Web design best practices can have a massive impact on your website’s conversion. Ultimately, people judge your business by your website.
It’s important to keep the navigation bar on your site simple and centralized. Limiting the number of options will prevent your visitors from getting overwhelmed and making unnecessary choices, which could lead to them leaving your site.
Use a grid
A grid is a set of vertical and horizontal lines that compartmentalize your design. It improves readability by separating content into smaller sections and provides guidance for placement of elements. It also helps to create balance and harmony, making a more visually appealing design. There are a variety of grid types, each serving a different purpose. Manuscript grids mimic the structure of traditional printed documents, column grids divide content into multiple vertical columns for flexibility, baseline grids align elements to a consistent horizontal line that makes reading easier and modulular grids organize content into modular units or blocks. Hierarchical grids are mostly used on websites and establish a hierarchy that guides users’ attention to important content areas.
Web designers use grids to create a unified layout across pages, regardless of their screen size. This allows for responsive design and ensures consistency across all devices. It also helps to improve user experience by providing a more intuitive way to navigate a website.
Grids are also helpful for creating a sense of connection and professionalism in your website. This is because they help to keep your design from looking cluttered and chaotic. A busy design can distract users from your content and make it difficult to understand what you’re trying to communicate. A simple, well-organized design will help your visitors stay engaged and ultimately convert into customers.
Using a grid system is an easy way to compartmentalize your design and add structure and organization to your work. Whether you’re designing an entire website or just one page, grids are a great tool for ensuring that all of your design elements are placed in the best position to be most effective.
Use white space
White space, also known as negative space, refers to the empty areas between and around design elements. When used properly, it helps to improve the overall visual clarity and organization of a website’s content. It creates a balance and a hierarchy of information, helping the important aspects of your site stand out from the rest. White space also enhances readability and legibility of text, making it easier for visitors to navigate and understand your content.
If a website is too cluttered, it can overwhelm and confuse visitors. It can also cause them to quickly leave your site and look elsewhere for the information, products or services they were originally searching for. Using white space effectively can help you to convey a sense of sophistication, elegance and luxury in your web designs.
A well-designed website is one that features a proper balance of both macro and micro white space. Macro white space refers to the space between large graphic and design elements, such as a header or footer, while micro white space refers to the space between smaller elements, such as individual letters or words in a paragraph.
Canvas Agency is a great example of the use of both macro and micro white space to create a balanced and elegant design. The image grid on the homepage of this creative agency’s website has plenty of white space between each image, creating a cohesive and clean layout.
While many web design trends come and go, white space is an enduring classic. By incorporating it in your designs, you can ensure that they will remain relevant and appealing for years to come. To get started, try experimenting with the different ways that you can use white space in your designs, and remember to always keep the user experience in mind when doing so.
Use a clickable cursor
When designing a website, it is important to have both consistency and unity. Moreover, creating a nice website is key to providing a good environment for visitors. This is because a website should be able to connect with visitors and tell them who you are and what your business does. A good design will have a clear theme, use the same fonts across the entire site, and will be consistent in all of its elements. A well-designed website will also have a professional feel and look to it.
A clickable cursor is a great way to make your site more interactive and fun for the users. This trend uses custom cursors that can change shape, color, or even trigger animation when the user hovers over an object on the screen.
Minimalistic web designs are a popular modern design trend that focuses on simplicity and the minimization of elements. This type of design can help to create a cleaner, more organized user interface and can also allow for faster load times.
Another popular design trend in modern websites is to use a parallax scrolling effect. This technique uses layers that move at different speeds to create the illusion of depth and motion on a page.
Typography is a crucial element in modern websites. This includes choosing the right fonts, colors, and font sizes to ensure that the text is easy to read on a variety of devices and screen sizes. It is also important to have good contrast between the text and the background of a website.
A well-designed website is essential to attracting and maintaining visitors, and it can make or break the relationship with a potential customer. If a website is unorganized or difficult to navigate, customers may go elsewhere. A poorly designed website can also cause confusion, which can be damaging to a business.
Use parallax scrolling
Parallax scrolling is a type of animation where the background images move slower than the foreground elements. This creates an illusion of depth and can be used to animate key parts of a website’s design or to draw the user’s attention to specific areas. This technique is also a great way to break up long blocks of text.
Early video games often employed parallax effects to make the world feel more alive and immersive. Now, many websites use this technique to give visitors an engaging and memorable experience. This trend has been embraced by B2B companies that need to present large amounts of information in a short amount of time, and by companies who want to give their site a modern, flowing design.
While parallax isn’t the best option for sites that require users to complete a task, it can be used effectively on websites where the user has no agenda other than browsing. For example, this site for a Moroccan fruit grower features parallax scrolling to highlight key product descriptions that appear as the user moves down the page. The effect is subtle but makes a lasting impression on visitors.
While using parallax can be difficult to balance with other design techniques, it is a powerful tool that can help you create an unforgettable and unique website. It’s important to keep in mind that if you’re using parallax on your website, users will decide within 50 milliseconds whether they’ll stay or leave, so it’s essential to have an excellent design to compete with the other websites out there. The best way to achieve this is to balance the use of parallax with other web design techniques and try to limit its scope to one or two key elements.
Use illustrations
A great website doesn’t just look pretty; it also communicates a brand’s story and offers an easy-to-use navigation experience. In fact, a study by NN Group shows that visitors don’t leave sites because they aren’t beautiful enough; they leave because they can’t find what they need.
The design of a web page creates a first impression on visitors. It influences their decision whether to stick around or not, and can have a significant impact on the success of a business. The layout, color scheme, text, and other elements must be carefully balanced to create a cohesive aesthetic and a clear visual hierarchy.
Using illustrations is a great way to add contrast and visual interest to a page, but they should be used sparingly or they could detract from the content. Use them to highlight important information, divide sections, or to complement other elements on the page. Textures can also provide a sense of depth and dimension, and help to define your brand’s tone.
It’s best to use custom illustrations rather than stock images. This will set you apart from your competitors and ensure that the imagery aligns with your brand’s message. You should also choose colors that compliment each other. A professional designer will be able to suggest complementary colors that work well together, as well as demonstrate how they’ll appear on screen using a color wheel.
By following these best practices, you can ensure that your website is professional and modern. These tips will help you to create a site that is easy for your visitors to navigate and read. By ensuring that your design follows best practices, you can be sure that your website will be a success!