| Web Design, as both an artform and a intuitive communications device, has developed at an ever increasing rate since its origin and has provided the means for a vast group of entrepreneurs to receive financial gains.
As with most observations in life, [the] first glance leaves an impression, and so it is of great importance to ensure that [the] user's experience gives a portrayal of professionalism, trust and loyalty as to encourage the sites users to engage further in the available website resources and not that of major competitors.
There are two major professional tools for the creation of website GUI's (graphical user interfaces), the first being Adobe Photoshop and the second Adobe Fireworks (formerly Macromedia Fireworks). Fireworks sole purpose is for creation of website graphics, whereas the intended purpose of Photoshop is again for website design, AND photo manipulation; the choice of which tool to use is entirely down to the designer and can create images both at an amature and professional level.
The first step of the design process is to analyse the market spectrum. Will your website need to engage [it's] users with complex graphical formations? Or does the user require a simple yet efficient layout? An example being social networking sites.
Most, if not all social networking sites, have chosen a simplistic and effective design which are intended to be user-friendly, and to use a suitably sized bandwidth amount.
When creating web graphics, there are certain restrictions to take into account: Will the we page itself appear as desired on other computers? - the screen size and resolution. Therefore it is advised to create graphics that are suited to all screens as opposed to specific. In addition, pixilation must remain a constant with, if possible, no restritions such as a lowering quality when using a larger screen.
Another important, and more notable aspect when creating graphics, is the loading speed. The general rule is that the less graphical the website, the faster the page will load and vise versa. Therefore the website design should be made to have both impressive aesthetics AND a fast-loading time. These two aspects, if taken into account correctly, will ensure website users to return and use YOUR website rather than competitor's. |
