Despite all of the code and technical aspects behind website building, when it comes to design it is far more of an art form than anything. Making sure everything meshes together properly and works as intended comes down to planning, experience, and flexibility. To make it a little easier, here are some basic tips to keep in mind as you go.
Make More of Less
Whether you’re working for mobile screens or the biggest desktop monitors, the amount of information that you can show on the page is always limited. In the old days of the Internet, that meant cramming as many links and images as possible onto one screen, but that left us with an overcrowded display. It’s an issue shared by all kinds of tech media, from office software to online casino games.
The key is working with the minimum needed for the maximum effect. In the case of casino games mentioned above, you can look at why so many enjoy the Gem Heat online slot as an example, part of which is thanks to a carefully controlled layout of just the minimum spin and value adjustment options. The main parts of the game are kept visible without removing any essential functionality.
Front and Centre
On the same topic of screen real estate, there is also the opposing factor of making sure the things you want customers to see first appear above the fold. The “fold” is a print media term, which in this case means the first screen users see without scrolling. Extensive market research has shown that users often avoid scrolling at all, so getting the message across on the first screen can be vital.
This is the reason that there are so many development solutions like UXTweak and Hotjar for exactly this purpose. They are able to see how far down each page a website’s users actually scroll and inform on decisions. As discussed above, though, you will still need to balance including vital info above the fold with not overwhelming users with too much, too fast.
Plan the Journeys
For the vast majority of commercial websites, there should be specific end goals that you want your users to achieve, whether that’s ordering products, requesting a quote, or simply asking for someone to contact them. Making sure those potential customers get from point A to point B on the site with the absolute minimum of difficulty is vital.
Specialist sites like UserGuiding can provide a lot of detailed information on the topic, but in short, you need to predict user activity and plan ahead. If, for example, you have a subscription service, and you know users have the potential to arrive at your site by any number of different pages, then having a subscribe button prominently on each page ensures that the end goal is only a click away each time.
Everything above is a great starting point, but always make sure you’re open to adapting and improving your approach. Best practice standards change all the time, so be sure to keep up for the most effective design results.
This content was provided to Verge by a third party contributor.
