WEB DESIGN

DEFINITION OF WEB DESIGN

Web design is the process of creating websites. It encompasses several different aspects, including webpage layout, content production, and graphic design. While the terms web design and web development are often used interchangeably, web design is technically a subset of the broader category of web development.

Websites are created using a markup language called HTML. Web designers build webpages using HTML tags that define the content and metadata of each page. The layout and appearance of the elements within a webpage are typically defined using CSS, or cascading style sheets. Therefore, most websites include a combination of HTML and CSS that defines how each page will appear in a browser.

WHAT IS WEB DESIGN

Web design refers to the design of websites that are displayed on the internet. It usually refers to the user experience aspects of website development rather than software development. Web design used to be focused on designing websites for desktop browsers; however, since the mid-2010s, design for mobile and tablet browsers has become ever-increasingly important.

HISTORY OF WEB DESIGN

In 1989, whilst working at CERN Tim Berners-Lee proposed to create a global hypertext project, which later became known as the World Wide Web. … The W3C was created in October 1994 to “lead the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing common protocols that promote its evolution and ensure its interoperability.”

METHODS FOR WEB DESIGNING

Two of the most common methods for designing websites that work well both on desktop and mobile are responsive and adaptive design. In responsive design, content moves dynamically depending on screen size; in adaptive design, the website content is fixed in layout sizes that match common screen sizes. Preserving a layout that is as consistent as possible between devices is crucial to maintaining user trust and engagement. As responsive design can present difficulties in this regard, designers must be careful in relinquishing control of how their work will appear. If they are responsible for the content as well, while they may need to broaden their skillset, they will enjoy having the advantage of full control of the finished product.

TYPES OF WEB DESIGN

Fixed design

Fixed web pages have a set width that won’t alter when the browser is resized, no matter what device the website is being viewed on. On smaller devices, such as smartphones or tablets, content is harder to view and can be annoying for users due to the need to scroll horizontally to view the rest of the content on a page, or continuously ”pinch and expand” to zoom into the page’s text. When the browser on a screen is enlarged or reduced, images and text may visually fall apart on the screen.

Liquid or Fluid design

When resizing the browser, the content on the page spreads itself out to fill the width of the browser when expanded, hence the term liquid design, and will look enlarged or as though is has shrunk. The columns containing the content on the webpage are built using percentages, rather than fixed columns used in fixed design, therefore the columns increase or decrease in size relative to each other.

Responsive design

This approach aims to make website viewing easier by displaying websites on different devices in forms that are easy to read and navigate. This avoids the user from having to resize, pan or scroll through the webpage to read the website’s content. Essentially the website is easily viewable and usable on desktop computers, tablets and smartphones. When creating a responsive website design, designers do not need to design multiple website formats that have been rearranged for different devices.

TOOLS FOR WEB DESIGN

A web designer’s set of tools is what brings a concept into fruition. There are five tools web designers use.

Firefox Developer : As a developer, you have access to all their DevTools. It’s many features include: analyzing and debugging, building and designing with CSS Grid, HTML inspector, style editor among many other tools to provide the greatest assistance with your web development needs.
Photoshop: it is the ideal application for manipulating images and creating web graphics. Photoshop has all the necessary tools and options you need such as: Filters – which automatically adds effects to your image or a selected section of your image, extensibility and automation with Brushes, Actions and Scripting, and workflow enhancement features like Layer Comps and the Revert option.

Panicking Coda : Panic Coda is a shareware web development application for the Mac OS X operating system. It seeks to reduce the amount of applications (such as an FTP client, CSS editor, a version control system, etc.) you need to develop websites and to improve your team’s workflow.
Dreamweaver : Its featured-packed suite of tools and options include: syntax highlighting and very smart Code Hinting, a built-in FTP client, project management and workflow options that make team work effortless, and Live View – which shows you a preview of your source code. Dreamweaver tightly integrates with other popular Adobe products such as Photoshop, allowing you to share Smart Objects for quick and easy updating and editing of graphics components.
Fireworks : It brings you a plethora of tools and options that make full web layout prototyping a breeze. Among its notable features are: “slices” for slicing and dicing a design mockup into HTML/CSS for rapidly creating prototypes (though you should avoid using auto-generated source code for the end-build), the ability to package an entire site design as a PDF with clickable components for interactive and impressive site prototypes, and optimization tools for making your web graphics as lightweight as possible.

Just like in most other professions, a web designer’s set of tools is what brings a concept into fruition. There are many applications available to our disposal, but there are some that just stand out from the crowd. The tools in this article are what’s regarded as the most popular tools used for web design.

WHY WEB DESIGN IS IMPORTANT

How does it impact your audience and your business? Let’s look at five reasons web design is important.

IT SETS THE FIRST IMPRESSION

When your audience visits your website, it gives them their first impression of your business. They will judge your business within seconds. In these first few seconds, you want to make a positive impact on your audience.

Web design is important because it impacts how your audience perceives your brand. The impression you make on them can either get them to remain on your page and learn about your business or leave your page and turn to a competitor. A good web design helps you keep your leads on your page.

2. IT AIDS YOUR SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO) STRATEGY

Many web design elements and practices influence how you publish content on your website, which in turn affects how search engine spiders crawl and index your website.

The best way to ensure proper web design practices (and subsequent search engine visibility) is to partner up with a web design agency that knows what they’re doing.

3. IT SETS THE IMPRESSION FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE

People can judge how you will treat them by looking at your website. Your design gives them insight as to how you view your audience. If you don’t put any effort into your website’s design, your audience knows that you won’t put effort into helping them.

Your website is like a customer service representative. If your website is bright, modern, and inviting, your audience will feel more welcome on your page. You’ll give the impression that you are open and welcoming to new people who visit your website.

4. IT BUILDS TRUST WITH YOUR AUDIENCE

People don’t trust poorly designed websites. If they see your poor design or the information looks outdated, they won’t trust your site. They may view your site as seedy or shady because you don’t have an updated web design.

It’s important to build trust with your audience so they remain on your site. When visitors remain on your site longer, you create more opportunities for your business to capture those leads.

5. YOUR COMPETITORS ARE DOING IT

If you need a reason for why web design is important, here’s a big one: Your competitors are already utilizing web design. If you want to remain in competition with them, you must use web design for your site.

You want your website to stand out from the competition. If you have an old, outdated, and low-quality website, your competitor’s will outrank you. Their well-designed website will perform better than your website.

Your website’s design is an opportunity for you to set your business apart from the competition. When you’re competing with other businesses, you generally have the same services and similar pricing. You need that one thing that will make your business stand out from the rest.

6. IT CREATES CONSISTENCY

When you’re trying to get new leads for your business, you want to build up your brand. You want your audience to get familiar with your brand so they choose you when they’re ready to convert. Online web designs are important because they help create consistency across your page.

If your website is not consistent, people will bounce from yours to one that looks more professional. By building consistency, you keep leads on your page longer and get them familiar with your business. You’ll earn more leads and conversions down the line when you redesign your site for this key element.

WHAT IS USER EXPERIENCE (UX) IN WEB DESIGN?

User experience is one of the main factors in the success or failure of any website. It’s how your visitors will interact with your business and what will lead them to convert and buy your products or services.

Good user experience practices are split into several categories, laying out what you need to consider when designing the best user experience for your visitors. The key things you can do on your website are branding and aesthetic, page speed and mobile optimisation.

Branding and Aesthetic: Every successful brand has its own aesthetic, a unique style that distinguishes them from their competitors. If done correctly, a brand can form a following through recognition of their excellent products and a smart marketing strategy. This leads to higher conversions and more repeat customers. Your branding needs to be relevant and customer-centric to attract and retain customers for your product or service. Hence, having a detailed understanding of how people shop and interact with brands similar to yours is vital.
Page Speed: This is an aspect of user experience which is underestimated within businesses and the world of web design. It plays a major role on the likelihood that someone who visits your website is going to convert into a customer. The longer the page loading time, the less likely the visitor is going to be able to perform the necessary actions for conversion. Whether this is through eCommerce selling, a website form or finding contact information to make a call to your business.
Mobile Optimisation: Search volumes from mobile devices have increased massively over the last few years, and this has had a measurable effect on the way people use the internet. Mobile searches are more goal-oriented, which has resulted in a significant increase in conversion numbers. This not only effects online sales but also where people will visit when they are shopping in real life. Being mobile friendly is a must for any business’s website.

PURPOSE OF USER EXPERIENCE (UX)

User Experience Design (UXD or UED) is a design process whose sole objective is to design a system that offers a great experience to its users. Thus UXD embraces the theories of a number of disciplines such as user interface design, usability, accessibility, information architecture, and Human Computer Interaction.

WHY USER EXPERIENCE (UX) IMPORTANT

To put it simply, UX is important because it tries to fulfill the user’s needs. It aims to provide positive experiences that keep users loyal to the product or brand. Additionally, a meaningful user experience allows you to define customer journeys on your website that are most conducive to business success.

CONCLUSION

Web design is normally used to describe the design process relating to the front-end (client side) design of a website including writing markup. Web design partially overlaps web engineering in the broader scope of web development.