In making a web page or website, alongside the content itself, it’s important to take note of the web design. This part of a web page is the very first thing a reader or client sees – and as they say, first impressions last. However cool or ground-breaking the information in your web page is, if the reader doesn’t like what he/she sees for the first time, if the page causes too much strain in the eyes, for example, then chances are, they’ll leave without even reading the information in the said web page. So it’s necessary to remember some basic principles in web design. After all, making readers experience headaches and confusion went browsing your site is just a big no-no.

Firstly, when planning the web page, always make sure to use proper colors. It wouldn’t do you or the reader any good if he strains his/her eyes and goes down with a migraine because of the bright neon lights of your page. Moreover, they probably would not return to visit your page because of this unnecessary strain, so make sure that the page they see is easy and pleasant to the eyes. Use cool colors, and remember to use lighter background colors for a darker text – white background and black text, for example, is very easy to the eyes. Making the font sizes of your text larger and easier to read will make readers return more than having minuscule fonts that need to be magnified.

Another thing you may wish to take note of is the importance of navigation. In fact, this might actually be the most important aspect of all – a clear, easy to understand layout where readers won’t get lost and confused. Readers of a web page often get easily frustrated when they can’t find what exactly they are searching for. Wouldn’t you be annoyed if you can’t determine which one of two buttons is the ‘sign up’ button and the ‘logout’ button? Having easier and clear-cut navigation links will help hold the readers’ attention and make them explore more of your website.

Loading time is also a major factor in the readers’ expectations of a good web page. It’s said that the average web reader’s waiting time for web pages is only 20 seconds, so make good use of that time by ensuring that your website doesn’t load longer than that. Different factors affect a page’s loading time, like JavaScripts, images and flash animations, which generally need more amounts of time to load. Moreover, you can never be sure that your web page will load properly on all kinds and versions of browsers because these JavaScripts and animations are not compatible with everything. Better stick to fewer graphic and more text content than get bored readers who can’t access your page.

Building a successful web design needs careful consideration of the readers’ preferences and needs. Format your page in the easiest way for readers to navigate. Keep extra stuff to a minimum and focus more on the important content they seek to find. Also keep your content worthwhile reading or else they’ll go away faster than a speeding bullet. Doing these simple things to your page will enhance the readers’ interest in what you have to say.

By David L. Allen

One of the bigger but more exciting challenges for a homeowner is the interior design of their house. Undertaking such a project can be both rewarding and fun for all involved, and it really should be an opportunity to get everyone in the house involved. This can often times mean that with a variety of different household members inputs, that you will invariably end up with a variety of different interior design ideas. What usually works out best if you have each individual responsible for his or her own room. It doesn’t work out so well if you have a number of different interior design ideas and influences coming to a head in the same room. So divide up the workload.

Have the kids do their own rooms. They probably won’t let anyone else near their domain anyway. The woman of the house will usually tackle the task of decorating the master bedroom, and will usually have the most to say about the common areas of the house, including living rooms, dining rooms, kitchens, etc. Often times, that leaves the man of the house with the opportunity to decorate the garage and the basement.

A husband is usually one of the lesser enthusiastic participants in projects of this nature, so he’ll probably be satisfied with these out of the way spots. Besides, no matter how tacky or just plain awful his taste is, for some reason, it seems completely acceptable to have that reflected in a garage or basement. So let the man of the house practice away in those isolated areas of the house where it’s easiest to just close the door and forget all about that particular room.

While a variety of design ideas might work well, inconsistent themes under the same roof usually don’t. For example, if you’re in love with the idea of having a colonial style home, it’s probably best to try and keep that theme consistent throughout the home instead of just having one or two rooms in the house reflect that particular theme. Strive for consistency, even with a number of different people with a number of different inputs. Everyone will have their own opinions, but having a general consensus as to the theme will go along way in creating harmony in the design process.

An exception to the rule just discussed, if any, would be if you had a multi-level home. Sometimes it actually ends up working out nicely and can be very interesting indeed to have different themes on different floors of the same house. Consistency in the first floor of your home should probably take priority since those most often include the common areas that the majority of your visitors are likely to see, including living rooms, dining rooms, kitchens, and the like. If you’re going to stray from the consistent theme you’ve got your heart set on, best to do it upstairs where you’re most likely to have the bedrooms.

So put some thought into the direction you and your family would like to take in creating an overall theme in your home and it’ll make for a much more rewarding experience that’s sure to result in a unique aesthetic appeal for not only you, but for all those that visit as well.

By Claudio Carbeni