A Beginner's Guide To Web Design

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Updated 10/10/2020

Making a website involves more than just the technical aspects of purchasing a domain name, finding a web host, and choosing a platform. You'll also need to design a pleasing and cohesive website that visitors will be able to navigate. Some people are content with using an out-of-the-box website theme that installs easily and quickly to get a website up and functioning. Others prefer to design a website from the ground up. Building a website involves the use of programming languages for coding the different elements of each page, and you'll also need to explore color schemes, choose a font for display and body text, and hone your layout to get the look of your site exactly how you want it.

Computer coding and programming languages continue to evolve as new languages are developed, but you can accomplish a lot on the Web by starting with learning basic HTML. HTML is the foundation upon which every Web page is built, determining how everything on a page will look and where it will appear. Alongside HTML, it's a good idea to learn CSS, which can help you streamline your design process by creating stylesheets that can be coded once and used on multiple pages across your site. You may also want to delve into more advanced languages, like JavaScript, Java, and Python, which can help you build interactivity into your site.

An appealing website layout is crucial for overall success. The layout should be simple, easy to navigate, and memorable. When a visitor lands on a website for the first time, the layout gives an instantaneous impression of you or your brand. Within seconds, the visitor will decide whether to stay or leave. The user interface should be simple to navigate, making it easy for visitors to get the information they want. Avoid clutter; instead, incorporate plenty of white space in the layout. Make the layout easy to skim so that readers can easily see their options and find what they need.

The fonts used on a website are crucial for several reasons. Custom fonts can help set a website apart from others, but make sure that they're also not too difficult to read. For best results, don't use more than two or three different font families on a single page, and make sure the fonts work well together. The color scheme is also important when designing a website. You might build your color palette from your company logo or consider the dominant colors of your products when designing an online store. After choosing a color palette, decide which of these colors to use for the background, text, headings, and links. Ensure that you have enough contrast between the background and foreground colors and that links stand out enough that visitors can recognize that they are clickable links.

People navigating the Internet to find information are inherently impatient and fickle. If a website's content is boring, visitors will leave and find something better to read. With this in mind, your website content must engage readers instantly. Short and simple writing will help keep readers interested, so resist the urge to publish long-winded blocks of text. Break your text down for easy assimilation with headings, bullets, and lists. Focus on solving problems and providing simple benefits, and don't forget to integrate calls to action to get your readers to act on what they read.

With a focus on the fundamentals and what will be most useful and pleasing to your site's visitors, it's simple to learn how to build a successful website. Experimentation while you learn will help you put your skills to work, and once you find a pleasing layout that resonates with visitors, you can work on providing great content that will pull visitors in.

A Beginner's Guide To Web Design

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