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Web
Design - Fundamental Design Concepts For Building A Better
Website
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Surfing
the web, a talent?
How
often do you surf the web? For how long? Come now, be honest.
If
I'm to be modest, I'd say I spend around five hours in front
of my computer every week day. Over the years this has gained
me many obscure talents that I'm only aware of when I think
consciously about them, such as touch typing, or that vast
repertoire of acronyms I exchange with my electronic friends
to pretend we're socializing. LOL!
If
those weren't impressive enough however, my latest hidden
talent was brought to my attention by one of my real friends,
who caught me scouring the web for the cheapest site to buy
Nick Hornby's new book, "A long way down". Not being very
technologically adept himself, he couldn't for the life of
him keep up with my progress as I shot around in my usual
manner, unblinkingly, shuffling through the web pages like
a pack of cards.
Hence,
it occurred to me that through certain overexposure to the
internet, that I had fine tuned my brain into being able to
scan pages I was looking at, in a few seconds at the most,
picking out keywords, subtitles and pictures, gauging the
relevance of that page to what I was looking for; my search
criteria you could say. Sounds a bit robotic I know, but I
was surprised to find many thousands of topics and articles
on how we surf the net, all leading to similar conclusions.
A
study conducted by Canadian Researchers concluded that we
can make assumptions and form impressions of a website, based
on its design in around 20ms. Yes milliseconds! That's half
the time it takes to blink. Quite impressive, but what does
this mean for your website?
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What
this means for your website
There
are many factors that could sway a visitor either way, which
also means that you can never produce a website that will
appeal to everyone. There are a few key fundamental designs
that you should incorporate into your site however, that will
ensure you appeal to the masses.
People
are more likely to respond positively to your website, if
it conforms to the schema they have in their minds of how
a website should look, feel and function. It's a safe bet
that by constructing your site following a standard template
or design, you will maintain the comfort and attention of
your visitor.
It
may feel contrived, even counter-productive to stick to the
norm of web design, to emulate the structure of every other
website out there, "how will mine stand out?", "I want to
make something different!", but your average Joe surfing the
web is a timid being. He is easily scared by what he isn't
used to, especially when it disrupts the flow of his browsing.
Abandoning the norm will loose your visitors trust and credibility,
so what are the key design points to follow?
Good
navigation. Simple, clean and effective navigation.
It is essential for maintaining the flow through your
website, making it easier for your visitor to find what
her or she is looking for.
Where
am I? Always indicate on each page of your site,
which page your visitor is browsing, by means of a navigation
menu, or a breadcrumb bar. e.g.
Home >> Topic >> Subject >> Article
It is also important for your visitor to know where he
or she has already visited. Make sure your links change
colour as they're used, giving your visitor a mental map
of where they've been, and where they should try next.
Search
fields. For the lazy amongst us, search fields
are a blessing. Consider adding one to your website if
it spans a lot of pages. The Google adsense program also
offers "Adsense for search", that adds a search box such
as the one on Fortunes-Today.com's footer on your pages.
Relative adverts are displayed with searches conducted
through these search boxes, that can ultimately generate
you revenue.
Colour
scheme. Choose a moderate, calm and suitable
colour scheme that matches your website's content. Not
only does a grass green backdrop suit a Garden Center's
website, colour is the major factor that our brains processes
in that 20ms we take to make our initial impressions.
Sub
Headings. Subtitle your main topics on your index,
or homepage, and associate them with relative pictures.
People read subheadings and pictures rather than body
text to make their decisions on where to go next.
Frequently
asked questions. If you provide a service or
a product, make sure you have an FAQ page to tick off
any mental questions a visitor may have about your product
or service. You can quickly regain their trust and confidence
if it was lost to ambiguities or doubts in their mind.
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