Design decisions Perhaps by now you've decided that a website could be for you. But where to start? How should your site look? Although websites can take any number of forms, we believe that clarity and ease of navigation are of primary importance. A site may look great, but if a visitor is left wondering where they need to click to find the information they are looking for, then they may not hang around for long. For that reason, its worth sticking to accepted and expected norms - for example a navigation bar along the top below the site's title, or down the left hand side. But don't worry - even within this framework there is plenty of scope for variation. For example we have used bold, striking images for the navigation of this site. Once you've made even the simplest decision about where you'd like the navigation to go, chosen the sorts of colours you'd like, or perhaps the font to use for any menu options or headings, and added in some unique images or company logos, you're site will already be starting to come together. A helping hand To help you get started, we've included below a few pointers and options on layouts, colour schemes, fonts and headings, and menu styles. These are by no means exhaustive, but will hopefully plant a few ideas, and give you an idea of the kinds of things you like, and those you don't.
The main two decisions will be where to put the navigation, and how many columns to include for the main content. This layout can change from page to page, but is an important consideration for the main page.
Colour plays an important role in the design of any website. Below is a colour grid that you can use to see how colours will look on screen, and give you an idea of the colours you might like to include in your website. A website need only incorporate two or three contrasting colours, and some lighter and darker variations to create an effective colour scheme. If there are any you like, make a note of their unique ID.
Colour schemes are often created using complimentary or related colours from a colour wheel. However, a more interesting way to create an effective colour scheme is to look at examples from nature. Colours can be selected from photos of plants or wildlife for example, and this will usually result in a great looking colour scheme. A colour wheel along with some colour schemes based on nature are shown below. As you can see they work really well. If you have any photos of colour schemes similarly pleasing to the eye, then feel free to include those with the content you provide for any website.
To have a look at some pointers and suggestions on fonts and menu styles click here. |
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