Website design what makes a good website

A clear structure, moderate visual clues and easily recognizable links can help users to find their path to their aim. What does it mean? Although the design itself is simple and intuitive, to understand what the page is about the user needs to search for the answer.

This is what an unnecessary question mark is. The visual explanation is placed on the right hand side. Just exchanging both blocks would increase usability. ExpressionEngine uses the very same structure like Beyondis, but avoids unnecessary question marks. Furthermore, the slogan becomes functional as users are provided with options to try the service and download the free version. By reducing cognitive load you make it easier for visitors to grasp the idea behind the system.

In every project when you are going to offer your visitors some service or tool, try to keep your user requirements minimal. The less action is required from users to test a service, the more likely a random visitor is to actually try it out. First-time visitors are willing to play with the service , not filling long web forms for an account they might never use in the future.

Let users explore the site and discover your services without forcing them into sharing private data. Stikkit is a perfect example for a user-friendly service which requires almost nothing from the visitor which is unobtrusive and comforting. Apparently, Mite requires more. A user registration alone is enough of an impediment to user navigation to cut down on incoming traffic. As websites provide both static and dynamic content, some aspects of the user interface attract attention more than others do.

Obviously, images are more eye-catching than the text — just as the sentences marked as bold are more attractive than plain text. And the uses might stop using the website. Think and act wisely.

There are many website testing tools out there, just choose one and test the speed of your website. One of the popular ones is Pingdom Tools. So the first step is rather than updating your website without knowing where the problem is. The correct that specific problem. Things might make more sense later on.

Some tips to increase the performance of your website is given down below:. I tested the Gmail website using the Pingdom Tools the results were fascinating.

So design your website in such ways that its performance result must look similar to this one shown below:. As seen above in the screenshot this website also suggests the improvements to increase the performance with sufficient documentation.

Feedback is a response about the task, process or event after its completion or during its stage of completion. Suddenly you get a message of transaction failed. At this point you are clueless. For example, to give you a bit of more clear insight on what I mean by feedback about progress is refer to the below-given screenshot.

Suppose when I upload an image as an attachment on Gmail, with the help of the progress bar I can come to know that the image is being uploaded. These simple things make your website more functional. Some tips for providing feedback about the progress are as given below:. For example, think the user is trying to make a payment online. Provide a dialog or alert only when the transaction is successful or failure.

Also, sometimes it would be good if you ask the user to receive the notifications before displaying them without their permission. Don't Do this. Do this. Some of the things that you need to follow are:.

If you have already designed a website or on the verge of designing, then try to develop it completely with all the pages, features, and functionality: the websites must not have broken links and images, incomplete functionalities and many more. Especially the site should not have any or errors. If at all you have broken links by mistake, then try to design a good error page. A user must be happy even though they see a error page but this case is exceptional.

One of the best pages for errors in terms of design is the GitHub website. Check it out. You should design the page in such a way that even though the user lands on a error page, they must navigate back to the other pages or even quit from the website.

Give them options to perform other tasks as shown in the above screenshot. With the help of these principles, you can easily develop user-friendly and functional websites. You need to see how users react to it. Practical tip: Keep an eye on analytics. Web analytics are powerful tools that can help you find areas on your website that require additional attention. Loading time is extremely important for user experience.

As technology progresses, we get more impatient, and today, 47 percent of users expect a web page to load in two seconds or less. If a web page takes more time to load, visitors might become frustrated and leave the site. Users expect different behavior from internal and external links. If you decide to open external links in a new window, you should provide an advanced warning before automatically opening a new window or tab. This might take the form of text added to the link text stating.

Too many variations in font types can be distracting, confusing, and borderline annoying. A common recommendation is to use a maximum of three different typefaces in a maximum of three different sizes. When designing a website think about how can you make the typography powerful by playing with weight, not different fonts.

Applying color to a design has a lot to do with balance, and, the more colors you use, the harder it is to achieve balance. Using too many colors in design is like trying to convey a million feelings and messages at once, which can confuse the person viewing your design. Practical tip: Think about emotions you want to evoke from your visitors.

Knowing what feelings you want to convey can help you choose the proper color scheme. A lot of websites show pop-up boxes with a request to subscribe as soon as you arrive on the page. As a designer, showing pop-up windows is probably one of the most annoying things you can do to someone visiting your website. Pop-ups are interruptive by nature, and, since they are typically used to show ads, users often close them even before reading the content.

Practical tip: Time your pop-ups. Before asking visitors to do something, you need to show how you can deliver value.

White space, buttons, and other visual design elements help images and content stand out, and keep a layout from being cluttered. White space, also known as negative space, is an important aspect of any utilitarian design. Without it, messaging can turn into an indistinct blob. Imagine an intersection with 3 street options versus 10 — simplicity makes for a better journey. It does not make a product more innovative, powerful or valuable than it really is.

It does not attempt to manipulate the consumer with promises that cannot be kept. Consumers are savvy. They can see through shallow marketing jargon — they want and expect brands to be real. Position your brand as a voice of authenticity by providing information that has value and communicates the humanity behind your brand. These guiding principles inform almost any website you'll visit. There are always exceptions, but knowing the rules makes it easier to bend them without breaking your design.

What are the principles that shape your work? Tell us in the comments what guides your process and helps you design better. Build your site for free and take as long as you need. Get started now. Search for Jeff Cardello July 21, July 21, July 21, Purpose sets the foundation. Unleash your creativity on the web. Get started for free. Subscribe to be a Webflow Insider. Organization unifies. Share this. Related reads Web design Website mockup design: the complete guide with tools. Web design 22 inspiring web design trends for