As recent studies has demonstrated, people rate WEB site by visual impression in the first second, and if they don’t like it, they go to the other site, without looking at the content or trying to understand how your menu functions.
WEB site that is attractive to the eye and easy to search has a much better chance to retain visitor, but also to remind him to come back again. That’s why the WEB site design is one of the most important items during design.
What distinguish a high quality WEB site design:
- It should be appealing and attractive while at the same time allow perception to the users accordingly use of the content. The design should be link between the user and the information on the page.
- It should enable users to identify each page as part of a larger whole
- It should allow users to easily and intuitively use web page navigation
- It should use at the maximum level the maxims and the principles of web usability and visual design
Basic principles/rules of good web design:
- alignment of the elements on the page – grid
it refers to the alignment of the top, bottom, side or central parts of all the graphics and/or textual elements on the page; alignment of the left edges of the elements, for example, titles, subtitles and texts on the page contribute to a better perception of the connection between elements and cleaner and more readable visual page structure - balance between the elements – symmetrical and asymmetrical
each element on the page has its own „weight“, for example title size, font color intensity or position of the graphic objects on the page can create a certain balance - unity of the elements
different composition elements interact with each other - contrast
is repeating or setting of different graphic or textual elements that are used for highlighting things on the web page: for example, serif fonts such as - Times New Roman or Garamound for titles and sans-serif fonts – Arial or Verdana for contents - consistency of the elements
allows perception of the elements belonging to a web page and visual stability and identity of the whole web seat; for example, navigation (menu) should always be placed on the same place on each web page (e.g. at the top of the page)
