When it comes to designing a website it can sometimes be a daunting task for starting off designers. Especially for a larger website with multiple functions. There are a couple simple way to make it easier when designing a website. A lot of people are think that when designing a website that you need to throw everything into it and the kitchen sink. The thing is though when designing a website it is good to keep the basics. These tips are some of the best ones to keep in mind when designing a website.
Tip 01 when designing a website: start off with a plan
The worst idea when it comes to designing a website is go in head first. You need to have a plan of attack. The best way to do this is to start with panning out on pen and paper. Yes you need to start on pen and paper when designing a website. This will help you make sure that you not only have a good understanding of the project. You need to know how many pages the website will have, how to organize them, and how a visitor of the website will navigate the website. This is where you need to start and can without even touching a line of code. As the web designer you need to have a better understanding of how the website will work on a functionality level.
Tip 02 when designing a website: keep mobile in mind
When designing a website you need to make sure that you keep mobile. In 2017 when designing a website if you do not make sure that it can work on a smartphone or a tablet as well as a desktop. It is being arrogant and a little dumb to think that people will only view a website on a desktop. The truth is that more and more people are only viewing the web on mobile devices. This is only going to grow as we move closer to a mobile first world. This means you need to make sure that the websites you design are responsive design or at the minimum adaptive. This will make sure that no matter what device your visitors view your site on it will work properly. Also you should stop charging your clients extra for this feature. It is 2017, it is no longer a feature but necessity.
Tip 03 when designing a website: keep the end user in mind
As designers we sometimes get sucked into our own work. We can sometimes get protective in our work and think it should always be our way. The thing is when designing a website you can not do this. You need to keep the end user in mind. You to take into account that someone is going to use this website that has never used a website. You need to design every website in such a way that your grandparents could use the website with no one’s help. This doesn’t mean a site needs to look dated, but it needs to have simple and easy to understand navigation. This means no hamburger style menus when your website is being viewed on a desktop. This means not having a sidebar menu on every single page.
