Proper Website Design for Fun and Profit In today’s day and age, a massive amount of commerce is performed over the internet. This has allowed many small businesses to develop and prosper thanks to the relatively low costs associated with running a website. Of course, simply throwing a website and a product out into the online arena does not automatically mean that the site will be successful. If the website design employed on the site is poorly constructed, then it simply will not be successful. Yet, curiously, many people present poorly constructed websites to their own detriment. This is clearly not the path to success! The Psychology of Web Design When it comes to web design , like any other form of advertising, there is a great deal of psychology employed in the actual design.

While this may seem like a ‘heavy handed’ description that infers notions of “psycho-babble” and mysticism, the reality is that the term psychology simply refers to gaining the appropriate response from the individual who is browsing the website. That is to say, the owner of the website has the website designed so that the person who is browsing the website eventually follows along with the plans of the website owner. For example, if the purpose of the website is to sell and item, it needs to be designed in such a way that the person skimming the site feels comfortable enough to make the requisite purchase. If the purpose of the website is to attract daily or weekly readers (this is the goal of an online website, for example), then the website design must be one that attracts people’s eyes and instills in them the desire to return. You simply can not slop things together and hope for the best. While that might be a less expensive undertaken, it will also be an unsuccessful one. An Example of Bad Website Design Here is a classic example of misguided website design : there was a website that sought to provide an online educational service where one would pay tuition for the service and take courses online.

The homepage of the website featured a 700 word description of the product presented in single placed format and in a font size of 9. Needless to say, it was virtually impossible to decipher what the website was selling because the massive verbiage utilized mostly featured repeating numerous (or, more aptly described, NUMEROUS) statements of how great the product was without ever pinpointing what exactly was being offered or, for that matter, whether it was being offered for free or if it was selling a product. When you can not decipher whether or not something is a charity or a for profit business, then you have a mega problem with the website design ! (Needless to say, the website was overhauled after a few weeks and shaped into a more coherent format)

An Example of Good Website Design So what did the aforementioned folks who unleashed such an awful website do to reverse their fortunes? They drastically cut back on the text that was present down to 115 words; they added a few graphics and pictures; the added a catch phrase at the top of the homepage clearly defining what they were selling; and they added an RSS news feed to the homepage to help attract people to the site on a daily basis. While these revisions did not automatically translate their business into a multimillion dollar revenue generator, the revisions did yield increased traffic and sales. It also made the website much more search engine friendly and this was a major contributor to the eventual success of the site. In short, proper website design can yield tremendous results.

Examining Web Site Design As the internet grows and grows in popularity, the need for businesses to have their own websites increases and, additionally, the volume of websites created for fun and hobby increases exponentially as well. Of course, most people are not familiar at all with web site design. In the past, one needed to be very well versed in code language to compose a website. Today, most website hosting companies provide a very user friendly template so that even a pure novice can take part in web site design. While this would seem like a huge cost saver as it would seemingly eliminate the need for an expensive web site designer. This would, however, not be the wisest move to make as there is far more to web site design than merely following a template and crafting a patchwork website together.

Aesthetics of Web Site Design There are a number of items that many people take for granted when they embark upon web site design. They do not take these items for granted because they lack the ‘smarts’ to understand what is needed for the quality composition of web site design; rather, because they are not entirely familiar with the process of web site design and make the common oversights that a person or designer with more experience would not make. One such area that is a common trouble spot when it comes to web site design is color. To put the concept of color into perspective, one needs to realize that certain colors will be more acceptable or aesthetically pleasing than others. Light blue is going to be a little better on the eyes than dark blue. Black and red backgrounds should be avoided under most circumstance. Blaze orange has, shockingly, been used in the past and, oh boy, it just flat out does not look good at all! Despite the negatives associated with a number of these color schemes, it is surprising that a number of websites will employ their use. What a shame someone with solid web site design experience was not there to tell them how to fix things!

The Symmetry of Web Site Design Another area that is taken for granted when it comes to web site design is the concept of symmetry. What symmetry involves is the proper placement of the various pieces of the website into their proper order. To “slop together” text and images in a website simply will not work. It will look terrible and visually unappealing. If this ends up being the case with the website, then it is doubtful anyone will wish to glance at the site longer than a couple of seconds before exiting to another site. Quite honestly, sloppiness has no place in the world wide web and a sloppy web site design is a self-defeating prophecy.

Seek Professional Help With experience, an individual gains a great deal of talent and skill in a particular field. If someone has many years experience crafting and designing websites, he or she will have a solid understanding of the primary and critical aesthetics and symmetry needed to create a well made web site. As such, seeking out “professional help” as opposed to treading water on your own is far more advisable.

2013 Web Design Trends

The prevailing style on the Internet for the past two or three years has been called the Web 2.0 style, with shiny, glossy buttons and smooth, gradient finishes making websites appear to have been built using glass, water, and reflective metals. The inspiration for this trend seems to have been the design of Apple's Aqua themed OS X Operating System (See example from Wikipedia) .

There has been a trend away from the very clean, shiny appearance of the Web 2.0 style, with websites employing real-word textures to create a more gritty appearance. This foreshadows what we believe is the first major trend: skeuomorphism.

The Authentically Digital idea in Windows 8 makes use of blocks of flat, bright colour tiles to represent the various programs. These are not representations of real world items – they're not “buttons” or “windows” or “tiles” – they are digital elements that can only exist on the computer.

This look is bold, fluid, and must be used in conjunction with motion to keep it interesting – the actual elements are very plain, but they move fluidly when clicked to provide the user with feedback and guidance as to what is happening.

Responsive Web Design - Frameworks, Grid Systems & Starter Kits

Thanks to the variations available in Typography, designers have a lot of fonts available to select from. However, selecting typography is no longer a small decision and selecting a trendy typography design is very important. Our prediction is that 2013 is going to be the year of typography as it will be given much, much importance. In fact, typography will become an integral part of any website's design. Designers will no longer replace text with the beautiful images and will try to enhance website's beauty through typography. By 2013, it is expected that designers will give typography a lot of importance because it is considered to be the foundation of any website.

Thanks to the variations available in Typography, designers have a lot of fonts available to select from. However, selecting typography is no longer a small decision and selecting a trendy typography design is very important. Our prediction is that 2013 is going to be the year of typography as it will be given much, much importance. In fact, typography will become an integral part of any website's design. Designers will no longer replace text with the beautiful images and will try to enhance website's beauty through typography. By 2013, it is expected that designers will give typography a lot of importance because it is considered to be the foundation of any website.

Websites' optimization is going to be a very important decision. Nowadays, a lot of websites offer both, vertical and horizontal scrolling as far as mobile devices are concerned. However, vertical scrolling will lead the trend in 2013. Vertical scrolling is easy, convenient for all the mobile users. Vertical scrolling is quite user friendly, efficient and definitely allows easy navigation. Apart from all this, another trend that is expected to hit 2013 is vertical scrolling of menus and buttons. When a user is scrolling a page down, the header menu should scroll down with it so that the user does not have to go upwards to view the menu again. Same goes for shopping carts and social buttons. Vertical scrolling will be in demand because it allows user a friendly navigation throughout the website.