Web design encompasses many different skills and disciplines in the production and maintenance of websites The term web design is normally used to describe the design process relating to the front-end (client side) design of a website including writing mark up. Web design partially overlaps web engineering in the broader scope of web development. As we, Web designers are expected to have an awareness of usability and if their role involves creating mark up then they are also expected to be up to date with web accessbility guidelines. We use a variety of different tools depending on what part of the production process they are involved in. These tools are updated over time by newer standards and software but the principles behind them remain the same. Web graphic designers use vector and raster graphics packages to create web-formatted imagery or design prototypes..
The different areas of web design include:
Often we designers will work in teams covering different aspects of the design process, although we will cover them all. Technologies used to create websites include standardised mark-up, which can be hand-coded or generated by WYSIWYG editing software. There is also proprietary software based on plug-ins that bypasses the client’s browser versions. These are often WYSIWYG but with the option of using the software’s scripting language.Search engine optimization tools may be used to check search engine ranking and suggest improvements.Other tools web designers might use include mark up validators and other testing tools for usability and accessibility to ensure their web sites meet web accessibility.
User understanding of the content of a website often depends on user understanding of how the website works. This is part of the user experience design user experience is related to layout, clear instructions and labeling on a website. How well a user understands how they can interact on a site may also depend on the interactive design of the site. If a user perceives the usefulness of the website, they are more likely to continue using it. Users who are skilled and well versed with website use may find a more unique, yet less intuitive or less user-friendly website interface useful nonetheless. However, users with less experience are less likely to see the advantages or usefulness of a less intuitive website interface. This drives the trend for a more universal user experience and ease of access to accommodate as many users as possible regardless of user skill. Much of the user experience design and interactive design are considered in the user interface design.So we may consider it to be good practice to conform to standards. This is usually done via a description specifying what the element is doing.
Failure to conform to standards may not make a website unusable or error prone, but standards can relate to the correct layout of pages for readability as well making sure coded elements are closed appropriately. This includes errors in code, more organized layout for code, and making sure IDs and classes are identified properly. Poorly-coded pages are sometimes colloquially called tag soup. Validating can only be done when a correct DOCTYPE declaration is made, which is used to highlight errors in code.The system identifies the errors and areas that do not conform to web design standards. This information can then be corrected by the user.
Here are two primary jobs involved in creating a website in our organization:
Further jobs which may become involved in the creation of a website include:
⦁SEO writers to research and recommend the correct words to be incorporated into a particular website and make the website more accessible and found on numerous search engines
⦁Internet copywriter to create the written content of the page to appeal to the targeted viewers of the site.
⦁User experience (UX) designer incorporates aspects of user focused design considerations which include information architecture, user centered design, user testing, interaction design, and occasionally visual design.
⦁The type of details we want to spend extra time on improves our work beyond the aesthetic levels.
⦁We want to focus on visual tweaks that can change the user experience profoundly, such as in the way users perceive the site’s theme and message or how they navigate a site.
⦁The average website visitor, one whose not experienced in creating websites, will not be able to point out the nuances that improve their experience, but if those details were removed, a noticeable difference in perception and usability will be revealed.
⦁Those are the details we want to invest time in.
⦁So how exactly does a design detail add value to a website?
⦁The trick is in the user experience. Web designers should have an excellent understanding of how negative space, contrast, shape,color and all the different visual elements play a role in how people use and perceive a website design.
⦁What can be surprising is just how few pixels a designer needs to manipulate before they start to make a difference that has a much larger impact.
⦁What are some of these differences?
We web designers do great job in creating great web site,therefore we have few points mentioned below
1. Keep it simple. The power of good design is in its simplicity. Define the essence.
2. Don’t be seduced by form versus content. The designer concerned with content is more likely to make a meaningful contribution than the designer who is primarily concerned with form.
3. Make sure you clearly identify the problem that needs solving and that you are not simply icing the cake. The final appearance is only the icing.
4. The most important aesthetic consideration is transmission speed. If it takes too long to download, go back to the drawing board.
5. Learn to communicate and collaborate with all the key Web professions: engineering, production, editorial, commercial.
6. Remember it always takes twice as long as you think it’s going to.
7. Finally remember this while designing:
Make it good – it’s gotta look like someone spent time on it!
Make it simple – it’s gotta be easy to move around and understand!
Make it relevant – it’s gotta be fresh and up to date!
Make it involving – it’s gotta have interaction with the reader (i.e.: contests)
Make it believable – it’s gotta be real…no “promise the moon” sales pitch!
Web designers may choose to limit the variety of website typefaces to only a few which are of a similar style, instead of using a wide range of typefaces or type styles.
Most browsers recognize a specific number of safe fonts, which designers mainly use in order to avoid complications.
Font downloading was later included in the CSS3 fonts module and has since been implemented in Safari 3.1, Opera 10 and Mozilla Firefox 3.5.