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5 Simple Steps to Great Website Design
By Alan Orr

Great website design is not about fancy Flash graphics or moving images. It's not about knowing the complexities of HTML, CSS or all those other weird and wonderful names you've heard people mention. Instead there are 5 simple steps to achieving a great website.

Perhaps the most important step in great website design is the banner - your advertising. Put a banner across the top of the site. The banner is the first thing that people see when the come to your website. So your website design must focus on getting that right. This doesn't mean that you need a moving graphical image or some stunning artwork. Instead what you need to focus on is getting your message across in a memorable way. Don't hide the name of your site. Put it in big bold letters so that people will know they are in the right place. Don't complicate things with lots of graphics. Sure the odd relevant picture or your logo will help but don't be tempted to fill the banner with images. You want to get your name across first and foremost.

Don't overcomplicate the menu structure. Generally websites place menus in two places: vertically along the top (above or below the banner) and horizontally down the side (on the left or right). However sometimes the site has so many options the user doesn't know what to pick. They see 15 choices along the top all with submenus and more down the side. Some website design even includes menus on the left AND the right. Whatever the person doing your website design tells you don't be tempted to put in too many. You need to think clearly about what you want your visitor to do and minimise the number of ways of getting them to do it.

Put in clear titles. This might sound obvious but look around at different website design examples. Often the title looks like it's part of the article. It needs to stand out. It needs to be short and tell the reader what the article is about. A title like: "have you ever wondered what the main steps you need to take to train your dog are?" is no where near as good as "training your dog in 4 easy steps". They say the same thing. But one is short and snappy and the other is a long sentence. Don't think of your title and the article (or product description) as the same thing. Write your article and then write a short snappy title - no more than 10 words (preferably less).

Think about the size of your users monitor. You might have a wonderful monitor with 1280x1024 pixels but most people don't. They have a much smaller viewing area. So size your website for the average person not for your monitor. Generally the website design should account for a main viewing area in the middle of the page and a border around the outside. The main viewing part should be about 900-1000 pixels and the border should be a background colour or image. It should be set up so the border width adjusts depending on the size of the screen. In short the 900-1000 pixel main viewing area will be seen on most monitors.

Keep is short. People don't like long web pages. A website design that results in more than 2 screen-full of text will not work. Make it short. Get the person who is doing your website design to focus on making a system that works with short pages. If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. If you have a long page then as the person scrolls down then the screen along with your banner and menus scrolls up. You're no longer controlling the user experience. So 2 screens in depth and no more.

Take the 5 simple steps to great website design and apply them to your own ideas and figure out how closely you match them. If you are missing a few then work with whoever is doing your website design to fix them

About the Author:
Alan is the founder of www.website-huddle.com which provides affordable website design and development. Why not see what we can do for your small business, club or organisation, you'll be pleasantly surprised at the low cost and the high quality. Go to www.website-huddle.com now to find out more.