Smart present day
web designers and simplicity gurus don't often conflict when it comes
to
website
design. A
website may make perfect
sense to the developer, but a design that is focused happening designs
can turn users away. How often have you stopped loading a page that requires
plug-ins or were disappointed after waiting several minutes for an unnecessary
image to finally appear? When people were more committed to learning software
due to expense and limited choices, they were forced to adapt to poorly
designed user-interfaces. While beautiful, impressive, and compelling
design
is important for a variety of reasons (including creating brand identity,
entertaining and drawing people in, and establishing credibility) design
choices need to be weighed against meeting the user's needs in order for
a site to achieve its goal.
Simplicity Mantras in Present Century
Make sure to follow established web conventions.
The web is becoming a genre with its own established conventions. From
a usability standpoint, it can be helpful to follow some of the design
conventions that are being established by dominant websites as users are
accustomed to seeing certain layouts and features on commerce sites, marketing
sites, or informational sites.
For example, studies have shown that blue-underlined text is the most
reliable indicator of links and provide the most click-throughs. Using
another color drastically reduces click-throughs and using graphics reduces
the number even further. Another advantage to text links is that browsers
support differentiating visited and unvisited links, which cannot be supported
with graphics.
Make Sure Not To Disable User Preferences
In website
design, there is a constant tension between wanting to control the
way a page looks and allowing users to set their own preferences. Designers
will want to shape the overall look of a page. However, users should not
be prevented from customizing certain elements for themselves. Always
keep in mind that users can set their own preferences for:
- Text link colors
- Background color
- Displaying graphics or not
With this in mind, background and text link colors should be chosen with
user preferences and browser defaults in mind. Make sure that there is
enough contrast between background and text.
Use Semantic Tags Whenever Possible
Another practice that can increase usability is the use of semantic tags
rather than format tags. Although format tags offer designers more control
over the appearance of text, semantic tags can be more usable across platforms.
People with different browsers will more likely get the proper interpretation
of text regardless of how it is displayed.
- Pros & Cons for Achieving Usability in Design
- Mentioned below is the list of Pros one should keep in mind while
web designing:
- Make sure text is in a printable color (not white).
- Place navigation in a consistent location on each page of your website.
- Use a familiar location for navigation bars.
- Use ALT tags for all graphics, especially navigation graphics.
- Use black text on white background whenever possible for optimal
legibility.
- Use either plain-color backgrounds or extremely subtle background
patterns.
- Keep the design from scrolling horizontally.
- Use one axis of symmetry for centered text on a page.
- Encourage scrolling by splitting an image at the fold.
- Mentioned below is the list of Cons one should keep in mind while
web designing:
- Allow ALT tags to get clipped.
- Display static text in blue or underlined.
- Use boldface or ALL CAPS for long pieces of text. These slow down
reading.
- Leave too much white space as it reduces scan ability.
- Make the user scroll to find critical information, especially transaction
buttons and navigation links.
- Use horizontal rules to separate chunks of content.
- Alternate too frequently between centered text and left-aligned text.
Most text should be left-aligned.
- Fix pages at larger than 800 x 600 pixels. Larger pages may force
users to scroll horizontally.
Come and explore innovative world of web
designing matching the requirements of present day clients at webdhoom.com.