Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. 534 Unit 3 Living Online Designing for the Web There are many commonly accepted principles of web design. At the root of these principles is the need to present information in a format that is easy to understand and visually pleasing. The fi rst step is to determine the audience for the page and what information will be presented. Each page on a website should be easy to understand. A web designer must consider what the user will want and present it in a clear and intuitive interface. It is important to organize the information so that it is easy to fi nd. Help to focus the readers’ attention by using typefaces that are easy to read, changing text size for emphasis, and using colors for grabbing attention. Navigation of the site should be obvious. Make use of common conventions. For example, users expect to follow links. Make them clear. Use standard icons to help users fi nd links to common services, such as Facebook or Twitter. When designing a website, use a storyboard to plan the navigation. Create a sketch of each page in the website. Then, arrange the sketches on a whiteboard and draw lines between the pages to illustrate the navigation. Using storyboards can also be used for time management, which is discussed in Chapter 17. Basic graphic design principles apply to the visual design of a website. Principles such as contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity should be followed. Contrast A key principle in graphic design is contrast. Contrast is the degree of difference between elements in a design, as shown in Figure 13-16. Mixing elements of different qualities provides interest, draws focus, and helps the user to understand the information on the page. Contrast can be achieved by using large items with small items a serif typeface for some elements and a sans serif typeface for other elements bright colors with subtle colors or by grouping some elements and separating other elements. These methods provide the opportunity to indicate importance of an item because of the contrast to other, lesser important items on the page. Repetition Repetition, or pattern, is when an element occurs more than once. Repeating design elements such as color choices or image treatment provides a uniform look to the pages of a website. This promotes a feeling that all of the pages belong together. It provides a sense that there is an organization to the website. FYI FYI A website is a graphic design, and principles of graphic design should be followed. kosmos111/Shutterstock.com Figure 13-16. The colors of these umbrellas have high contrast, which makes it easy to see all of them.