What It Takes To Create an Effective Website Design

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What It Takes To Create an Effective Website
Design
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• Your web design is either effective or not and
  clearly, there is no room for a middle ground. To
  create a design that serves the purpose it is
  supposed to (read is effective), it is
  imperative that you not only have the requisite
  skills but also know what not to do. Simply put,
  it comes down to two things
• Utilising the skills you have and probably
  acquiring some more on your way
• Not doing things that can lead to an ineffective
  web site design

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The skills you need

• Marketing

You may be a website designer, someone who
doesnt necessarily own the business for which
the design is to be created, but you need to have
an understanding of the target market. Also, keep
in mind that not every business needs the same
kind of design. Point in case what works wonders
for a B2B site may or may not do any good when it
comes to an entertainment website. Keep this in
mind, hone your marketing skills and portray the
business favorably.
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• Layout-ing

• Being a designer, you need to determine if all
  the pages of a site should have the same layout.
  While you may be good at layout-ing (if thats a
  word!), you are still advised to consider the
  following to ensure that you dont go wrong
• Page pixel width
• Per-device specification
• While you are at it, make sure that you find out
  all theres to know about responsive web design,
  which is often dubbed the latest advancement in
  this context.

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• Coding

Code can make or break the design and therefore,
you must make sure that you do not end up with
poorly-coded pages. For this, you not only need
to keep an eye out for errors, but to also ensure
that the IDs and classes are identified properly.
The idea here is to conform to the web design
standards.
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• Grasping

Before working on the design, you must understand
that to some extent, it is your responsibility to
ensure that the visitors perceive the usefulness
of the website. If they dont, they are unlikely
to use the site for long. Also, dont test their
patience. If they are supposed to install some
plug-ins because of the design that you create,
chances are that they wont. Even worse, they may
not be as tech-savvy as you think they are. More
importantly, if at all you wish to experiment
with advanced interactivity, do so at your own
risk.
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What you should not do

• Dont think text doesnt count Yes, a picture is
  worth a thousand words, but no ones coming to
  the site to have a look at a couple of images and
  go. They are there to read as well and they need
  text. So, dont even think of creating a design
  thats literally flooded with images and even
  worse, never ever (bold, italics) turn text
  blocks into images to grab the users attention.
  Wont work. Caution With too many images, the
  website background may turn out to be much bigger
  than you expect it to be, eventually leading to a
  page that loads slowly

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• Dont take your typography skills for granted If
  you are a good typographer, act like it. Use the
  right fonts and while you are it, dont forget
  that choosing the right size(s) is equally
  important. You need to read the visitors minds
  and think whether or not your font selection
  enhances their experience. If it doesnt, think
  again. Caution No matter how appealing it may
  sound, avoid using too many fonts.

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• Dont complicate things You are a pro the
  visitors arent (at least not all of them). A
  good idea here is to assume that small kids are
  going to view the design you create. While they
  may not be a part of your target audience,
  imagining them may help you in coming up with a
  design thats simple. Caution If the design
  needs you to create forms, make sure you do not
  include too many items. No one has the time to
  fill up a form with 30 different fields.

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• Dont assume things Lets start with advanced
  interactivity dont assume that it goes well
  with all kinds of browsers and hardware
  configurations. It may not, especially if you
  talk of older browsers and configurations.
  Likewise, it makes no sense to assume that the
  visitors may have no qualms if you simply place
  boxes everywhere. FYI, they like to visit a
  well-structured page. Caution Assumptions can
  cost you dearly when you are asked to design the
  page for a small business that may not be able to
  hire a web developer and you might be solely
  responsible for designing and programing the
  complete web page. In any such situation, dont
  assume that you are only there for the visual
  aspect.

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• Dont be greedy An effective website design is
  free from ads. Correction free from TOO MANY
  ads. The business may want to earn money through
  the means of advertisements but as a designer
  its your responsibility to tell them that they
  shouldnt make ads their 1 priority. Play it
  smart and use your skills to blend in the ads.
  Caution A page full of ads is likely to drive
  away the visitors.
• Dont overdo things Lets say you are to choose
  a color scheme. What should you do? Include every
  known color? It may occur to you that too many
  colors would lead to an attractive design, but
  unfortunately they wont. 5 colors at max
  thats the limit try not to cross.

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