‘A website is more like a designer’s canvas.’ Designers are ruling the web as they don’t have to deal with any of the restrictions that shaped the early days of the web.
With a lightning fast internet speed, web designing has become easy these days. However, if CSS responsive grid system and Google Web Fonts are unfamiliar to you, then ‘oh-so-easy’ world of web design may still look like a daunting process. A web designing company will help you understand the basics of web designing.
In the same line of thought, we enlist a basic set of web design fundamentals for you. Find out –
Grid systems
The grid determines how you read the text on a website, since the codex was invented in the 1st century. Thousands of variations have emerged over time involving different arrangements of rows and columns. The way of arranging text and images in books, newspapers, and magazines are a great example of the grid system. This system has been carried over onto the web and works really well.
Today, responsive website designs are paramount as people are most likely to browse the web on phone and tablets than on traditional computers. Pre-fabricated grid systems have emerged significantly to make your lives easier. These systems are responsive, compatible with major coding languages, and available for free downloading.
Visual hierarchy
It’s a known fact that most of the people read left-to-right and top-down. And reading behavior follows a much more complex set of rules within these parameters as people actually scan pages instead of reading them, specifically web pages. Therefore, good web pages are a built-in response to the major reading patterns of the user.
Position the essential elements, like the logo, call-to-action or a key image, along with the axes in either ‘F’ or ‘Z’ shape are conventionally used so that the reader is expected to scan. Visual hierarchy is all about signalling readers what should be read first and what should be read next, but this may involve strategies like font size, spacing, direction and typeface pairing, and even color.
Web-safe fonts
In the early days of the internet, web browsers supported only a few numbers of fonts. Some are pre-installed in users’ word processing software, but a little bit of deviation compels users to see random symbols. Most browsers still support certain fonts while other fonts are not. Adoption of ‘@font-face’ that is embedded in most modern browsers has the number of web-safe options.
Fee-based fonts, like Typekit, WebINK, and Fontspring are readily available on the web, and with a little search through free services like Google Web Fonts, you can find nice free fonts too. Following are the general rules of where to look for these fonts –
Serif fonts – for headlines
In web designing, serif fonts are for headlines as their smaller sizes become hard to read. Sans-serif should generally be used for body text.
Keep minimal fonts
You need to limit the use of fonts to reduce clutter on a website. Ensure using two or three fonts at a time for smart pairing on a webpage.
Use lesser space
Keep in mind that some font files are significantly big in size that can slow the loading time of a website.
Images
In web design, the principles of image and color are not-so distinct. You only need to make sure that you don’t overplay with colors.
For Images:
Keep minimal movement
Avoid using movable images and refrain the use of flash. Even .gifs are not used on the website unless if they are executed with the utmost skill. Studies show that the users prefer still websites over moving websites.
Go for thoughtful images
Visitors are likely to leave your webpage if you use images merely to fill space. Rather you can use images that communicate useful information to viewers. Illustrating the accompanying text or describing something about the product will allow your visitors to stay for long.
Always abide by all stock image licensing restrictions
You should be aware of the licensing limitations associated with images. Some company copyrights most of the images on the web, so you or your client will have to pay to use them.
Keep small file sizes
Ensure using small image sizes, or as low as possible as images often account for web page size or slow loading time of a website.
Color
For Colors:
Keep the minimal color palette
Just as using two or three fonts on a webpage, color palette should also be used in the same way.
Consider color blindness
Be cautious with your color pairings on a webpage as 5% of the people have color blindness.
Looking for a website design company? Wish A Cloud is here to serve you better with fundamentals of website designing.