What is Web Design? A Modern Perspective

What is Web Design?

Web design is the process of creating an online presence using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.  A web design’s main purpose is to provide information in the form of text, images, video, and sound.

Modern web design encompasses several different aspects, such as graphic design, interface design, content authoring, web development, user experience design, and search engine optimization.

Often, multiple individuals are involved in the design of a website, including a web designer, a graphic designer, a programmer (web developer), and a user experience specialist.

When did Web Design Begin?

The history of web design is intricately entwined with the history of the internet itself. The two have evolved together, with each new development in web design being driven by advances in internet technology.

The first websites were nothing more than simple text documents, with no formatting or images. As the internet developed, so too did the tools and technologies available to web designers. The first web design software was created in the early 1990s and was used to create the first graphical web pages.

Today, web design has come a long way from its humble beginnings. With the advent of responsive design, CSS3, and HTML5, web designers now have a wealth of tools and technologies at their disposal.

According to W3Techs, there are over 2 billion websites on the internet, 43% of these websites use WordPress as their content management system. Joomla comes in at a distant second place with 2.6%.  Drupal is the third most popular website content management system with 1.6% of the market share.

Why is Web Design Important

The internet has become an integral part of our lives. We use it for a variety of tasks, such as keeping in touch with friends and family, doing our shopping (e-commerce), and finding information.

As the internet has become such an important part of our lives, it is important to have a website that is well-designed and user-friendly. A good website will make it easy for people to find the information they are looking for. It will also give a good impression of your company or organization.

Web design is important because it determines how your website looks and how easy it is to use. It is also important for search engine optimization (SEO). Good web design will make it easier for people to find your website when they are searching for information on the internet.

A website visitor will make a mental decision about your website within 0.05 seconds, hiring a professional web designer can help to increase your chances of turning your website visitors into customers.

What to Consider When Designing a Website

When designing a website, there are a few things to consider. The most important of these is the target audience. Who is the website meant for? What are their needs? What are their interests?

After the target audience has been identified, the design of the website should be based around that. The website should be easy to use and navigate, with clear menus and buttons.

The layout should be simple and uncluttered, with plenty of white space to help direct the eye. The colours and fonts should be chosen carefully, to match the tone and style of the business.

And finally, the website should be present quality images that represent the tone and feeling of the websites purpose and content.

Web Design Layout:

The layout of a website is one of the most important aspects of web design. It can make or break a website’s usability, and it can also be a major factor in how well a website performs in search engine results pages (SERPs).

Website Fonts:

When choosing a font for your website, it’s important to consider readability, how well the font will display on different devices, and how well the font pairs with your branding.

Some of the most popular fonts for websites include Arial, Verdana, and Georgia. These fonts are all highly readable and are compatible with most devices. They also pair well with a wide variety of branding styles.

There are a few things you should consider when selecting a website font:

– Font style:

Serif fonts are generally easier to read online than sans serif fonts.

– Font size:

The font size should be large enough that it’s easy to read on all devices.

– Line height

The line height should be slightly larger than the font size, in order to make the fonts look natural and appealing, especially when the fonts wrap and create multiple lines.

Website Colors

Choosing the right color for a website can be tricky. There are a few things to consider, such as the target audience, the company’s brand identity, and the type of website.

After considering all of these factors, The perfect website color is relative to the company and its target audience. Different colors evoke different emotions in people, so it’s important to consider what emotions you want your company to evoke in potential customers when choosing a color for your website.

Blue

is often associated with trustworthiness and reliability, while green is associated with environmentalism and health.

Yellow

is often associated with happiness and warmth, while black is often associated with luxury and power.  It’s important to choose a color that accurately represents your company and its values.

Website Images:

When you’re trying to make a good first impression online, it’s important to have high-quality images on your website. According to studies, people form an opinion about a website in just 50 milliseconds.

That’s less than half a second! And, of course, the first thing people will notice is the images on your site.

So how can you make sure your website images are making the best impression possible?

Here are a few tips:

• Use original images that augment your website content and purpose.
• Make sure the images are properly cropped and sized.
• Use the latest image formats to reduce load times and increase user experience.

What Does a Website Consist Of?

When you think about a website, you probably think about the front-end design and the graphics. However, there is a lot more to a website than just visuals. In fact, the front-end design is just a small part of what makes up a website.

A website is a set of interconnected web pages, each of which has its own uniform resource locator (URL). A website is typically hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network. Websites can be used in a variety of ways, such as for business or personal use.

All websites consist of a home page, which is the first page a user sees when they visit a website. This page typically contains links to other pages on the website. Websites can also contain other features, such as contact forms, search boxes, and social media integration.

A website is composed of three essential sections: the <head>,  <body>, and <footer>.

Head Section

The <head> section of a website contains information that is not visible to the user but is essential for the proper functioning of the website. This information includes the website’s title, meta tags, and links to external stylesheets and scripts.

The <head> section is also used to specify any other information that is required by the website, such as the character set or the author of the website.

Body Section

The <body> element of a website contains all of the content that is displayed to the user. This includes text, images, and other multimedia. The <body> element is the main part of the website and everything else is contained within it.

The body element can be divided into sections, each of which can contain different types of content. For example, a website might have a section for a navigation bar, another section for the main content, and the third section for a sidebar.

The <body> element is important because it contains all of the content that the user will see.

Footer Section

The website footer is the bottom area of a webpage that contains information such as the copyright notice, contact information, and site navigation. The footer is usually displayed in a smaller font size than the rest of the page.

The footer section is typically coded using the HTML <footer> tag. However, the <footer> tag can also be used to code other page elements, such as the header or main content area.

While the footer is not required on all websites, it is a good idea to include one on your site. A footer can help improve the usability of your site and make it easier for visitors to find the information they are looking for.

Is it Difficult to Create a Website?

You may have heard that creating a website is easy. You may have even heard that you can create a website for free. While it is true that there are many tools available that make website creation easy, it is not always as simple as it seems.

Web design is a process that encompasses many different skills and disciplines. A successful website must consider a wide range of factors, including branding, usability, layout, content, and more.

While it is possible to create a website without any prior experience or knowledge, it is much more difficult to create a successful website that is user-friendly and engaging.

If you want to create a website that is professional and high-quality, you will need to invest time and effort into learning about web design.

Wix, Weebly, and WordPress offer some great alternatives for people who are looking to create a website for personal purposes.  Bootstrap also offers an excellent platform for people who want to understand how to create a website from scratch.

Udemy, W3Schools and WPBeginner are great places to learn more about website design.

Web Design Tips & Suggestions

There are a number of web design mistakes that can ruin a website. Some of the worst ones are making the website too busy, not using enough white space, using too many fonts, not using a grid system, and not using a responsive design.

Making the website too busy can be a huge turnoff for visitors. They will be overwhelmed by the amount of information on the page and will be unable to find what they’re looking for.

Not using enough white space makes the website look cluttered and unprofessional. It also makes it difficult for the reader to focus on the important website elements.

Please note that website design is subjective, as there is no such thing as a perfect web design.  Every web design should have a purpose, we recommend that you base your website design on achieving your intended purpose.

Important Skills for a Web Designer?

Web design is a constantly evolving field, so designers need to stay up to date on the latest trends and technologies. To do this, they must have strong skills in graphic design, user experience (UX), information architecture (IA), and web development.

Designers must also be able to think strategically and understand the needs of their clients and users. They must be able to collaborate with team members and communicate effectively. Finally, they must be able to troubleshoot problems and solve them efficiently.

Web graphic design

Web graphic design is one aspect of web design that is often neglected. It is the part of web design that takes a visual representation of data and makes it appealing to website visitors.

Good web graphic design can help a website stand out from the competition, draw in more visitors, and keep them engaged longer. Poor web graphic design, on the other hand, can have the opposite effect.

Interface design

User interface design (UI) design is focused on how web visitors interact with a website.  UI Designers use data to several analytical tools to measure and modify a website to maximize its effectiveness of a website.

A professional Interface designer can help a website increase sales and user engagement.

User experience design

User experience design is the process of enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty by improving the usability, accessibility, and pleasure provided in the interaction between the customer and the product.

User experience design is important to make sure that people feel comfortable with the look and feel of your website when they’re browsing through your information.

Search Engine Optimization

To make your website content more visible and therefore more likely to be read, you need to understand and implement some basic search engine optimization (SEO) techniques.

SEO is the practice of optimizing a website so that it appears as high as possible in search engine results pages (SERPs), thus increasing the likelihood that potential customers will find it.

There are a number of things you can do to improve your SEO, many of which are free.

Some basic things you can do include:

• Making sure your website is well-structured and easy to navigate
• Optimizing your website for speed (load time)
• Create quality contact that people want to read

When to Hire a Web Design Agency

There are a lot of things to think about when you’re starting a website. Not only do you need to decide on the right web design and development agency, but you also need to think about what kind of website you want, what your budget is, and how much time you want to spend on it.

Hiring a web design agency can be a big decision, but it’s also one that can pay off in the long run. Not only will you get a high-quality website, but you’ll also have someone to help you with updates, changes, and marketing your business.

Modern Web Design has been building websites for almost 10 years, let us know if you’d like some help in bulding your new website.  We offer free website consultations, so please feel free to contact us!