Imia Hazel

Posted on Aug 24, 2021 • Edited on Sep 6, 2021

8 Fundamental Principles of Effective Web Design

#webdesign #webdev #ux #design

Web design is a significant component of the web design process. If you're fascinated by web design, we think you have such a creative streak.

And how could you not be thrilled about getting in and building your website? Web design is about producing a useful piece of beauty – so where do you start? Whether you're wondering what you'd like to know before you start, this guide will assist you out.

You may also be interested to explore 10 Top UI/UX Design Trends For 2021.

1. Accessibility

The Web is essentially built to operate for all users, whether their technology, software, language, location, or aptitude. When the Web fulfils this aim, it is accessible to persons with a broad range of hearing, mobility, sight, and cognitive capacity.

Thus, the impact of handicap is drastically modified on the Web because the Web removes obstacles to communication and connection that many individuals encounter in the physical world. However, when websites, programs, technologies, or services are improperly built, they can create obstacles that prevent individuals from accessing the Web.

Accessibility is crucial for developers and organizations who want to produce high-quality websites and online tools without preventing individuals from accessing their goods and services. These css tabs are good example of the accessibility implementation.

Web accessibility implies that websites, tools, or technology are created and developed so that persons with impairments can use them. More specifically, humans can:

perceive, interpret, navigate, and engage with the Web
contribute to the Web

2. Visual Hierarchy

Visual hierarchy refers to the arranging of components in ascending or descending order of importance. This is accomplished using proportion, color, images, contrast, typography, whitespace, texture, and style.

A critical purpose of visual hierarchy is to provide a focal point; this indicates to visitors where the most critical information is located.

3. Web Safe Fonts

Fonts that are web-safe are those that adapt to every browser on any device. By utilizing these fonts, web developers ensure that the intended font is always shown correctly on a web page, even though the user's computer does not have these fonts installed.

Previously, suppose a user did not have the typeface associated with your website installed on their computer. In that case, their browser will show a generic font, such as Times New Roman, as a fallback.

As just a result, marketers were unaware of how their web pages were shown to the end-user. If the content of a page does not completely adjust to a new typeface, the user may encounter functional and design difficulties.

Online-safe fonts address this issue and have become a de facto standard in web design. By using a web-safe font, you can be certain that your text will always display correctly. The nicest thing is that you are not limited to serif fonts. Consider the many sorts.

4. Typography

Even though text takes up most of a website's area and reading is one of the primary activities people engage in online, typography is sometimes underestimated for its influence on a website's overall performance.

If your website masters the fundamentals of typography, it will be miles ahead of the competition. To begin, sans serif fonts—modern-looking sans serif fonts devoid of ornamental finishes—such as Arial, Helvetica, and Verdana—are the simplest to read online.

16px is the optimal font size. Additionally, a maximum of three-point sizes is advised for a streamlined design. Similarly, it's ideal for sticking to a maximum of three fonts for headers, body text, and components such as buttons.

Alexander Sakhnenko website is an outstanding example of a clean and simplified font design. The site uses a limited number of font types and colors, keeping the user's attention focused on the content.

5. Colors

Colors can convey messages and elicit emotional reactions. Choosing a color palette appropriate for your brand enables you to impact your customers' behavior toward it. Among web design trends in 2021, choice of comfortable colors has very significance.

Limit the color palette to no more than five hues. Complementary colors are effective. Color choices that are pleasing to the eye boost consumer engagement & make the user feel happy.

6. Grid Layouts

Grids assist in structuring your design and organizing your information. The grid assists in aligning objects on the page and maintaining its cleanliness. This comprehensive list of css frameworks will be valuable addition in your design library.

The grid-based style organizes material into a simple rigid grid structure with columns and sections that align, seem balanced, and enforce order, resulting in an aesthetically attractive website.

7. F Pattern Design

The F-based pattern is indeed the most often used pattern by visitors while scanning content on a website. According to eye-tracking research, most of what individuals view is in the top and left-hand corners of the screen.

The F' shaped arrangement reflects the Western world's natural reading pattern (left to right and top to bottom). A well-designed website will follow the reader's natural rhythm of page skimming.

8. Responsive

You've probably heard of responsive design, as the concept has been around for some time. Responsive web design (RWD) is a web design method that strives to give the greatest viewing experience possible for site visitors across a wide variety of devices.

A proportional grid, flexible-sized images, or media queries through CSS are used when creating responsive websites.

In today's environment, you should typically aim to design a responsive website. The number of mobile users accessing websites on their devices will continue to grow, therefore ensure that your website is built on a platform that provides the best experience possible for each user on any screen size.

Otherwise, you risk leaving a negative impression on visitors who cannot access your material on their phones, to the point where they may never return for a subsequent visit!

Conclusion

Before beginning any design work, it is critical to understand the website's primary purpose, aim, and intended audience. By following the design mentioned above guidelines, you're already one step ahead of thousands of other websites.

Images Credit

Thanks to Unsplash for the internet’s source of freely-usable images, that are powered by creators everywhere.

Love to hear from you :)

Top comments (19)

GrahamTheDev • Aug 24 '21

Love everything except your alt descriptions, they need to describe what the content of the image is in context. Copying the heading text to the image just results in duplication for people who use a screen reader.

So you have two options:

If you believe that the image adds nothing to the article, leave the alt attribute empty as this marks the image as "decorative".
Describe the image as if you were explaining the article to someone over the phone, just enough idea to get an idea of the image without explaining minute details.

For example your first image:

"Accessible Entry" sign on graffiti covered wall.

Other than that (minor) point, it is a superb article, the "F" pattern is the one that most people forget so it was particularly great to see that getting attention!

❤🦄!

Imia Hazel • Aug 24 '21 • Edited

Thanks InHuOfficial,
ALT description is a great tip indeed.
I will refine myself to use it in more logical way.
Once again thanks and thumbs up.

Grant Eben • Sep 2 '21 • Edited

Point #7 "F Pattern Design" applies to designs supporting any language that reads left-to-right, not just websites of "the Western world" which implies websites of "the Eastern world" are excluded.

I'm curious if the eye-tracking research you cited tested websites supporting right-to-left languages to reach the conclusions you mentioned.

I strongly agree with every other point.

Imia Hazel • Sep 2 '21

Actually this point is about natural tendency of reader. Very next is,

A well-designed website will follow the reader's natural rhythm of page skimming.

I agree with you point and thanks for your interest and attention.

Grant Eben • Sep 2 '21

Yes, but your wording frames this natural tendency or rhythm as exclusive to or inherited from the Western world, and that's not true. There's designs from non-Western countries following "F Pattern Design" that predate the concept of "the West".

Imia Hazel • Sep 3 '21

Thanks for your valuable comments.

tmblog • Aug 31 '21

Very nice and informative breath of fresh air incidentally, was looking for the bookmark button on this page whilst browsing from a mobile browser. OMG it took me ages to find it scrolled up and down literally 5-6 times until I accidentally noticed it on the sticky menu at the bottom of the screen. I wonder if the sticky mobile menu is a place to put all unnecessary things on? Any research on that I wonder, would be happy to hear your thoughts.

Imia Hazel • Sep 2 '21

Thanks

Alberto Villanueva • Sep 30

Thank you for such an interesting and enriching post. I am a beginner web developer taking my first steps in web design.

I´ll do my best to apply these fundamental web design principles in my journey to becoming a web developer.

Once again, thanks for your time and effort in sharing your knowledge.

Adarsh TS • Aug 25 '21

Loved your post and the resources. Thanks for sharing ❤️.

Imia Hazel • Aug 25 '21

Thanks. I am happy it helped you.

Aaron McCollum • Aug 25 '21 • Edited

Thank you for writing! For fonts, is Google Fonts generally safe to use? If I link to fonts in my HTML document, will it show up no matter if the user has it installed or not?