Aspects of Web Design

Web masters who are in charge of designing the sites that they work on need to be aware of the basic aspects of web design, so that they can put together interfaces with a good sense of flow. There are many aspects to building a good web site: a quality site has to have good content, usability, an attractive appearance and good visibility. Some of these terms have specific meanings when applied to web design, so let’s look at what each of these categories entails.

Content is simply the information that the site provides on whatever its topic is. The content on the site can be supplied by the web master himself / herself for a smaller site, or it can be contributed by a group of employees or by visitors to the site. If a team is generating content, then the web master may be in charge of purchasing appropriate content for the web site. If the users of a site can upload content, make comments on articles or post on a forum, the web master is in charge of handling approval of site additions and answering any questions or complaints about the content of the site that visitors may have.

Usability is the part of the site design that deals with helping the user get from page to page and navigate the content. The web master should make sure that the interface of the site is user friendly and that users can find their way around the entirety of the site without getting lost or being frustrated.

Appearance is simply the style of the site; the kind of graphic design and fonts that are used and how they relate to the content – whether they make it easier to understand what the site is about or whether they obfuscate the meaning of the web site.

Finally, the visibility of a web site is how easy the site is to find via common search engines and directories on the World Wide Web.

By considering each of these aspects in the design of a site, a web master can create a web site that is informative, easy to make use of and easy to find!