inconsistent, you’ve just lost your audience. It is absolutely imperative that your site’s visitors desire to and, are easily able to, stay on your site to hear your information, and the way to make that happen is by clearly and consistently organizing your data, content, and layout to make the user’s experience as fluid as possible.
Similar to this crazy organization concept, and equally important, is your page’s layout. Having a consistent layout to all of your web site’s pages is hugely important. If your layout feels fragmented and disconnected, so will your users. Things for you to consider when planning web site layout are similar to the concepts of the print world. The fonts, colors, margins, shapes, navigation, and images are all things to consider, and should be organized and laid out in such a way that the average user will be able to comprehend, access, and utilize your information. Accessibility should be concern number one when it comes to page layout. Everyone wants their visitors to be able to use their web site efficiently, right? And nobody will care if your site is prettier than Marilyn Monroe, if they can’t get past your wacky layout to actually access your information.
After all of the technical stuff is out of the way, the newbie can finally focus on the nuts and bolts The Content. Your web site’s content is ultimately what decides if the S.S. Newbie.com sets sail on the sea of success or not. After noticing your almost obsessive compulsive site organization, and being able to navigate your layout, the average user looks for the content or information that they came for. This is where you have to act like you know what you’re doing for a second. If someone is looking for specific information, and they don’t find it on your site, or even worse if they find bad or outdated information then what do they do? They leave. And they never come back. Your content is your “hook”. It absolutely must be relevant, accessible and important to the person trying to look for it. Once you have the user hooked, as long as you keep supplying quality, relevant content, they will keep coming back. And repeat business is always good to have.
The one last thing to consider in the web site design, is the time that it takes your pages to load. If your site is clogged up with lots of java, flash, high resolution or large size pictures, or any other large, bandwidth intensive files and “junk”, then it will likely take until the next ice age to load. So unless you want a captivated audience to succumb to starvation in front of their computers (Or worse Clicking on the little red “X” and never looking back) waiting for your site to load, keep it as minimalist as is realistic to still accomplish your goals.
These four elements have been around since the dawn of the digital world, and they stretch back immeasurably into the analog. The moral of the story: If so many people for so many years have been so successful following these four rules, then so can you.
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