Web design is the method by\nwhich content intended for the Internet is designed, conceptualized and\norganized. Modern web design goes beyond what things look like to cover how\nthings work. Web design is not confined to websites, as it covers other uses\nsuch as web applications, smartphone apps and user interface design. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Web design elements<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When designing a website,\nconsideration of both the look and the functionality of the site is crucial.\nIntegrating these elements into the architecture would help improve the site’s\nefficiency no matter how success is calculated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, do you know\nthat web design can have a major impact on your success in search engines like\nGoogle due to search engine optimization?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Visual elements<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Here’s a short overview of the elements you need to remember in\nyour design to ensure everything looks fine!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Written copy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Essentially\nthe look and words of a website go hand in hand. The two are never really to be\nconsidered as different. Having your designers and content writers work\ntogether will create a more efficient design, rather than in sequence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fonts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When\ndesigning a website, choosing easy-to-read font pairings which complement the\ndesign is imperative. Tools such as Canvas Font Combinatory can help you find\nthe best match for your font. Web design tools such as PageCloud also provide\nseveral font pairings within their framework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Colors<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the\nmost important things to remember when designing a website is colors. Bear in\nmind that several misunderstandings regarding the psychology of color are\npresent here. It’s important to concentrate on aligning your colors with your\nbrand and the message you’re trying to communicate when selecting colors for\nyour site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Layout<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n How you\ndecide to structure your content will have a dramatic effect on both your\nsite’s design and its functionality. While there are no clear rules about\nwebsite design, there are certainly a few guidelines that you should follow. If\nyou don’t know how to write code, knowing the limitations of various website\ndesign tools is important, so that you don’t get stuck halfway through your\ndesign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shapes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In the\nlast few years, the use of graphic elements in web design has really taken off.\nIt can be used to combine beautiful colors and shapes to achieve many things,\nsuch as attracting the attention of visitors to your web. With this trend, the\nbiggest challenge are the complexities that emerge when trying to execute the\ndesign without having to rely on code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Spacing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In your\ndesign there is a space between every element: the images, the paragraphs, the\nlines … The letters spaced even! As a rule of thumb it is easier to have too\nmuch room than to have things packed together. With modern web designers the\nidea of whitespace is certainly top of the mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Images & Icons<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In just a\nfew seconds, beautiful designs can convey a lot of details. One way to do this\nis by using strong images and icons. A quick search by Google for stock photos\nor icons will yield thousands of choices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Videos<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Videos are a rising phenomenon among Web designers. When\nproperly used, they will help visitors to your website experience something\nwhich simply cannot be represented with words or pictures. One thing to keep in\nmind is that eye-catching videos will detract from your content and should\nnever interfere with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Navigation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Navigation\nis one of the key components deciding if the website is really\n“running” Your Nav can serve many purposes, depending on the\naudience. It lets visitors first explore what you have to offer, while\ndirecting visitors back to different parts within your site. There are a couple\nof best practices that you may want to follow in both cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Speed<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Nobody\nlikes sluggish pages. No matter how good your concept is, it won’t work in\nsearch if it doesn’t load within a reasonable time, so it won’t accomplish your\nobjectives. Although the top site builders usually compress the content to\noptimize load times, there are no guarantees; do your homework to ensure\noptimum output is delivered by the tool that you chose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Animations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n There are\nloads of web animation techniques that can help your design perform a wide\nrange of tasks, from catching the attention of a user to providing input on\nother interactions with content such as buttons or shapes. If you are new to\nweb design, first we will suggest that you stick to basic animations. Complex\nanimations usually require the intervention of developers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n User interactions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Visitors\nto your site have several ways to communicate with your site, depending on your\ncomputer (scrolling, tapping, typing). These experiences are often streamlined\nby the best prototypes that give the user the illusion they are in full\ncontrol. Here are only a few examples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Site structure<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The layout\nof a website plays a major role both in user experience and in SEO. If people\nget lost navigating through your pages, there are chances that crawlers too would.\nWhile some free sitemap builders are available online, often the best way for\nsmall sites is to print out the pages on a whiteboard or on a piece of paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cross-browser & cross-device compatibility<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n All apps\nand browsers should have a great interface and look fantastic. We would suggest\nusing a cross browser testing tool to make this repetitive process quicker and\nmore effective if you are developing your site from scratch. On the other hand,\nif you use a website building tool, the cross browser testing is usually\ncarried out by the development team of the company, which lets you focus on the\ndesign. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Types of website design<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Even though you could find\narticles online talking about a whole bunch of website design styles (fixed,\nstatic, dynamic, etc.), there are only two ways to properly design a website in\ntoday’s mobile first world: adaptive and responsive websites. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The best thing is that you\ndon’t have to learn how to code with modern design software to create beautiful\nwebsites which look fantastic on all devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Understanding the pros and\ncons of websites that are flexible and sensitive will help you decide what’s\nright for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adaptive web design<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Adaptive web design uses\ntwo or more website models, which are tailored to various screen sizes. Adaptive\nwebsites can be divided into two key groups, depending on how the website\nsenses what “version” wants to be seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adapts based on device type<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When your\nbrowser (aka client) connects to a website, a field called\n“user-agent” will be included in the HTTP request, which will notify\nthe server of the type of device attempting to access the page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This\nessentially means that the website knows which version to view (ex: desktop or\nmobile). The only drawback with this strategy is that if you shorten the browser\nwindow on a laptop the page will not change so the complete “laptop\nedition” will continue to appear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adapts based on browser width<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead of\nusing the “user-agent,” the website is flipping between versions\nusing media-queries and breakpoints. Therefore, you can have 1080px, 768px, and\n480px width versions instead of having a laptop, tablet, and smartphone\nversions. In addition to providing more flexibility when designing, this\napproach provides a more “open” look when adjusting your browser’s\nsize on a wide screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pros<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n WYSIWYG\nediting (What you see is what you get) Custom designs are quicker and simpler\nto create without cross-browser code and software compatibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cons<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Websites\nusing “web sort” can look broken when viewed in a small browser\nwindow on a desktop limitations for some effects that can only be achieved by\nsensitive sites<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sensitive websites use a\nmix of versatile (percentage-based) grids with breakpoints (using media\nqueries) to construct a personalized look at each screen size. Unlike adaptive\nsites which only change when they reach a breakpoint, responsive websites are\nconstantly changing depending on the size of the screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pros<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Excellent\nexperience at any screen size, regardless of the computer typeResponsive\nwebsite builders are usually rigid, making the design difficult to\n“break” Loads of models available to start from<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cons<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Requires\ncomprehensive design and testing to ensure quality (starting from scratch)\nNote: Adaptive websites can contain responsive elements without accessing the\ncode. For example, you can create image galleries to be completely responsive\nwhile the rest of the site is adaptive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Functional\nelements<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Responsive\nweb design<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n