| Consistency: The Key to Web Success
The most important aspect of web site design
is without a doubt establishing consistency. In order to successfully
establish consistency within your web site, try using database
templates to create a common look and feel for your site.
Although database templates are not the answer for all web
sites, and may not be practical for smaller sites, it is extremely
important for all pages in your site to share common elements,
and exhibit a high degree of page-to-page consistency. The
advantage of database templates is that they are extremely
easy to create, and make your site consistent regardless of
changes in personnel. Database templates also allow you to
make changes to your site much more easily, and allow you
to change certain elements without recreating the entire page
from scratch.
If you are creating a smaller site, you
will have a bit more leeway to work with, however you should
still aim to maximize consistency. Consistency can help give
your site a more professional look and feel, and also makes
for easy navigation.
Logos
Another important aspect of site design
is the placement of company logos or other symbols of your
site that will be used to create brand awareness. By placing
logos in a common position on all your web pages, users will
be able to easily determine that they are at your site. Many
sites still do not recognize the importance of this, however
if you follow this simple rule of thumb, your site will have
a much greater chance of establishing itself among users.
Use Common Images
In the Internet business, speed is king,
and you can help to decrease the loading time of your web
site by using common images on your pages. If you use common
images, your site will load faster because the images which
have already appeared on a previous page will be loaded from
browser caches, rather than from the server itself. This decreases
the number of files to be loaded from the server, and thus
decreases loading time. If you must change images from page
to page, try to use common elements from other pages in order
to decrease loading time. This tactic is especially useful
for title bars, which can be broken up into individual images.
When a new page is loaded, the elements from the old page
are loaded from the cache, leaving only the new elements to
be loaded.
Prioritize Site Content
Another useful tip which can help make
your site design more effective is to prioritize all content
and images. By doing so, you will be able to attract the user's
attention to the important aspects of your site, and thus
ensure that the things you want to be seen are seen first.
Once you have prioritized your site, make sure to place the
most important sections near the top of your page, and make
them larger in size. |