Introduction to Web Design

The term Web Design can be interpreted in different ways – in some cases, it's used to describe the process of actually building a set of web pages (using graphical editors or HTML/XHTML/CSS etc.), while in others cases it's used to refer to the process of determining what your web pages should look like and how they should behave. This section focuses on deciding how your pages should look and feel. We'll cover the actual implementation in a later section, but before getting into that you need to know what you want your website to look like, which is why this part comes first.

If you're thinking of creating a website, the first decision you need to make is whether you intend doing this part yourself, or hiring a web designer to do it for you (there are lots of web designers available). Even if you do intend hiring somebody though, it's no harm to think this through yourself first, so that you have some concrete ideas to discuss with your designer, to give them a better idea of what you're looking for.

The most beneficial thing you can do is to look carefully at other sites that you like, particularly those that are in the same field as your site will be. What do you like and dislike about them? Are they user-friendly and easy to use? How will the design of your site help to differentiate it from its competitors?

Your aim should be a site that's well-organised and easy to navigate, so that visitors can find what they're looking for quickly and easily. It should be visually appealing and clearly branded, so that the name of your site sticks in people's minds, meaning that they're more likely to return. It should also be clean and uncluttered, because a design that is overly fussy and complex can put people off.

Next Page -->

Web Page Layout