Web design basics

A guide for designing effective websites

Clean yet attractive layout design is the crux of a web design project. An easy to follow navigation of various web links on your site plays a major role in ensuring the stickiness of your web site. By stickiness, we mean how long a visitor explores various web pages on your site.

Internet research by yourself

Prior to launching your own web site, you should visit different websites and browse them to learn in detail the way the webmasters have conceptualized and designed their websites. Study some professionally done web site designs.
Firms that have expertise in development and design will sure help you, but before you seek their services, you should be clear in your own mind as what you are aiming at.

Target Audience

You should also know who your target audience is before you design and develop your web site. It may be that you are an artist, and want to tell the world about yourself and announce your capabilities. You may want to manage a service or build and promote a new idea, or to discuss / debate things. Accordingly the interface, the look, the presentation and the richness of your site should be decided.

Flash or no flash

While designing a website, you need to decide whether a flash based version is necessary. If the main purpose of your site is attracting visitors for its artistic, visual effects then a flash based web site makes sense for you. If you are running a design or arts firm then visitors would need to be influenced by its looks. Then flash is good. 

More and more web sites now choose to embed Flash owing to attractive features. Flash makes your site more interactive, lively and entertaining. Interactivity is the best feature of Flash. If you want more games, quizzes, interactive banners and images to attract visitors, then Flash is the best option.

If you want to impress the visitor with an appealing visual presentation then only go for Flash. However, you would lose out on those users not having a flash player. So, keep your target audience in mind.