Tuesday, July 1, 2008

How Web Designers Build A Better Design

By Chris Channing

Web design is a raging market with all types of creativity, originality, and colors bursting over every website over the Internet. The trick comes to maintain one's individuality and still conform to web standards, readability issues, and proper design.

The first concept to understand in web design standards is readability. This is something too many beginners forget about when trying to make an overly stunning design. Font sizes are generally accepted to be 12 pixels in height for maximum readability, and going higher never hurts. A contrasting font color that is readable against its background is also important for keeping visitors free of frustration.

Almost as important as readability, the fact comes to be that without proper navigation, the design isn't going to be able to go very far. Intriguing CSS drop down menus have become quite popular among websites who follow trends. Other websites stick to the standard HTML menus that are strung along top and side navigation boxes. Either way, always have links to common parts of one's website- this helps both readers and search engines find what they need.

Next is the factor is accessibility. Not everyone has the same tastes in web browsers. And in some cases, older computers will only run certain older versions of browsers. Because of this unfortunate aspect, designers need to code their web design layouts with multiple browsers in mind. Popular browsers such as Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, and Opera- and it's generally best to make a website standardized in each and every one of them.

Once all the basics in standardization and readability are maintained, the act of being creative and reestablishing the norms becomes the next test. Using different palettes of colors, using new forms of shapes and blocks (The rounded rectangle box is a current favorite for web designers), and ultimately thinking of new ways to display information has become the measuring stick in how a web design project is rated.

Popularized web design tactics are still good to make use of, in spite of the fact that creativity and inspiring designs are important in obtaining. Most web design features that have become popular are popular for a reason, and keeping a few of them around won't do any harm. Most notably, the rounded text box and gradient usage of recent years is always a nice addition to any design.

In Conclusion

Coding and designing layouts is quite a profitable skill to have, but it will take time and effort to get to the skill level needed to do so for actual clients. And if the web design process is more of a personal gain situation, even more emphasis on creativity and inspiring designs is needed to make others take notice of one's creations. Either way, web design is a fun industry and learning more on the subject is highly recommended.

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