Remembering the similarities between print and web design should be your first step toward mastering web design. The fundamentals are the same. In order to convey your message clearly, you must master the use of white space, typography, and colour.
First, let’s examine the foundational pieces that make up the process of learning web design. Even seasoned designers may find useful nuggets of wisdom here, as this guide is geared toward those just starting out.
01. Elements of Good Design
The principles of good design apply equally to web design. Knowing what constitutes good design will allow you to apply those standards to your own website creations.
Good web design prioritises easy navigation, concise and informative pages, active links, and, above all else, flawless grammar and spelling. Your website will get off to a great start if you keep these things in mind as you add colour and graphics.
02. How to Layout a Web Page
The layout of a website is often misunderstood as the design. Images, text, menus, and other components all rest on the layout, which determines how those elements are presented to the user.
It’s common practise for designers to use CSS for page layout. You can also apply it to things like fonts, colours, and other formatting details. With this method, you can rest assured that all of your site’s features will be uniform and simple to administer.
The best thing about using CSS is that any changes you make to the CSS will be reflected in all of your pages. It’s sleek, and mastering CSS can help you avoid a lot of trouble down the road.
Today, responsive web design (RWD) is also crucial in the online world. With RWD, the primary goal is to adapt the page’s layout to the screen size of the user’s viewing device. It’s more crucial than ever to keep in mind that people will be viewing it on a wide variety of screen sizes, including desktop computers, mobile phones, and tablets.
Fonts and Typography
Web fonts determine how your written content appears on the page. There is usually a lot of text on a website, so this is an important feature.
Both the macro (how the text as a whole looks) and the micro (how each individual font glyph, font family, etc.) are important considerations when designing (positioning blocks of text and adjusting the size and shape of the text). It’s not as easy as picking a font, but with some guidance, you can get started.
Your Website’s Color Scheme
The world is awash in vibrant hues. It’s how we present and interpret the world. Color is more than just a descriptive term, and it plays a significant role in the design process.
All websites, it seems, use some sort of colour scheme. It strengthens the site’s overall identity and permeates all pages and promotional materials. The process of choosing a colour palette is an important one in the design process.
Adding Graphics and Images
Adding visuals to a website is a lot of fun. An image truly is worth a thousand words, as the old adage goes, and this is especially true in the realm of web design. Since the internet is primarily a visual medium, including appealing images and other visuals can significantly boost your site’s success.
A search engine can’t tell what an image is of unless you tell it. As a result, designers can make use of IMG tag attributes like the ALT tag to incorporate these particulars.
Don’t Discount Navigation
Site navigation refers to the means by which site visitors move about your site. It gets people moving around and offers them opportunities to discover more of what your site has to offer.
Your website’s structure (the information architecture) must make sense. Moreover, it must be very simple to navigate and read, so that site visitors won’t need to resort to the search bar.
The point of having a site’s navigation and internal links is to facilitate site exploration by visitors. Your chances of making a sale increase in proportion to how long you keep them interested in what you’re offering.
Web Design Software
WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors are the standard tool of choice for web designers. These allow you to spend less time focusing on coding HTML by providing a graphical interface to the design process.
It can be difficult to find good web design software. Adobe Dreamweaver is favoured by many designers due to its comprehensive feature set and user-friendliness. There is a cost involved, but a trial version is free to try.
In order to get started, newcomers to web design may want to investigate online or free web editors. It’s possible to get started with web design and create some stunning pages with these tools.
