There are many different types of web design, from those created with website templates and “build your own” site builder apps to complex content management and e-commerce web designs such as those used by big brands like Amazon, eBay, and Amazon. Tesco. Some companies, even reputable ones, have unprofessional looking and poorly designed websites. Some have amazing looking websites, but because of their high graphic content and minimal text content they can take ages to load, are not user friendly and do not provide what the visitor wants.
good website design
Although many aspects of website design differ from site to site, many things remain the same for most websites on the Internet. The most remarkable thing is the navigation or menu. The way a website menu works and looks is very important, as ultimately, visitors to a website are looking for certain criteria that will make them stay and interact or leave. This ability of a website to keep visitors engaged is sometimes called stickiness. Visitors want a visually exciting and engaging experience, but perhaps more importantly, they want ‘ease of use’. Website usability is a key factor for websites that want their visitors to stay, make an inquiry, and ultimately complete a transaction and order a product or service.
User-friendly web design
Internet users tend to prefer user-friendly websites, because they don’t want to have to learn how to use a website every time they find a new one. They should be able to use a website after just a few seconds of looking around a home page, any longer and they’ll go away and look elsewhere. The need for fast user interaction is vital and therefore having a fast loading website is also important for a successful website. Even with faster Internet connections like broadband, Internet users don’t want to wait.
Imagine, if you go to a store on the high street and the store clerks completely ignore you for 5 minutes, even after you have made it clear that you need help. There is a correlation here with how an internet user might feel when they land on a website that is poorly designed, difficult to use, unfriendly, and slow to load. Ensuring that a website has been well thought out and designed with the user in mind, showcases a company’s unique selling points within easily recognizable, eye-catching calls to action, and has a clear, user-friendly menu is key to its success.
Flash Web Design
With recent advances in web design, such as the introduction of Flash animation and high-definition video content, impressive websites have been produced to take advantage of much higher levels of visual effects and interaction. However, with this ‘high end’ web design comes a price, more often than not, web designs that rely heavily on Flash content are often ridiculously slow to load. They often have a progress bar, which slowly scrolls through the web browser to indicate when the website will finish loading.
This is very similar to the progress bars you may be familiar with if you use 3D rendering or video editing software, or use game consoles where they display while you wait for games to load. Internet users generally don’t want to wait 3-5 minutes for a web page to load, even if it features high-resolution images, animations, or videos. They want websites that are fast and rich in informative content. If they wanted to see an animation or a video, they would watch television.
Good Flash web design
This is not to say that Flash animation is bad news and shouldn’t be used in web design. Used subtly and in small amounts, it can make a website more visually appealing without slowing down load times too much. Proper uses for Flash animation in web design are things like; Flash banner ads, Flash video, and interactive Flash forms for online quizzes or business presentations.
However, using Flash for the design of an entire website is not a good idea. It slows down the user experience because you have to wait for some elements to load. Also, full Flash sites tend to use unfamiliar features and menu structures. This can confuse visitors who just want to quickly interact with the website and not be surprised by the way the menu is animated. Just because you can do these things in Flash doesn’t mean they have any real working value in the real world. They may look pretty, but if they aren’t functional and just irritate the visitor, then they have no real value.
Flash Web Design and SEO
Another argument against using Flash to create a complete website is that it drastically reduces the effectiveness of search engine optimization of your websites. Flash web designs are made up of a main file within a web page that search engines find difficult to index. This is because the text they contain is usually graphical text and therefore not often accessed by search engines. Some recent developments allow text to be displayed for search engines on Flash websites, but this is not as effective as text content within traditional HTML-based websites.
Don’t rule out Flash in web design
Although Flash has its limitations, it also has its good points if used correctly. For example; Flash animation tends to have a smaller file size than traditional gif animation, and because of the way it’s done, the animation flows more smoothly than gif animation as well. Having said that, I would recommend using Flash only in small areas within a site to complement other images that make up the overall design. Finding a balance between minimal graphics, images, Flash, and good quality informative text is the key to a successful and user-friendly website. This is not to say that web design should be boring. By working with quality web design companies, there’s no reason why you can’t have a visually appealing, well-designed, easy-to-use, and successful website.
Visually stimulating web design
When visitors first come to a website, they want to be impressed and engaged with what the website has to offer. This will be determined by the ways the web designer has presented the text, images and features of the website content. Organizing elements like images, text, graphics, flash, and video in a way that keeps the visitor interested in the website is the key to good web design. If a website is poorly designed and doesn’t grab the visitor’s attention in the first few seconds, it may be written off as an average website. Ultimately, this means that the visitor will go elsewhere to spend their time and, more importantly, their money.
good web design
A lot of time and money is spent making sure the right elements of websites are placed in the right places. Companies spend large amounts of money conducting research on how Internet users use their websites. This type of research shows where your visitors’ eyes are most focused, which website elements they click on first, and in general how they interact with and use your websites. Most Internet users will primarily watch from the top left of the page or down the left side of the web page through an Internet browser via a computer, mobile phone, or television.
I’d guess they’re looking for the company’s name or logo, their main selling points or taglines, and then what the website has to offer in terms of what’s featured on the menu. After which your eyes will probably be drawn across the content of the page and to the right side. Successful web design usually takes this into account and it will ultimately affect the appearance of a website.
Of course, there are quite famous exceptions to this rule, for example, a well-known search engine has a web design that is quite different. The main focus and core functionality in your web design is right in the middle of the page. However, this is no ordinary website with tens or even hundreds of pages of products and services to display, its main focus is its recognizable logo and of course its search box. However, it does feature a small, minimal menu at the top of the web design, flowing from left to right. Even they have taken into account some of the research done on the habits of Internet users. If you look at websites after reading this article, I can guarantee you that most of the web designs you will see will have a menu on the left and a header bar defined with the company logo and tagline.
