Design tips

piersk

I don't know about anyone else, but the part of the web design/programming that I have trouble with (and this is sounding silly cos it should be the easiest bit) is the actual design part.

So (and the idea for this thread was given to me by Mark (hazard.net)), what are everyone's tips for good design?

Im talking layout, colours etc.

clearbreach

The only thing I can think of is just lots of practice. Everytime you think you think of a good design idea (even if inspired by another website), draw it on a piece of paper (if you have terrible memory, like myself) and then later try and design that same thing in Photoshop, or whatever else you choose to use.

Another thing that helped me when I started, but is kind of risky, find a website design (of someone elses) and just try and recreate it exactly as is. This is a great learning experience and you'll learn a lot of new techniques. Risky, however, because you may feel tempted to use it.

There aren't really tips about web design, as I see it, you just need to practice and find some sources of inspiration.

Mordecai

Don't contrast colors that don't need to be contrasted, i.e. tables.
Attempt to use like colors and like shapes when designing image.
Use colors that are easy to look at, and bear in mind black text on a white background is much better for the eyes than white text on a black background.
Don't use a bunch of animated GIFs, like explosions and what-not... that is, unless you want the page to be bad.
Backgrounds can be good, but most of the time they put pages with a lot of information over-the-top. Never, EVER, use an animated background.

And here's my personal opinion (seeing as the things above are hopefully agreed upon by the majority): keep things simple. Busy pages are not that fun to look at. To quote Ocean's Eleven, "don't use seven words when you can use four."

BuzzLY

I suggest you learn about some of the great HTML design sites that are out there. If you are looking for a good reference site for HTML, CSS, Javascript, etc. then go to www.devguru.com. If you are looking for a few good tutorials and information about web design, the I suggest you check out www.webmonkey.com.

Web design is really an art form, and a lot of it has to do with personal taste. There are many different things to consider, and are really too numerous to mention in a forum post. I'll just name a few, and hopefully, others can pipe in with their ideas, too.

No "Under Construction" signs or pages. A website by design is always under construction. If the site is not ready, don't make it public. Once it's public, don't put a menu item or page up until it's ready.
No Web Counters. It's good to keep track of page hits, but you can do that in the background. You do not need to tell your visitors what visitor number they are. They could care less, and it makes your page look less professional.
Keep your pages simple -- one or two fonts only, and don't make your text blink or scroll. Don't use page transitions (fades and wipes). The more junk you put on your page (just because you learned how to do it), the more cluttered and amateurish it looks. The simpler the page is, the more professional it looks.
Easy Navigation. Don't use a "splash page," and make any page on your site available within 2 or 3 clicks. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to find a page on a site. Users will leave for another site before they have to search too long.
Give users a reason to come back. Make your information dynamic -- if using PHP, perhaps a different news item on your home page each day will make your site more interesting. You can also personalize the user's experience, and allow them to change the look of the site (like MSN and Yahoo). This is not as difficult as you might think!
Optimize, optimize, optimize! Try to keep your page load times as low as possible. Keep image file sizes as small as possible. Re-use images where you can, so they don't have to reload. Simplify your tables as much as possible. Try to keep your pages as small as you can, so your visitors don't have to wait.

That's about it for now. That should keep you going for a while. I strongly suggest you do a search on Google for "web design tips." I think you'll find a lot of good advice out there.

Good Luck!

dalecosp

CSS. My brother's been urging me towards a great article at Webmonkey, but at the moment the link is beyond my reach. Also, I just found this.

Pay attention to UI design. Large numbers of people using MS products now expect that when they pull down a nav menu in 'form' format, it'll act without them having to push a button to make it do so. A relatively simple Javascript trick, that, but it can make you rethink how the PHP would work for the JS impaired.

Also, if the site has more content than, say, 3 or 4 pages, a search box in a prominent location can help 'win friends and influence people.'

Now, all that said, I need help with graphic design, too. I'm just awful....

Heck, I need help with everything...that's why I come here 🙂

Elizabeth

You might also try reading "The Non-Designer's Design Book" by Robin Williams (no, not the comedian 😃) - it is a great basic design resouce you can refer to for not just web design, but other things too.

-Elizabeth

xblue

well, a lot has been said about usability already, what I'd add is that it's fine to use javascript for the visitors convenience, but in my opinion you should never rely on it.

with respect to design, I think it really depends on your personal preferences. I like fairly minimalistic "cold" designs myself, e.g. with a greyscale color scheme and only small spots that break this.

however there may be other favors and other sites that require different color schemes, e.g. that vanilla-with-rounded-corners-and-some-color-fading-effects thing that is supposed to make the visitor feel comfortable (at least that's what I think) or something more eye-catching.

whatever you prefer, just stick to it throughout the site (as well as to the font you like).

I don't think there is something wrong with strolling around and looking for inspiration both for good design and how it is realized as long as you do it yourself in the end.

Bunkermaster

I always limit myself to 3 or 4 colors (am almost colorblind).
I design main lines in photoshop then create bare HTML skeleton.
Next step is to create CSS, then slice up the PSD and fumble around the created HTML code to include my choices.
For illustrations, i use illustrator (vector al the way baby!!!) and basically I think a lot about how my users will want to use mt site...

LoneTraveler

every single "don't" on here at one time or another, now I am going through the tedious process of updating about 300 + pages and making them Bobby compliant and converting them to XHTML. I have simplified my design and made the decision to use one design on all of it. since I started doing this I have almost doubled my visits per day. Coincidence? Maybe, but I wonder.

My advice, take advantage of Bobby and W3C's tips and validators. I find errors even in HTML code borrowed from pro's - so, there ya go, for what it's worth!

Carol