Web Site Design Tips - The Right Look

In this installment of our series on web site design tips, we're going to focus on the overall look of the site itself. This is probably more design than anything else but it is still very important. Without a proper look in mind, people will not take your site seriously. There needs to be some uniformity to your site. This article will give you some tips on how to go about getting this uniformity and making your site as professional looking as possible.

Web design, as far as the overall look and appearance of your site, is an art. I am not saying that it can't be taught, because it can. But to design a site that is really eye catching, that is something that you develop over time. However, the basics can be learned and you need to know them before you can ever build a web site that lands you a spot on the top 10 web site design list.

The easiest way to learn web site design, or what I call layout, is to simply go to other sites in your niche and see what they look like. The reason I say, in your niche, is because every niche has its own look. If you were to go to sites that feature heavy metal bands, you would find that the overall look of these sites is a lot different from sites that feature treatments for health problems. So you want to get a general feel for what your kind of site should look like. This is not to say that you copy somebody's design exactly. Simply use it as a model.

One thing you will find about the look of most web sites is that they are very well structured. What I mean by structured is that they don't start at the top and just spit out a bunch of text and graphics with no rhyme or reason to it. Yes, the bad sites do this. But the ones that are professionally designed have a flow to them. It's impossible to go over every possible design scheme but the basics are as follows:

At the top of the page is what we call the header. This is usually some form of graphic that has the site name and logo. These headers are usually very attractive. Some sites, where they are of the more serious nature, like health sites, are more low key with their header. However, they still do look very professional.

After the header is usually where you will find the navigation of the site, either under the header or to the left and below. This is so people can get around the site easily and not have to go hunting for navigation links. This part alone can really kill your site if not done correctly.

The rest of the site, which is the content, is usually broken up with tables or div tags. This makes it so that the content flows in a logical manner and isn't all over the place. Some of these tables may actually look like physical tables as their borders are visible. Some, however, are invisible so that it is only a suggestion of structure. You can't really see it, but you can feel it and you know it's there.

Finally, at the bottom of each page will be your legal disclaimers, site creation stats, such as who designed it, or whatever you want to have there. The point is, everything flows logically from top to bottom and also from left to right.

As I said, design is something that comes with time, but if you follow some basic guidelines, which includes simply looking at other sites, you'll have a pretty good idea of how to put together a web site that is attractive and holds the attention of your visitors.

To YOUR Success