A Guide to Web Design Best Practices

Whether you’re building a site for yourself, your business or your clients, the way you design it matters. It’s not just a matter of aesthetics, but of usability, conversion rates and getting the most value from every visit. That’s why this guide to web design best practices includes tips, ideas and inspiration for creating sites that work.

A website’s visual design shapes its identity and offers a branded, engaging way to speak to visitors through content and visual cues. Web designers must also consider the website’s overall accessibility, including how easy it is for users with disabilities or low-bandwidth connections to access and navigate information.

Web design encompasses both the front end (design and user interface) and the back end (web server, database, scripting and programming). The evolution of web technologies such as HTML tables in the 1990s, CSS in the early 2000s and now WebAssembly and WebGL are opening new possibilities for designers to drive innovation and transformation and create a more interactive and engaged online experience for all.

There are many important aspects of web design, but the core principles remain the same: balance and hierarchy. Balance involves distributing and weighting the elements in your composition to avoid visual overload. Hierarchy is the arrangement of elements to show their order of importance. This is based on Gestalt psychology and influences how the human eye perceives what it sees.

Good web design is organized and consistent. A website should have a clear conceptual structure, consistent screen layout, navigational consistency and relationships between page elements, and a coherent visual hierarchy. Web designers must also think about how their designs will scale and adapt to different viewport sizes.

People search the Internet for what they want, and their behavior is not much different from the way they shop in stores. They glance at each new page and scan the text to find what might meet their needs. If they can’t see what they want in the first few seconds, they hit the back button and try another link.

Using progressive enhancement, you can optimize your websites for all browsers and devices without requiring them to have additional software or features installed. This approach is ideal for e-commerce websites that need to accommodate all users, from those with older browsers to those with the latest mobile devices.

You can learn many of the necessary skills to become a web designer through self-study or by taking courses in specific programs and technologies. However, getting a bachelor’s degree or higher in a relevant field will help you stand out to employers and improve your chances of finding employment. Many community colleges and universities offer programs that allow you to earn a degree while learning the skills you need. Adding an advanced degree to your resume will show potential employers that you have the initiative and discipline needed to stay current in this fast-moving field.