Web Page Design: Tutorial

Information density:

A good design controls the amount of information on the screen. Too much content makes the web page look cluttered. On the other hand, spreading information too far across the screen makes it look uninteresting. You should use only two or three different fonts to present the content.

Connecting information:

A good screen design allows you to connect pages to related information within a website. One commonly used technique for connecting information is breadcrumb navigation. This navigation helps you trace the steps between the home page and the web page that you are on.

Defining focus:

A good screen design should highlight important regions to focus on when looking for information. Such guidance helps you scan for information quickly. Without clear focal points, you have to work through the entire web page before you locate the information. Many web pages use a grid structure to define areas of focus.

Header:

A header is the top part of the web page and may contain the website name, company name, or logo. It usually links to the homepage.

Hyperlink:

A hyperlink is a link on a page that uses an anchor (text or image). When you click the link, it takes you to another section of the same web page or to a different web page altogether.

Hyperlinks:

A large number of hyperlinks can break the consistency through changes in the font color of the text. If you cannot reduce the number of links, choose a font color that blends well with the rest of the text. If the links do not relate strongly to the rest of the content, place them at the bottom of the web page.

Search tool:

A search tool is a box where viewers can enter keywords to search throughout the website.

URL:

A uniform resource locator (URL) is a unique address for a resource (such as a web page) on the Internet.

Video:

A video provides both visual and audio information. It is more engaging than simple text, graphics, or audio. It is also more difficult to create and deliver. Videos can be both informative and entertaining. They are a popular choice to spruce up content on websites. Videos provide an excellent way to present instructional content. They can demonstrate processes that are hard to convey through audio or plain text, and they provide an alternative for users who don't want to read large amounts of text. One major downside of videos is that they have much larger file sizes than other media formats. They can take a long time to load, especially with slow Internet connections. When building a website, you need to consider whether most of your target users are likely to have a high-speed connection.

Elements of a Web Page in a Website

A web page is a single page of a website. It usually consists of a single HTML document. All web pages have some common elements.

more info:

A web page with very few colors would not only appear dull and uninteresting but may also prevent users from distinguishing between components of the page. On the other hand, web pages with too many colors may seem loud or confusing. Designers can use intense or bright colors to attract user attention to specific parts of the page. However, the overuse of vivid colors can make a website appear unprofessional. The contrast between the colors of different elements of a web page often improves visual appeal, and it can help users understand the structure of the web page. Contrast between text and background colors is the key to improved readability. The image shows how color contrast affects readability.

Consistency:

A website's content is its text (font and color), language, colors, navigation, patterns, graphics style, and visual layout. These should be consistent throughout the site. This consistency provides visitors a sense of continuity and a smooth transition between the site's pages.

Daniel is creating a website and wants to ensure that his website follows the design principle of clarity. Which criteria should he consider in his design process? A. use the age of reader as a factor when making content B. use legible text for the reader C. use any graphics of his choice D. use color contrast to make text readable

A, B, D

Formatting text

After you create the content of your web page, you need to examine its formatting. Let's look at some basic guidelines for formatting text for a web page.

Animations:

Animations involve a rapid display of a sequence of static images. They can add visual interest or improve the interactivity of a web page. Animations help to illustrate processes and multi-step systems. Entertainment and gaming websites use animation to add liveliness to the user experience. Animations which run by scripts and applets may take a significantly longer time to load than static images. It is a good idea to avoid purely decorative animations since they may divert attention away from the main content of a web page. Many users quickly leave websites that have large, slow-loading animations on their main pages. Some simply skip the content. Therefore, when designing a website, the designer should select multimedia content based on its value and its likely effect on a visitor.

Usability of a Website

Another important part of a web page is universal usability. This feature allows a wide variety of visitors using a range of technologies to access and operate the website.

Use of Color and Screen Design

Color affects how users see and process information on a web page. Because of various cultural factors, people link some colors to specific qualities and ideas. For example, the color green relates to environmental awareness. In addition, many colors produce strong, predictable mental effects on users, so the color scheme of a web page is one of the most significant visual choices that a designer must make. Designers start by creating a color palette, which they often apply to all pages on a website for consistency and unity. The color palette may reflect a theme, aid a visual metaphor on a web page, or stress some important content. It's good practice to use simple techniques, such as color harmonies, to choose a palette. As a designer, you should also consider the psychological effects of the colors you choose. Read more about color harmonies and the psychological effects of colors.

Harmony and unity:

Elements such as fonts, colors, visual structure, graphics, and the interface should complement each other to ensure harmony. You should place elements on a page in a way that makes them appear as a single, cohesive group. This technique creates a sense of unity.

Graphics:

Graphics are the most common way to make a web page attractive. It also provides structure to guide the user. However, you need to choose graphics carefully. Adding an irrelevant graphic can make a web page seem pointless. Diagrams to express ideas are usually a good use of graphics. You can add symbolic graphics to complement the text. Large graphics may take a long time to load. Therefore, you should rescale images and use compressed formats. This action helps keep file sizes manageable. Remember that different compressed formats, such as JPEG and GIF, suit different types of images. You can make manual quality adjustments to find the best combination of quality and file size.

Navigation tools:

Navigation tools are menus (horizontal and vertical), drop-down boxes, or breadcrumbs that facilitate user navigation on the website.

Slideshows:

Slideshows are ideal when users expect to see visual content accompanying text or audio. A slideshow uses still images that shift through a desired order. The file size of a slideshow is smaller than that of a video, and they load faster than a video. Slideshows are popular on news and entertainment sites as well as on more general information pages.

Language and grammar:

Text containing spelling or grammatical errors looks unprofessional. It may also cause users to doubt a website's credibility. Before entering text on a web page, you should proofread it and check for common errors using a word processor.

Simplicity:

The content of a good website should be simple and limited to what is important. A website with too much textual content or too many graphics can mislead users. It may also be difficult to understand. Excessive variety of colors, strange-looking fonts, and unwanted graphics can distract users from the core message or purpose of the website.

Visual balance:

The content of a web page should have visual balance. You can use certain methods like balance, symmetry, and grouping of titles and images to provide a visually pleasing screen arrangement. For example, if a grid contains four elements on the left it should contain four similar elements on the right or one large element that matches the size of the other four elements. Imbalance decreases the visual appeal of a web page.

Footer:

The footer is the bottom section of a web page. It usually contains copyright, privacy, and contact information. The header and footer usually remain consistent throughout all pages of a website.

Writing Styles

The text is the main aspect of your website. You need to choose appropriate writing style depending on the purpose of your website. Let's look at some of the styles of writing which you can use in your website.

Clarity:

The website content should be clear and appropriate for the intended users. The text font should be legible. The text color should contrast with the background to ensure readability. The language should be suitable for the age and type of intended user. The purpose of content-related graphics, such as diagrams, should be clear to users.

Balance:

The website's content should have visual balance. For example, if a grid contains four elements on the left, it should contain four similar elements on the right or one large element that matches the size of the other four elements. Imbalance decreases the visual appeal of the website.

Formal writing style:

This style avoids informal expressions and slang. It is appropriate for businesses and educational websites. You can also use it on personal websites.

Informal writing style:

This style is suitable when you want to create a sense of familiarity for visitors to the website. You can use it for blogs and personal pages.

Persuasive writing style:

This style uses sentences or words to influence a decision. For example, you might use a persuasive style to influence people to buy a product or support a cause. This writing style is best for promotional and e-commerce websites. It is also suitable for the websites of organizations sponsoring a specific view or cause. This writing style is less direct than the standard style. It also uses creative language to engage users in the website.

Mouse-free input:

Visually challenged users may have difficulty using a mouse and may rely only on a keyboard while using a computer. In addition, devices like cell phones without touch screens have only a keypad for input operations. Therefore, designers need to make sure that there are keyboard and mouse substitutes for pointing and clicking.

Screen Design

When designing web pages, you must first consider screen design principles. A good screen design encourages users to return to the page. Let's look at some of the principles of good screen design.

Design Principles

With increased Internet connectivity speeds, it is now possible to easily access the World Wide Web. Today, millions of people browse the Internet. As a result, websites have become the most visible elements of businesses and organizations. Websites can educate, entertain, promote, and market products or services. They also help collect information. An informative website must be well organized, so that visitors can quickly navigate and locate what they want. If visitors can't easily find what they want, they may move on to other sites. A website must also be aesthetically appealing to encourage visitors to stay longer. The look and feel of a website affects a visitor's browsing experience. Suppose you want to create a website to share updates on general knowledge. For this, you must ensure that you convey information effectively so your target audience wants to spend more time on your site. You can add images that are attractive and placed in a way that the page does not look overloaded with text. A well designed website has the potential to attract more visitors, which will increase traffic to the site and successfully reach the target audience. A badly designed website portrays a poor image of the company, may drive visitors to other sites, and may result in lost opportunities.

Text alternatives:

You can add text alternatives to graphics, video, or other multimedia content. This process improves a web page's operation for users who cannot view certain media due to technical errors. This method also applies to devices that do not have sufficient memory or operating speed to open websites with extensive multimedia elements. For example, if you use alternative text (alt text) below images, visually challenged people can understand the images used in the web page.

Audio:

You can use audio on a web page to improve operation and provide feedback in interactions. For example, you can use a sound alert to signal an error. You can also use background music or sound effects to retain visitors' interest in a web page. Compared to video, digital audio files have smaller file sizes. It downloads faster. You can use various audio file formats like WAV, MPEG 3, and FLAC.

Use of Multimedia

You can use graphics, audio, video, and animation to make your website more usable and appealing. Let's discuss the guidelines for using multimedia.

User control:

You need to design a web page that helps visitors control some of the sections on the page. For example, some pages allow the user to control the size of the font on the page. Some pages that use detailed graphics or high-definition videos allow the user to opt for lower-resolution graphics or lower-quality videos.

Special characters:

You need to replace special characters in text with a code. This is because markup languages used for coding web pages do not allow special characters in text.

Flexibility:

You need to understand how well a web page adjusts to different technologies. Using a flexible layout helps in resizing the web page units to fit different resolutions. Another good method is to create a separate version of the website for people who access it from mobile devices. Designers of high-traffic web pages must make sure that the factors of the pages are compatible with all types of browsers. This includes older browsers that are still in use.

Standard writing style:

his style helps people search for specific information. It directs people to the information they need. Text in the standard style should be short and direct.

Which form of multimedia would be the best method to present instructional content that demonstrates processes? ________ is the best way to present instructional content because they can demonstrate processes that are hard to convey through other methods.

videos