My 5 Tips for Web Design

The World Wide Web is filled with websites of varying quality, creativity, and usability. Anyone with a computer today can build a web site. However, when creating one, whether it be a social networking profile on Myspace, a personal site, or a business related site, it is important to have proper navigation, readability, design flow, reasonable load speed, and suitable graphic formats.

1. Background

Background images or patterns can be eye catching; however, they load much slower than a web page using a simple background color. When an image is tiled for a background, the browser must wait until the entire image or pattern file is read before it can begin to tile it. When a background color is used, the browser simply reads the bgcolor tag and paints the background quickly. Additionally, background images can sometimes be overpowering and make the page too cluttered. A background pattern with both light and dark colors should be avoided because it is difficult to find a text color that is readable on such a background. When a background image is used correctly, however, it can add interesting impact to a page that will make it memorable to visitors. When choosing a background color or image, it is important to use dark colors against light colors or vice versa. This detail will insure that the webpage text is readable.

2. Browsers

Web pages rarely look exactly the same in all browsers. As a part of the design process, web designers should test their web page design on several popular browsers and screen resolutions. Testing HTML or CSS code on different browsers and screen resolutions will insure that all users are able to view and understand the web page just as the designer intended.

3. Text

When using text in web design, it is important to keep a few key rules in mind. Firstly, for large amounts of text, serif type is easier to read than sans serif type. This is said to be because the serifs draw ones eye from character to character. When it comes to headings and smaller portions of text, sans serif is typically better. However, one can use sans serif on larger bodies of text to give the page a more modern feel. It is important, however, to add more leading to a sans serif type than a serif type. Also, using all capital letters in a large amount of text is difficult to read. It is best to keep all capital letters for use in headings or small bodies of text. Additionally, all capital letters look better and are easier to read when the font is sans serif rather than serif (Litt).

4. Navigation

Proper navigation techniques are important for good web page design as well. If navigation is faulty or confusing to the user then people will not be able to get to different parts of the web page. The World Wide Web is all about clicking hyperlinks. Everything is interconnected. For visitors to be able to go from one page to another, they need active hyperlinks, organized in an orderly and clear manner.

There are important techniques to remember when implementing navigation into a web site. When using graphic images, such as buttons or tabs, they should be labeled so they are easy to read and understand. It is more important for buttons to be easy to read than it is for them to be flashy and cutting edge. If a user cannot read a

button, they will most likely not be clicking on it. Additionally, if text links are used, it should be obvious to the user that they are in fact links. Some ways of doing this include, using the default blue active hyperlink color, keeping the hyperlink underlined, choosing a hover effect, and/or using bold or bigger font (Grantastic).

5. Graphics

As a designer, it is important to know when to use GIF (Graphics Interchange Format), JPEG (Joint Photographers Experts Group), PNG, or other types of image file formats. The JPEG file format is best used when a graphic has gradients, metallic colors, or other fine tonal detailing, like a photograph. JPEG is the optimum file format for these types of graphics because it keeps most of the image quality preserved while keeping the file size down. Graphics consisting primarily of line art or flat colors without gradients are best saved in a GIF format. GIF formats can support only 8-bit colors so converting detailed images in GIF format will not look as good as it would saved as a JPEG. However, GIF does support interlacing and, unlike JPEG, transparent backgrounds. PNG, pronounced "Ping", is the newest file format supported by the World Wide Web. PNG is much like the GIF file format; however, it supports 24-bit color as opposed to 8-bit color and does not allow for animation (Sitepoint).