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... the visitor from staying at the site. Subtle colors such as earth tones and the traditional white background demonstrate professionalism in the site. The purpose of a web site is to present information in a clean and professional way, so the consumer will be comfortable browsing the site. Bright colors, blinking text, large images, and attention getting backgrounds often take away from the content and the web site loses its value. If loud colors must be used, use them sparingly and only when absolutely necessary.
Consumers like pictures a lot; however, the worst thing about pictures is that they require time to be displayed. The web is a wonderful medium for expression. In building a page, a designer can add photo quality images, clip art, 3 -D graphics, Flash animation and more to set an appropriate theme. However, it is difficult for a designer to select the right graphic types and maintaining the balance in the content. There are essentially two main graphic formats in use on the web today. These are GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) and JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) files.
Each file format has its own benefits and limitations. GIF files are limited to a maximum of 256 colors and are best suited to images with little or no variation in shades or hues of the same color (such as clip art or vector graphics). GIF files will give you good results if a designer wants to display flat images or illustrations that do not require high detail. While the image quality may be lower, GIFs allow a designer to do a few things that are currently not possible with JPEGs. However, the question that rises is whether the quality of a picture is more important to a consumer or its size. A designer should first determine which one is the most important and then should use one of the formats.
A designer may choose to vary font colors between different page elements. This can add a nice effect to the appearance and readability of your pages but it is important to use complimentary colors. A designers choice of font colors and types should have some connection to the theme or message you are trying to convey if possible and also should be connected to the theme of a whole web site. While it is acceptable to vary font size and color within a page, it is important to minimize the diversity of font types used. Too many fonts in the same page will give your work the appearance of a ransom note rather than a serious web site. Standard fonts like Times New Roman or just about any of the Courier or Arial groups will offer the greatest compatibility to consumers.
A designer may decide to choose an exotic font from the net and use it in a page design. However, the text will not appear to consumers as it does to a designer, unless consumers too have that font on their computer. Content is defined as the information that is being presented by the web site and is the most important thing in a web site. Like every element of the design process, effective use of text can either direct your readers attention or divert it.
The data is what should stand out about the site. When presenting information, the content should make the consumers eyes roll down the page and follow the information. The most important information should be in a larger font because it will grab the visitors attention first before anything else. Everything else should be presented in a smaller font.
A site should only carry appropriate, accurate and relevant content. The information should be constructed in a persuasive manner, so the message the site is trying to put across can be powerfully and effectively delivered. The use of white space is an often-overlooked method of balancing page content and drawing a consumers attention to items of importance. The novice page designer will endeavor to fill every square inch of screen space with text and graphics, often separating content by repeatedly using bars or rules. An absence of content is sometimes the best way to draw attention to what is there. White space should be an integral part of a design by establishing margins, paragraph breaks, indents, and other blank areas that help a consumer to focus on the content in manageable sections.
Use of white space makes titles stand out or to separate large sections (or columns) of text into smaller paragraphs that can easily be engaged without overwhelming a consumer with a continuous wall of text. Sites designed for consumers must be clear in their navigation as well as their text. Consumers must be able to intuitively find what they seek. Where help is needed, it must be plainly marked and easily understood. Ambiguity is a wonderful thing in fine art, but it has no place in a user-oriented web space. Similarly, the merely decorative has little place in a site designed for consumers.
Consumers do not have patience for digressions, or for multi-tiered layers that get between them and the information they seek. While navigation issues have already been addressed to a degree, it is important to remember that navigational interface is the first interactive feature consumers will face. A designer must carefully decide what degree of complexity he or she wants to design into such an integral part of a site. There are many ways of jazzing up a menu system but designers always stand the risk of excluding a segment of a viewing public when they rely solely on these navigational approaches. It is extremely important always to offer an alternative to graphic or multimedia based navigation in the form of a simple linked text menu (commonly placed at the top or bottom of each page).
Many older web browsers do not support the latest technologies and some consumers routinely browse the web with both graphics and Java disabled. These people are not interested in different sounds and pictures. If a designer is designing a commercial site in particular, alternate text menus are essential in meeting the information and service needs of the widest possible audience. A significant part of designers efforts in establishing a consistent layout will center on how to implement text in a page design. A designer will want to establish norms for your pages in terms of the headers, titles, pull and other typographic elements.
By using the same font size and color for page elements that do not vary throughout the site, a designer creates an environment that is familiar to the eye. Titles and headers should be short and straight to the point. They should be about one font size larger than the main body of text. A page title may be slightly larger as long as it does not overwhelm the rest of the page, because extremely large text on a web page is often thought of shouting a message to the consumer.
Moreover, a web page with huge font is considered to be designed not professionally. After designing something that is satisfying potential consumers, the security of the design must be determined. Many factors contribute to the increase in web hacking activity. The main reason is that firewalls permit all web traffic in and out of the network perimeter. The second reason is that sometimes web servers are developed with a functionality first, security later approach.
Which simply means that web programmers are more concerned with getting a site on the web; then later they will think about the security of this site. However, security is very important for the consumer. Making a web site secure is of the utmost significance if the web site is based on e-commerce or any sort of business being transacted. Consumers need to feel safe about the money they are about to spend. Security on the Internet can be attained by using a firewall to protect against leaks of information such as credit card numbers, social security numbers, and bank account numbers. Any one of these threats can single handedly bring down a web site that is not protected.
A firewall can be bought just like software, but generally is very expensive depending on the level of security desired. Usually professional installation of a firewall is required, and is recommended for any organization contemplating transacting business over the Internet. Feedback system is important to ensure that a web site is still meeting the needs of your consumers. This can be as simple as a visitor comment form like the one to the right. These extra touches can be extremely beneficial in gauging the effectiveness of a web site.
Unlike a basic e-mail link, a comment form allows to tailor the information gathered by structuring the questions to the needs of an organization that maintains a web site. Sources: Bernard, M. (2000). Constructing user-centered websites: The early design phases of small to medium sites. web Tedeschi, B. (1999). Good web site design can lead to healthy sales.
The New York Times on the Web E-Commerce Report. web Nielsen J. (1999). Top ten mistakes revisited. Alert box.
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A. , (1997). Consumer reactions to electronic shopping on the World Wide Web. International Journal of Electronic Commerce Pagendarm, M. , & Schaumburg, H. (2001). Why are users banner-blind? The impact of navigation style on the perception of web banners. Journal of Digital Information.
web Youngman, M. , & Scharff, L. (1998). Text width and margin width influences on readability of GUIs. Southwest Psychological Association. web Chaparro, B. , Childs, S. , Praheswari, Y. , & Rappard, A. (2000).
Online shopping: TVs, toasters, and toys! Oh my! Usability News. web Groff, L. , Liao, C. , Chaparro, B. , & Chaparro, A. (1999).
Exploring how the elderly use the web. Usability News. web Horton, W. (1997). Designing icons and visual symbols. CHI 97.
Retrieved 8 / 20 / 02: web Lynch, P. & Horton, S. (1999). Web style guide: Basic design principles for creating web sites. web
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Research essay sample on Font Size Clip Art
