Thursday, November 5, 2009

Appreciating Website Design What To Do First

By Tony Hodges

Appreciating website design means that coming to the realization that a website to be used on the Internet for some purpose such as marketing will require that a few issues be addressed prior to the actual website being designed. The end goal should be a website that is attractive and does a few things for its owner and the visitors to the site.

As with anything to do with the Internet, it will first of all be necessary to carry out some research to correctly identify the market or niche that the website is going to be targeted at. Any website entrepreneurs should keep in mind that the site should be relevant to the interest group. That's why the site is going to be about automobile tires shouldn't give the impression that it is about bicycle tires, to use an example.

Along with work being done to identify an exploitable market or niche that the website will target, there is a requirement that the final product -- which is the website itself -- be logical to the users that are visiting and that the website can be easily navigated through. Tensions between design of the website and the usability of a website should be resolved in favor of usability under almost every circumstance.

Those hopeful website owners and entrepreneurs who don't get that poorly designed or unusable websites (from the visitor's perspective) generally end up owning websites that load very slowly and require the use of multiple plug-ins that users must download, which is something many users detest. Studies have shown that Internet visitors move on very quickly when the site they are visiting is slow to load or use.

As reinforcement, the above factors should be more than enough reason for website designers and entrepreneurs to spend the time on some research about markets and website requirements that can be utilized correctly in order to make the site be highly usable. Black text on white backgrounds seem to be very usable, by the way. If a background is needed, go with plain colors or very subtle designs.

A common downfall when it comes to initial website design is that many entrepreneurs and designers fail to take care that the text itself is in a printable color. This is yet another selling point in black text's favor, though any color that will print well and doesn't give users a headache when they view it is acceptable.

When looking at things logically, appreciating website design what to do first factors means that the person who will be owning or designing the website will engage in prior planning for not only market research but also in order to ensure that the website itself is very usable and will not scare away visitors who happen to land at it.

About the Author:

No comments: