Ch. 6 Basic Design Principles

Ch. 6 in The Non-Designer's Web Book by Robin Williams & John Tollett is a great introductory for those who are new to web designing. They discussed the four basic principles: alignment, proximity, repetition, and contrast, all of which are the most important keys to efficient web designing. Alignment is the structure of the page and discuss the important of  having the items line up and appeal to the eye. Alignment makes it easier for the viewer to look at the webpage. It creates order and structure for the viewer to help navigate the page with ease. Don't mix alignments. Inconsistency does not produce an effective display. Limit the use of center alignment because it looks cheesy and unprofessional. With the pictures in the book showing what is effective and what is not was extremely helpful in visualizing the aspect of alignment. Giving simple do's and dont's made it very beneficial for me as a reader.

The next important key to web designing is proximity. Depending on where your pictures, titles, paragraphs, are located on your webpage makes all the difference. Limit your use of spacing, rather format the page to fit around your focal point. Titles are the most important because they indicate what the paragraph is about so by creating identical headings for titles, will create a consistent and organized page.

Also when navigating your webpage keep the pages consistent with repetition. Have the same color usage, alignment, and pictures to identify to the reader that they are still on your site. This will help them navigate much easier and draw them in. You want the reader to follow and understand what your webpage has to offer so keep it simple and organized. By doing this, it helps the reader absorb the information on your site which allows for a successful page.

Contrast is the last key to designing an effective webpage. This goes along with the color usage, font style, and how you are displaying your focal point. Each time you visit a webpage there is one thing that sticks out from the rest of the items on the page. This dominant item on the page is the focal point that draws the reader in. The focal point however, does not draw away from the page, it is a indication of what the page has to offer. The use of color is extremely important. As shown in the book, some webpages used conflicting colors to draw attention. This will draw attention, but if you can't focus on what is on the webpage only the color usage, then it is not a positive contrast. Certain font styles also bring the viewer in to display a focal point. Putting all your headings in capitalized lettering is NOT as effective as it may sound. It looks weird and meshed together.

An important aspect that I found to be humorous, is spelling. haha. You would think that if you are running a professional business and trying to gain viewers or customers, you would double check your work! There has been plenty of times where I have come across spelling errors, but I don't understand why because we have spell check right on our computers.

... After reviewing the important aspects of web designing, it has made me excited to start our next project. I love designing and learning new and effective ways to gain an audience.