Tips for Planning the Best Web Site Design

Contributed by Devon Mccollum

Tips for Planning the Best Web Site Design

The best web site design follows templates and leaves the site visitor informed and satisfied. So many web sites are not designed properly, or the web site gets too big and out of control. Before you start creating, the best idea is to plan your layout and content and then get started with the design.

The best web site design is neat and organized.

Whether you have a simple web site with a few pages or a giant web site with thousands of links and pages, the site should be organized. Don't fall into the trap of maintaining the look and feel of the web site.

Plan the web site on paper first. Use a different sheet of paper for each page. Where will the links be? Where will the images go? How will you add more information to the web site? These are all important factors of good web design, and the best designers know better than to just start coding.

Plan on including a site map. This way, should you end up completely re-doing the web site, visitors can easily locate the information they are looking for. Information architecture studies have shown that web sites with site maps are many more times easier to navigate than web sites without them.

The best web site design has plenty of "white space".

When planning your web site design, remember to include plenty of "white space", or empty space on the pages. Web surfers want information and visuals, but they don't want to be overwhelmed with links and graphics. If the web page you are planning requires a great deal of space, divide it into two or more sections to keep it simple.

A good rule of thumb is that everyone has a different computer. Not everyone has a giant monitor and a fast connection. Design your web site accordingly.

More »