Sunday, August 16, 2009

How To Turn A Good Web Design Into A Great One

By Cheryl L. True

Searching for a great web design for your site? Here are some things to consider to get your site to stand out.

Proximity - Because items that are in close proximity to one another become one visual unit, items that are related to one another should be grouped together. Putting out related items on a web page this way helps readers see this information and enables them to mentally categorize the information easily. The flip side of this principle is that items that aren't related shouldn't be placed in close proximity to one another.

The purpose of this principle is to organize information in a way that viewers can quickly and easily comprehend. When information is organized, people are more likely to read it and respond. People are also more likely to remember information that is organized.

How can you ascertain if items form a visual unit? Squint your eyes and view the page at a web site. Then count how many times your eyes stopped as they looked at the page. On a page that uses the rule of proximity well, your eyes will squint from three to five times. This means there are three to five groups of information that the eyes have to understand separately.

Alignment - You've seen web page designs where the text and graphics are placed wherever there is space. This makes the page cluttered and with no impact. Don't put anything on a page arbitrarily. There should be a visual link between each item and other things on the page. When items are aligned, this creates a union that the eyes appreciate.

The purpose of aligning things is to unify the web page. Think of a well-organized kitchen with all the pots and pans placed in the organizer, the fruits nicely arranged in a basket on the counter and the spices all together on the rack. In summary, everything is in place. A page layout must be the same.

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