FreshTechWeb

1.    Header

Creating a website header that reflects your business is critical. This is the first thing a visitor will lay eyes upon when accessing your website. The design of the header should be eye-catching, but not overly-distracting in order to maintain a professional tone. Unlike other elements, the header should tell the story behind the business, to immerse the visitor in the world you have created. Be sure to have your header match the rest of the website’s style. A minimal look is oftentimes more appreciated than a cluttered one.

2.     Links

Style is important even for links. Though rather basic, they provide an extra detail that might set your small business website aside from the rest of the bunch. This minor detail is a must-have on all websites. The state of each link helps visitors see where they have been, where they are and what should they try to access next. ‘Normal’ is the default state of any link, when you do not place your mouse pointer on it or click it. A visited link may appear in a different color just to show that it was accessed before by a user. An active link is the one that is currently clicked by the person browsing the website. Web developers usually create these links if the layout of the website doesn’t offer them. The hover state of a link is the state in which a link appears when the cursor is right on top of it. This type and the normal one represent the main focus of web designer, though it is in your business’ interest to make use of the entire range. You should be careful with different colors in other regions of your website, not to confuse the visitors by allowing the same contrasts for the links and the background.

3.    Forms

Forms should not be treated as a trivial element of web design. They can easily make the difference by turning visitors into customers. This is why designers should really consider careful planning in order to incorporate them in a website. There are two main forms that should be considered: Form label – which is the one that gathers data of a personal nature, the type that users often dislike (it is always good to inform the user before asking for sensitive information), and Fields – which should go along with the position of the page, with respect to other elements. Default forms might look amiss, so styling them would benefit the website by making it user-friendly and also, a lot more organic.

4.    Buttons and their purposes

From analog, to digital, to virtual, buttons have become an integral part of the website’s layout. Some neglect them because they do not pose much of a risk in terms of looks. The defaults however, might pose as a risk to the website’s originality. If you want your business to be successful, you must think of the little things. The four states of the buttons are as follows: Default (the most used), Hover (when the cursor is over the button, indicating a possible action), Click (the visual indication that the visitor has clicked the button), and Disabled (buttons that cannot be accessed or ‘pushed’). As you can probably see, buttons and links have almost the same states. Be sure not to ignore buttons because the people who usually surf the Internet on a daily basis can spot even the small incongruities of a website’s look.

5.    Website emails

Most designers won’t even go through the trouble of planning website-generated emails. Websites don’t usually pay enough attention to such a basic element of design, yet it represents one of the most important tools of promotion. Keep in mind that possible customers may want to register an account on your website, so you should definitely install mailing lists, sign-up/registration confirmation and a form-completion confirmation. If you plan to sell products on your website, emails are a must-have for managing orders.

Website Hotline are small business web designers in Australia and have provided this article exclusively.