Homebuilders.com

There are many new exciting developments in web design that are arising that are making a big splash. New CSS3 enhancements, web fonts and mobile optimization are to name a few. There are so many things that designers could get in over their head and lose sight of the main objectives when building out a website. Keeping these six fundamentals at the forefront of the process and balancing them equally is the key to developing any successful website.

#1: Usability. Sites with a bad user interface suffer from very poor rates of repeat traffic. No one wants to go back to your site if they can’t find what they want quickly. That’s why a call-to-action is needed in several consistant places that will help users navigate easily. Including a text-based site map is also important for complex sites.

#2: Accessibility. Making your website accessible to the widest possible range of users is extremely important, whether they’re using ancient technology or alternative devices such as mobile phones. There are many techniques web designers are developing to improve accessibility.

#3: Development. With exploding trends and innovation in this area, web designers and developers are able to cover normal web standards, AJAX and other traditional server side scripting by using even more powerful web applications.

#4 Aesthetics. Having a nice branded look and feel of a website is very important and is almost paramount to user friendliness. Using the right color scheme, contrast, styling and interface has a huge impact on user perception.

#5 Content. Having relevant, easy to read content and photos is what really will support the design and layout of the website. Good content produces good results and contributes to the overall success of the website.

#6 Objectives. Probably the most overlooked fundamental of the web design process and its success are the core values and objectives. What is the purpose of this website? What returns on investment are needed? This all stems from the core business model that absolutely needs to be set in place and rooted deeply behind any company and their website.

Web designers need to equally embrace all of these ‘pillars of success’ and understand what the main goal of the website is. Maintaining an overview and watching all of these areas in respect to one another is key to having a successfully designed and a successful business tool.