Web Design Best Practices

This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by ALI HYDER

What are the web design best practices? Which best practices should I implement in my web design?

These are the questions that are rolling in most of the minds of web designers. So, I am going to have a discussion about some of the web design best practices in this article.

Nowadays, It only takes few minutes to get your website live on the Internet.

But making your website live is not enough. The design of your website is also essential.

Importance of Website Design

The design of a website is a serious matter that should not be taken lightly.

Because design can make a significant impact on how people interact with your website. It also helps users to navigate your site properly and make a good impression.

People shape opinions about your website in less than 0.05 seconds. Are you shocked?.... So was I. The majority of that opinion is based on the design.

You will make a good impression on future customers with a well-designed website. It can also help you foster guidance and make more conversions.

So while web design might seem to be a minor factor, it plays an essential part in the success of your business.
But don't worry. That's why I am here writing about web design best practices.

So, the best way to start is with an understanding of web design in 2021 of the latest best practices. You will still end up with something worth showcasing that will make you larger customers if you stick only to the work that matches them.

Here are the web design best practices for 2021.

1. Make Your Website Mobile Friendly

Mobile is how the Internet is used by the majority of the world. This means your website won't do well if you're not designed for mobile applications.

Firstly, any big web design client you want to impress would want a responsive website in your profession. In the multi-screen world of today, responsive sites are always better than static.

Everybody already knows that they shouldn't judge a book by its cover. Yet, most people don't stop judging a company by its website. Your site design has an important impact on your business, reputation, and the quality of your services.

This is recognized by search engines and mobile-friendly rewarding sites.

According to Google, 87 percent of smartphone owners conduct an Internet search at least once every day.

58% of all searches on Google are made from a mobile device
The result: on mobile devices, 70% of Google's first page results are optimized.

Mobile's share of total internet time according to Hootsuite.

The most vital factor you can do to improve your Google ranking is to focus on mobile SEO.

2. Reduce Text

Don't add large text blocks to your pages.

I don't talk of blog entries that need to be detailed occasionally (like this one!). I speak of your web pages (e.g., homepage, landing page). Here, keep the text at least.

You want all about you, your company, your brand, and your items to inform your visitors to your site. But with only a few phrases or better encore, you must learn how to explain that history.

3. Use Simple Navigation

Users should be able to find the information they need on your site quickly and easily. They're unlikely to convert if they can't get the information they need to make an informed decision.

This means that navigation is crucial to your success, and it should be as straightforward and well-organized as possible. In most cases, this entails placing a horizontal navigation bar across the top of the page with simple categories.

A website visitor should be capable to easily discover what they're looking for on your site.

Think About how you would think if you were in their shoes. What brings you to this website? What method do you use to complete that task? Perhaps you'd like to buy something, learn more, or see what's available. Regardless of the reason, if visitors can't figure it out quickly, they'll leave.

There is simply too much competition in the marketplace. There's no reason for users to put up with clumsy website navigation. All they have to do is leave your site and look for what they're looking for elsewhere.

Do not try a complex design to reinvent the wheel. Stick to the traditional format.

For instance, most websites horizontally place the navigation menu at the top of each page. It may confuse your visitors if your menu is somewhere else.

The fewer choices, the better the menu, Otherwise, finding out what people need will be too difficult. This concept is called Hick's Law.

The more choices, the longer it takes for somebody to make a decision. That's why complex concepts and navigations crash your rates of conversion.

Remove unnecessary options from the menu. For instance, use the website logo to link to the home screen instead of having a "home" button.

Ensure that you organize your categories logically, which determines which information you need easy for users to find. Consider how to look for information about a particular product or service. Think like your audience.

You can add valuable links to your footer as well. You should be able to consider browsing when people scroll down the page. This prevents them from scrolling up and down to find information.

4. Make Use of Visual Elements

Visual elements can significantly improve the usability of your website. The attention-grabbing details keep users engaged, and pages with graphics and photos are far more interesting to browse than those with only text.

Featuring relevant photos and graphics throughout your written content is one of the simplest ways to add visual interest to your site. These immediately catch users' attention and make them more likely to continue scrolling through your pages.

Visuals can not only help you break up your written content, but they can also help you explain things more thoroughly. Show your people who you are and what you're all about. They'll grasp more information in a shorter period.

The photos you choose must be relevant to the content and your brand. Stock photos should be avoided if possible, as they can come across as generic. Still, they can help illustrate a point in a pinch.

Videos are one of the best forms of visual content. Including one on a page can boost conversions by 86%! This makes them an excellent addition for increasing the amount of time potential customers spend with your content, improving the performance of your website, and engaging visitors.

5. Choose a Colour Scheme that Matches Your Brand

If you have a well-established brand, it can help build trust with visitors to retain this brand on your site. You would like them to land on your website and think about your business immediately.

The best choice is often a simple and modern design. Inconvenient designs can distract users from their content and damage their conversion chances.

Your website's color choices are more important than you may realize.

In less than 90 seconds, visitors will form an opinion about your website. The majority of this is due to the colors you select.
Branding is the best way to choose a color scheme for your website. Refer to your company's logo. Do the colors on your website correspond to the image you want to project?

If you have a set of brand colors that go with your logo and other elements of your brand identity, you should use them on your website as well. However, if you're starting from scratch, you can use this research to learn about color associations.

If you want your brand to be linked with trust, for example, you should use the color blue. Furthermore, suppose you want customers to believe that your company produces high-quality goods. In that case, the color black can help you create that image. Similarly, you can choose your brand colors based on the brand associations you want to create.

Then you can choose colors, which in people evoke certain emotions or thoughts. For example, the most reliable color is blue, and the quality is black.

6. Make your call to action (CTA) clear and obvious.

It is not a good idea to bury CTAs. They must be large, bold, and powerful, and they must clearly stand out as the next step for your visitors.

However, most websites lack a CTA button that can be identified in under three seconds. There's a good chance you'll be among those who take longer. That is not the group you want to be a part of.
Your call to action or CTAs are the straightforward steps to become customers by visitors.

When a visitor reaches the end of one of your pages, they will most likely leave no matter how helpful they found it. If there is a clear directive that is in their best interests, this is an exception.

Without a practical CTA button, you can't drive conversions.
On the inside of a company website, I rarely see a CTA (the pages that describe what your brand does and what you recommend). This is a significant design defect. Visitors to your homepage cannot expect to be converted.

You may inform visitors about the next step by putting an appropriate CTA on each page. You will send them to a different page, register for an e-mail list, or contact your company. That gives your company the authority to lead you in the right direction.

The best example is Grammarly's website. If you go to their website, you're most probably going to be a customer just because of their clear call to action. BTW, Grammarly is the best grammar software. I personally love it.

7. Include Social Media Button

Adding social media buttons to your design is simple. They can go in your header, footer, navigation, or anyplace else you think they'd be helpful.

Adding social buttons to your site is a simple approach to gain followers if you use social media as part of your marketing tactic. You may use them for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, and other social media platforms.

Suppose you run a blog or often publish new information. In that case, you should think about including share buttons that allow visitors to easily share your material on their social networks. The simpler it is for them to tweet or post an article, the more probable they will do so.

Conclusion

So, these were some of the web design best practices you should know. Implement these practices, and you are definitely going to see the change.

Also read my article on CSS Best Practices.

I have also talk about the 3 friends HTML, CSS, and JavaScript you may be interested to read.

If you liked my article, then give me a thumbs up. Or, if you know any other best practices, then do let me know in the comment section below.

Thanks. Happy Coding : )

This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by ALI HYDER