Graphic Design - Software Guidelines Ideas
With modern software tools, website design and publishing has become easier than ever before. No longer do you have to figure out the language of computer codes, instead these tools provide a simple, intuitive, graphical template with which to design. But this simplicity does not guarantee you a great web site. It is still up to you to put thought into your design, otherwise you could easily churn out and unreadable or even unusable site. This article will help you avoid this by offering general guidelines important for good website design using any web design software package.
Creating pages that are easy to read is the first rule of good graphic design for web sites. A common complaint among web site visitors is text that is hard to read against the background. Opposing colors, such as black and white, allow text to be easily distinguished from the background. If a fancy background is desired, such as a pattern or a photograph, then it is very important to offset the text with a block comprised of a single color.
Text size should be large enough to read, but not so large that a small block of text dominates the page. Link colors should likewise be easily distinguished from regular text. Text should be centered for headlines, and justified on both sides for paragraphs. Most modern browsers support fully justified text. Older browsers which don't support fully justified text will simply disregard the command and present the text aligned only on the left side. Fully justified text will make the page more appealing to the majority of web site visitors.
Your next guideline of graphic design refers to the easiness of the web page to navigate. The rule is every web page should be accessed in three clicks of the mouse. You can use a a table of of contents or another type of menu to help keep your site easy to navigate and organized, you can also use frames, which are pages within pages. The frame that consists of the table of contents should be on the left side of the page, while the links that open other frames should be on the right. This will keep your user fixed to your main page.
A web site that is hard to find might as well not exist. The proper use of keywords is critical to making a web site a popular web site. Keywords pertaining to the subject matter of the site, invisibly peppered throughout the site, will make the site easier for search engines to find and properly categorize. Search engines also provide forms for search engine submission which will further help the search engine serve your site to people who are seeking sites on a particular subject.
By using modern software tools and following these guidelines for good graphic design, the novice web designer can create a site that captivates a wide audience and presents the content in a clear, appealing manner. With practice, a beginning web designer can even prepare themselves for one of the many professional web design jobs available today.
With the assistance of modern software, developing a web site has never been easier. Attention must still be paid to the elements of good design, as well as navigability, usability, and readability. This article offers insight into the fundamentals of good web site design that can be applied to any web design software package. The most important thing to remember about using graphic design to create web design jobs, is to keep the page easy to read. Remember that search engine submission will further help serve your site to people who are seeking sites on a particular subject.
Published September 24th, 2008
Filed in Internet, Web Design, Web Hosting