Looking Good on the Web

There's a lot of websites out there floating around in cyberspace, screaming
for attention. When you cast your site out into the void, will you be able to
catch viewers and hold on to them? Will they click through — or click off?

You have the content. You have a message. You need to present it in a
professional and attractive manner quickly, before the viewer hits that
return key. A few basic design skills will help you along.

1. The first important step is to provide a CENTER OF INTEREST to catch the
viewer's eye. This can be your logo, a heading graphic, a gripping
photograph. This should be at the top left or center of your site page. Say
you have an online nursery business. You might splash a stunning photo of
billowing red begonias across the top of your page. Right under it you could
have your logo and business name. Or, you could have the logo and/or name
printed right on the photo, just make sure it's VERY legible. Nothing spoils
a photo more than faint unrecognizable smears on it.

2. From your center of interest object, you need to make sure people quickly
see/read what you think is most important for them to know. Don't put
paragraphs of text. They won't bother with it, and may even leave your site.
Think poster. A web page is like a poster. Present information briefly and
design it so the whole poster can be read quickly. To do this, you need to
have EYE TRAVEL. This means planning graphics, tables, or short text snips to
be placed on the page in such a pattern as to lead your viewers along the
page to see what you want them to see without their making a conscious
effort. Remember people read left to right, top to bottom. This is natural.
Make use of it.

And, don't be afraid of blank space!! Did you hear me? Don't be afraid of
blank space! Give your text and graphics room to breathe!

things apart.
Make your table cells big. Put in spacers. A star in a black sky is more
visible than the same star in the Milky Way.

3. Unify your site. Use REPETITION. Keep the same background color/image
from page to page. Put your logo on each page in the same place. Use the same
text color from page to page. If you have those billowing begonias on your
index page, use a begonia flower for all your navigation buttons. Whatever
you choose as navigation buttons, use the same ones on each page. If you use
a text graphic for navigation, repeat that from page to page. Whatever.
Repetition is comfortable. It holds the site together.

4. Of course, the same thing all the time could be boring to the viewer. So
you do need some VARIETY. Back to the nursery business. Perhaps all the bulbs
pages would have a green background, while all the herbs pages could have a
blue background, and the annuals a yellow background. But they might all have
the same basic layout otherwise. When you introduce variety into your design,
make it logical. Have a reason for it. All of your navigation buttons could
be flowers, different for each section. Balance out repetition and variety so
that your site is unified, but interesting.

5. Be kind to your viewer. Restrain yourself from obnoxious animation. Use it
sparingly and carefully, if at all. Keep the music minima, if at all. Make
the font big enough to read easily. Contrast the colors of the font and of
the background so that the text shows up clearly. If you use a splash page,
tell the viewer what to do to get into your site.

Good visual design keeps a viewer at your site. It inspires confidence in
your product. Go to a search engine and bring up sites similar to yours and
critique them. Get ideas. Then use them. Be a designer. Make your site a
Presence on the web.

And while you're surfing around the net, check out my website at
http://www.clovenstone.com, just for the fun of it. Maybe it'll give you an
idea.

About the Author

Ruth McIntyre-Williams holds a Master of Arts in art, and has been
a computer graphics design specialist for the National Park Service. She is
now retired, and does free-lance website design.
Clovenstone@aol.com

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