When it comes to web designing, getting hung on its aesthetics can be easy. But is that all that matters for an excellent website? The answer is, “Not really!” For a successful website, you’ll need to focus on more than just how your website looks. In this article, we’ll check the top 4 web design golden rules that you should never break.
Today, there are over a billion websites that users can potentially land on, meaning there’s tough competition for you. To stand out from the crowd, your website needs a great design, especially since 94% of first impressions relate to your site’s design.
But what does a great web design mean? Is it about the color scheme you use? It is about where you place your logo on the screen. Or maybe about the font you use for your content? All of these and a lot more.
Great web designs enhance user experience and functionality while being easy to understand at first glance and looking fantastic. To achieve that, in addition to adding your personal touch and creativity, there are a few golden rules in web design that are always applicable.
Here are four web design golden rules you should never break when designing or redesigning your site:
Design with Visual Hierarchy in Mind
Visual hierarchy is an essential UX principle in web design as it aims to help display content clearly and effectively for users. In other words, it allows designers to plan their information architecture to help users navigate through the website more efficiently, which helps reduce the amount of effort and time needed to engage with your website.
Using the correct visual hierarchy will help you lead your site’s visitors’ attention to specific page elements in order of priority.
So, how do you use the principle of visual hierarchy in your website’s design?
There are two primary components of visual hierarchy: size and element placement. While size refers to highlighting your website’s top elements, such as the business logo or name, by making them larger, element placement refers to using specific elements to steer visitors’ eyes in the desired direction. For example, you can place essential call-to-action buttons at the very center of the screen.
Establish your site’s information hierarchy and then use elements like color, contrast, or spacing to accentuate them.
Make It Mobile-Friendly Web Design Golden Rules
According to Statista, there are over 3.5 billion smartphone users worldwide. Data shows that 74% of these users are more likely to return to a mobile-friendly website, whereas 93% have left a website because it didn’t display correctly on their device.
Mobile-friendliness has become a core rule in web design as people use their mobiles more and more often to search on the Internet, purchase goods, get entertainment, and even trade. All of your site visitors should be able to enjoy the same excellent user experience, no matter the device they are browsing.
So, it would be best if you made sure that all vital information is displayed correctly on different screen sizes no matter how the visitor sees your site using top web design rules.
One practical tip is to make essential information on your website easily findable. Unlike visitors who browse your site from desktops, mobile users are looking for more specific information, such as contact information or the cost of a product they want to buy. So, make this essential information impossible to miss.
Another core rule in web designing when creating a mobile-friendly site is to size interactive elements according to the screen size. In other words, make sure that your website is navigable with one thumb and requires no pitching to use. Remember that mobile users use their fingers to scroll and tap the buttons on your website. So, consider the screen size when designing the interactive elements in your web design.
Pay Attention to Responsiveness
A great website must also be responsive. Otherwise, it could cost you many customers. Data shows that 93% of users have clicked back and left a website because it didn’t load fast enough.
Take e-commerce, for example. Customers most likely have hundreds of other sites to purchase the same. Or a similar product they can get from you. If your website isn’t responsive and quickly allows them to make the purchase, they’ll likely go back and enter your competitor’s site instead.
Or, take mobile trading, for example. Which a 2018 survey found that it is highly likely to increase from 18% to 37%. So, in other words, more traders use their phones to trade stocks or Forex using algorithmic trading strategies tested online. Moreover, another study found that 43% of mobile traders check their phones every 20 seconds. So, you see, time is money for these online users. Thus, if you have a trading platform. It should be accessible from any electronic device, operate well in any browser, and be responsive.
Make It Easy to Navigate Web Design Golden Rules
Making your web design easy to navigate basically means making it easier for your visitors to find what they are looking for. Ideally, your visitors should enter your website and not have to struggle to figure out where to click next to get where they want.
You aim to engage your visitors to spend more time on your website. However, the time spent on your website should be on. So, doing the things you want users to do, such as purchasing. Filling out forms, or signing up, not figuring out how to do all these things. So, make sure you optimize your site’s navigability by:
- Linking your logo to the home page
- Adding a clear menu
- Offer vertical navigation elements
- Include navigation in the footer of your site
- Include a search box on the top of your site.
Focus on Readability: Web Design Rules
The readability of your website’s content is crucial for keeping visitors engaged. Select legible fonts and appropriate sizes that are easy to read on any device. Use high-contrast color combinations to ensure text stands out against the background, and structure your content with headings, subheadings, and bullet points to facilitate easy scanning. These practices not only enhance user experience but also improve the accessibility of your content, which can positively impact your SEO efforts.
- Font Selection
- Use web-safe, easily legible fonts.
- Standardize font sizes, with a minimum of 16px for body text.
- Text Layout
- Maintain line lengths of 50-75 characters.
- Set line spacing at 1.5 times the font size.
- Organize text into short, digestible paragraphs.
- Contrast and Color
- Ensure high contrast between text and background.
- Choose color schemes that do not strain the eyes.
- Accessibility Features
- Provide alt text for images containing text.
- Use relative units for text sizing to support user scaling preferences.
- Simplifying Presentation
- Incorporate ample whitespace to reduce visual clutter.
- Limit the number of different fonts to two or three styles for consistency.
