Website Layout

When designing a website we need to make sure that we understand our visitors and what it is they are seeking. Our website layout should be consistent between all it's pages. For instance if we follow the layout shown in the figure below and we decide that our navigation (menu selection) will on the left side of the page then does it not make sense to have ALL our web pages on our website follow the same layout? it would be pretty annoying for a visitor to have to keep finding the navigation section if it's location kept changing between the web pages.

A website layout is pretty much up to you, but generally follows a certain basic design structure, such as the one shown here. You may do without the right column and have the body section wider or have the menu (navigation) section go across the page under the Page Header and have a drop down menu, or have the sub menus on the left column. Remember though as long it is consistent. I would suggest you visit several websites related to your industry or application and get ideas on what sort of layout you like.

Hint: Keep your website layout as simple as possible. Do not overload with fancy flash  intros, multitude of contrasting colours or too many styles of fonts. A clean looking site is much more pleasant, loads faster, will not have issues with different browsers and would be a lot easier for visitors to navigate through.

The navigation (menu) helps your visitor to move around your website and search for information easily. The easier and faster this happens the better for your site.

An effective website layout uses what I call web safe fonts and colours. Do not use fancy fonts as they don't show up well in many browsers. I suggest you select the most standard fonts such as; verdana, arial, trebuchet MS etc. Your font size selection is also important, not too tiny so users have to squint nor too big so as to make it difficult to read. Remember it is not you that has to be impressed by your site but rather your visitors.

Make your colour selection pleasant and eye catching. Avoid having a dark blue background with black writing, it is harsh on the eyes, annoying and naturally hard to read. if you do want to have a coloured background please experiment with font selection in terms of size, style and colour. Most of us are not designers by trade, so what we think or feel looks good may be pretty awful when viewed by someone else. Ask your family or friends to give you their point of view. Here is the deal, your best bet is a white background with black coloured font, it shows up the best, is clean looking, easy to read for users and search engine robots (this is good). 

Check how your site looks like on various browsers. Many users do not update their browsers and are still running on older versions, so take that into consideration.

Note: Just because you have the latest computer and monitor with the fastest internet does not mean the rest of your users do. Design your site for those that have slower connections and older systems and screens. Believe me many in the world still using the old CRT monitors and slow telephone internet connections.