Web page design with content in mind
This is a topic that has been written about many times in the past, but it still holds true. It is easier, more efficient, and yields an overall better result when you design with content in mind.
It is extremely difficult to open up your favourite imaging software and start building a design without having any previous planning or thought. Web pages are most efficient, cost effective, and take the least amount of time to design properly when there has been sufficient planning. You must design your site around your content, but more specifically:
- the type of content you are presenting
- how much content is being presented on a typical page
- variations in content
- page specific and site wide features
Let’s take a closer look at each of these.
The type of content you are presenting
Successful web design must take into consideration the type of content that is being presented. Different types of content will benefit from being displayed in various ways. For instance, a blog and a corporate website contain much different content, and therefore should be designed differently.
Many blogs contain similar types of content. You have categories and subcategories for your blog entries, you have the entries themselves, you may have an about page, a contact page, and maybe a page with some of your favourite snapshots.
A corporate site is completely different. It may contain the corporations latest news, testimonials, a clients page/portfolio, or maybe even thousands of different products that it sells.
Because of these differences in content, different design techniques will yield more efficient results. For example, it may be sufficient to include you’re latest entries as the main content for a blog, while having your category navigation off to the side. However, a corporation may need to have completely different content focused on, such as the latest products they are selling, and may not need any type of sub-navigation at all. It is these types of observations that allow you to design where content should be placed in a web page effectively.
The amount of content that will be presented on each page
It is important to also take into consideration how much content is going to be presented on each page. It is a well known fact that web pages should not contain an overwhelming amount of information, as this could -in fact- overwhelm users. If you’re pages are going to contain lots of information, plan for this! Use pagination and create areas on the page that easily allow users to traverse your sub pages.
Variations in content
Website consistency is extremely important, and that is why it is also important to plan the variations in content your site is likely to have. Each of your pages is going to have different content. Some pages may need subnavigation in order to assist the user in browsing more efficiently while others don’t. You must plan for this, and design your page in a way that allows you to implement these features without compromising consistency!
Page specific and site wide features
This goes hand in hand with variations in content. Your website is going to have some universal features, such as navigation or possibly advertisements. It is also going to have some features that are unique to certain pages (ex. sub-navigation, testimonials). It is important that you take all of these site wide and specific features into consideration, and design your web page in a way that allows you to incorporate all of them without compromising site consistency.
When you sufficiently plan the content that you’re pages are going to include, rather than just the websites main content as a whole, you are going to find it much easier to build pages that are more efficient, user friendly, and easier to work with as a whole.
Regards,
Chris Hayes
P.S. - This is my first online article! I hope you enjoyed it, and if there is anything I can improve on (or anything you feel should be included) leave me a comment and I will consider your suggestion(s)!
