What do you need to achieve the best website?
All businesses and individuals want to know what is needed to produce the best website possible. Here you will find the necessities of great web design.
User Experience
Of course, making your website look amazing is ideal but there is more to that went design the best website. It needs to function and come to life. User experience or UX encompasses all aspects of the end-user's interaction with the company, its services, and its products according to the Nielsen Norman Group (2019). So, when designing a website, a designer should think about how the end-user will experience the website. That being from menu hovers to button placement to scrolling animations.
You want the user to flow through the site without having to properly think. According to Krug's First Law of Usability, "don't make me think!" So try and make everything easy to understand and usable. There are other rules and patterns to think about such as the F-Shaped Pattern and Krug's other Laws of Usability (2017), but you would be a champion if you could achieve them all.
Readability
Choosing the right typefaces and font size is crucial, especially when thinking about what users will be looking at your website. Font selection is difficult sometimes because there will always be someone that has a preference for a serif or sans serif fonts. Shortie Designs stated that choosing a maximum of 3 typefaces in a maximum of 3 point sizes is ideal.
Keeping the user interested in a webpage is another challenge. All users to take breaks without leaving the page. This can be done in numerous ways:
- Visual Stimulation: Using images, videos, animations or a call to action
- Headings and Subheadings: Even a different size font can help
- Quotes: Adding a testimonial/s or famous quote that relates to the content allows the user to think further into the content you're trying to sell/teach.
- Etc.
Ranking
Meta tags and SEOs are a must, if you are looking to attract a large amount of traffic to your website. According to Computer Hope (2017), meta tags or meta elements are tags placed in the head section of your code that help define the contents of a web page. Basically, if your website doesn't have a meta description, Google or other search engines will generate one for you. Which isn't really a good idea.
MOZ (2019) defines Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) as the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website. Adding a keyword for each page and increasing an SEO score will boost your page on search engine results. The best website developers will always perform these measures. Using tools like HIKE are great for moving up the search ranks. WordPress plugins can also help increase your website SEO rating and WP Beginner have gone through and picked the best SEO plugins/tools.
Responsiveness
A website isn't always viewed on a desktop or laptop. So, designing a website to be responsive with both mobile and tablet allow it to be viewable on all platforms thus broadening the audience for people that don't have access to a laptop/computer. Testing a website before launching is a must as it will identify any inconsistencies or design faults that need to be fixed.
Here are some GREAT examples:
We produce great websites!
References
Computer Hope. (2017). Meta Tag. Retrieved from https://www.computerhope.com/jargon/m/metatags.htm
Flinders University. (n.d.) Steven Krug: Don't make me think. Retrieved from http://www.flinders.edu.au/sabs/inclusivity/web-accessibility/krug.cfm
HIKE. (n.d.) Hike. Retrieved from https://hikeseo.co/
Loyola University New Orleans. (2017). Don't make Me Think! by Steven Krug. Retrieved from http://library.loyno.edu/blog/?p=316
Moz. (2019). What is SEO? Retrieved from https://moz.com/learn/seo/what-is-seo
Nielson Norman Group. (2019). The Definition of User Experience (UX). Retrieved from https://www.nngroup.com/articles/definition-user-experience/
Shortie Designs. (n.d.) 10 Top Principles of Effective Web Design. Retrieved from https://shortiedesigns.com/2014/03/10-top-principles-effective-web-design/
WPBeginner. (2018). 9 Best WordPress SEO Plugins and Tools That You Should Use. Retrieved from https://www.wpbeginner.com/showcase/9-best-wordpress-seo-plugins-and-tools-that-you-should-use/
