Did you know there are well over a billion websites in the world? However, only a fraction of them are still active and an even smaller percentage finds success.
Those that survive follow the basic rules of web design. These are the design rules that hook people in and encourage visitors to come back.
Do you want to find success as well? Before you launch your site, take a moment to dive into these tips below and make sure your site design is up to 2021’s standards!
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Mobile-Friendly
Millions of people use smartphones nowadays, even Google recognizes the impact they have on browsing the Internet. People search with their phones as often as they do with a laptop or desktop PC.
The browser now prioritizes websites that feature a mobile-friendly design. Before you launch your site, make sure to A/B split test it to see how it looks and behaves on mobile devices.
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Faster Loading Speed
A crucial web design rule of thumb is to make your pages load quickly. A slow web page is a definitive way to lose visitors. Why would they stick around waiting for a page to load when they can get the same information from a different website?
How fast should your pages load? Try to aim for 3 seconds or faster.
You can make your design faster by eliminating elements that soak up bandwidth. Compress images while maintaining quality, remove Flash, and reduce plugins.
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Responsive Design
Ever heard of responsive web design? It’s when your pages automatically adjust to the size of the user’s screen. This ensures your design optimizes itself regardless it’s viewed on a phone or desktop computer.
The good news is you don’t have to worry about it much. Platforms like WordPress already give you the option to make your site responsive. It’s as simple as pressing a button when designing the site.
Of course, this is only for the layout of the menu buttons and how images appear. You still need to do some elements by hand. You need to manually check font sizes, colours, and background choices to make sure they all look good on a big or small screen.
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Use Negative Space
One of the oft-ignored website design tips is to take advantage of negative space.
Don’t try to fill every inch of your pages! Leave negative space to ensure some elements get to stand out. Keeping some white space around an image, for example, highlights it more and will make people more likely to pay attention to it.
You also need to leave space around your links and menu buttons. This guarantees people will pay attention to them and not miss them amidst the clutter.
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Wise Color Choices
Have you ever checked out a site with too many loud colours? It’s distracting and it can cause viewers to ignore important elements of the page. Avoid this by sticking with three to four colours.
Also, always make sure to follow ongoing trends when it comes to colour choices. Black and white, for example, denote a formal tone. Yellow and orange can signify content more appropriate for younger audiences, such as students.
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Intuitive UX
One of the cardinal rules of web design is to guarantee your visitors know how to navigate the site. It shouldn’t take more than a few clicks to get to any page on the site. It shouldn’t take more than one click to always go back to the homepage.
While designing your site, make sure people don’t get bombarded by menu options, too many pages to sift through, and too many elements to go through. Visitors might get confused or lost and won’t be able to find what they came for. This can discourage them from continuing forward and they’ll look elsewhere.
Not sure if you can handle or plan something this complex? You can hire professional managed services to monitor this part of the designing process.
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Make Interactive Elements Obvious
Take a look at your interactive elements, from your links to your menu buttons. Don’t forget to alter their colours, font size, background elements, and how the cursor behaves when hovering over them. These simple changes guarantee that people know they can interact with them.
Not sure if you made the right design choices? Grab a few people and have them interact with the web page. See if they can identify clickable links, logos, and other elements in your pages.
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Consistency With Fonts
One of the archaic designs from the 90s is to use a bunch of different fonts. Don’t do this! Maintain consistency to keep your design looking professional.
Try to stick with a central theme for your fonts. If you picked sans-serif fonts, for example, make sure all of the fonts in the site are sans-serif. Also, prioritize readability over style. There’s no point in using beautiful font if people can’t read them.
Take a moment to look up the leading fonts for a specific industry. You’ll discover some fonts are more common than others when it comes to advertising, fashion, and others.
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Avoid Outdated Features
Did you know Google Chrome no longer supports Flash or plugins? There are other features from the past that are no longer relevant for 2021’s audience. One great example is a splash page.
A splash page is a beautiful page meant to welcome the visitor. However, it adds one more step before someone can visit the homepage. You’re giving the visitor an additional task before they can check out the product or information they came for.
If you want a website that will keep visitors coming and prove effective for sales and interest, follow these basic rules of web design. Don’t stray too far because you might end up with a design that is confusing or difficult to navigate.
Of course, there are other tips and tricks to master to come up with an amazing site. To learn even more, we invite you to check out our library of web design guides right here!