Friday, August 28, 2009

Importance Of Color In Web Design

By David Bungay

Color should be an important feature to consider while designing your webpage. Web designers should be careful about color. Since browsers share 216 colors, your web design should be built using only those.

To understand how this happens, you have to understand that colors are formed out of a pallet in the web browser. If you use a color that does not exist in the pallet, the browser has to mix other colors to form the one you have chosen. This can distort the appearance of your website. It can also make your content illegible. So play safe and use safe colors in your design element.

Use colors that are simple to comprehend and do not hurt the eye, even though they may be safe colors. For instance, I have come upon webpages that are black with white script. My eyes hurt when I try to read the content. This is okay for flashy websites that are designed solely for the pleasure of the site owner and his friends. In a professional setting, it can hamper the business. A customer may just be put off and go purchase from a competitor.

Use yellow sparingly. Pure yellow strains the eye. It is sharp and noticeable. Use it in banners and advertisements for maximum effect. It will draw attention to the banner but since there is not too much content in a banner, it will not hurt the eye. Yellow can also irritate. Perhaps this is why it is used to mark out crime areas and on caution boards.

Use red sparingly too. Bright colors attract visitors but cause eye fatigue. Visitors will want to move away from your website if these colors are used all over. It makes your website appear flashy and therefore not very serious in the business world.

The human eye is muscular. The muscles get fatigued and start paining. Moreover the eye nerves respond negatively to flashy colors. The rods and cones in the eye respond by putting patches of mismatched color that obscure the vision and do not allow you to read the website.

Traffic is hard to attract and it is even harder to get that traffic to convert into sales. You do not need to give your customer reasons to drift away from your website by filling it up with tiring colors.

You may well ask, so what colors do I use? Well, the answer is obvious. Use colors that are soft. White or soft backgrounds are good. You can add content in simple black fonts. Use Arial, Times, Calibri or any other popular font that the eye is used to. Remember you want your customer to feel comfortable while browsing your website.

Avoid pop ups and flash banners. They will irritate the customer. Your website has to be simple. Avoid too many contrasting colors. It makes the website appear irritating. Do not go to the other extreme and use boring colors. It will make your website appear dull. You can keep your background cream or light blue, use black fonts. Add headers and banners to give you the splash of color you need. Your pictures should be colorful. This will be visually appealing to your visitor without irritating him.

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