Designing websites according to specific standards today is as important as putting an interface for your commercial or service store! When designing a website, you must remember that certain patterns or web design standards have already been developed, meaning that it is not as random as some think.
This is mainly important for new designers or those who have decided to create a website for the first time. Having your own website designed is critical to the success of your business. Because attracting a customer to your site is only the first part of the battle.
You need to keep customers on your site to use your services. But it is important to do it correctly and comply with web design standards.
In fact, users can quickly rate anything based solely on emotional reactions and visual appeal. According to a Google study, it only takes 0.05 seconds for visitors to make a first impression on your website. Can you imagine it!
Thus, the main designer's job is to attract the user with at least one element on the page, as a result of which the site will not close in a second. Ordinary people (visitors) feel the atmosphere of the site, the level of communication with the user and the general appearance.
That is why you have to follow some web design standards, to make your website relevant and easy to use for your visitors.
What do web design standards mean
If your website doesn't tell the visitor what to do in these prominent visual areas, the visitor will likely feel confused or even frustrated.
Here comes the importance of complying with specific standards related to website features and designs, not code or content. Web design standards are standards and models for web page layouts and user experience features that marketers and web designers use in assessments.
In short, they are guidelines for ease of use. Where these criteria define for you the elements that should be included in the website, along with determining the most appropriate place to include them, and what elements should be avoided…
Also, web design standards are a kind of foundation that the user uses exactly and knows exactly where they are on the site, such as the terms, rules of use and recommendations for finding something on the site.
It's something that site visitors can easily identify after a visit, no matter what website they're on. For example, you will not find many websites that display the company logo prominently in the bottom section of the footer, but rather in the header (ie the top).
Why are web design standards important?
1. Web design standards help users to instantly find the necessary elements on the site, without thinking about where and how the element is located.
2. The Standards help designers to make the Website intuitive, familiar and understandable to their users,
3. Standards help keep all the important elements of the site and keep track of them in a seamless manner, so you won't miss anything important on it!
However, before starting to mention the standards of websites, there are two main pillars when designing websites; They are:
a) Mobile-friendly design
Responsive and mobile-friendly web design is not optional anymore. Your site should be designed with mobile first in mind.
Mobile searches have overtaken desktop searches since 2015. Since the beginning of 2017, mobile traffic has accounted for nearly half of all web traffic worldwide.
This is what has pushed Google to rank mobile sites better since 2018. Yes! Mobile-friendly design is an important point of the SEO suite.
b) SSL Certificate
SSL Certificate
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificates are less common and more of a standard security measure for websites. Where the certificate is installed on your web server. They serve two purposes:
Website identity authentication, which assures visitors that they are not on a fake website.
Encryption of the data being transmitted.
This ensures a private experience between your website and your visitors. If your site doesn't have an SSL certificate, getting one should be one of the priorities in 2022, especially if you own an e-commerce site!
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The 8 most important criteria for web design
web page layout
1. Put the logo on top
Logo is one of the first and most important elements of website design for any company. Much of your brand's appearance depends on the style and aesthetic content of your logo type, but its location on your website is also important.
That's why 93% of designers put the logo in the upper left corner of the header, and this is a standard logo site that everyone is already accustomed to.
A more suitable alternative for Arabic sites is to place the logo in the upper right corner. Or even center alignment, which can work well, but you need to plan your navigation around it carefully.
Important note: Do not make the logo too large. Do not forget to compress the image of the logo before placing it, to increase the speed of page loading. Because it is one of the first things to download when visiting the site.
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2. Providing the search tool and placing it in the header of the site
One of the most important criteria for web design to increase usability is the ability to search for information on the site. The search bar can already be considered one of the standard in design development.
More than 53% of websites have a search tool in the profile title from the top, so that the user can easily find something by simply entering a word in the search, a criterion that has not been met changed years ago.
Site search is a very common feature, but it is not necessarily useful for visitors on all types of websites.
for example:
If your site has a lot of pages or content, the site search tool can be very useful for your visitors.
If your site is small and your navigation labels are descriptive, you probably don't need one. So the site search tool, which no one uses is a no-cost, that adds visual noise for no reason.
3. Putting social media icons in the footer
The top of every page is definitely the most prominent place to promote your presence on social media. However, it is preferable to reduce the clutter in the header of websites to avoid disturbing the visitor, thus providing him with a less-than-optimal experience.
So remember that whoever is interested in accessing the social media of your website will reach the bottom of the website page to get to know everything about it more.
Therefore, there is no need to impose it on the visitor in order to distract him from the value of the services you provide.
In fact, 13% of websites have social media icons in their header, but that number is half what it was five years ago. Now more than 70% of websites have social media icons in the footer.
This simplifies the task of the user, so that he does not search for the social networks of the company or the site itself, you can simply click on these social networks and quickly look at them.
4. Put the call button on the top
Contact information is very important for your website, thanks to this information the user can contact you for further cooperation. The likelihood of future cooperation with your company depends on where on your site you specify your contact information. Imagine how important it is!
Almost 55% of websites have a call button or link to it in the right corner of the header of every page, and this placement is common and one of the most important criteria for web design.
It can also be placed opposite to the position of the logo. As visitors expect to find it there, it is the perfect place for it. Sometimes the call button is painted in a different color, increasing its visual prominence.
5. Dropdown menus
Most sites have drop-down menus, which drop down from a three-line "hamburger icon". The idea of dropdowns is to allow the visitor to go anywhere from anywhere.
Dropdown menus are a very common website standard. Because it is a shortcut to everything on the site for the visitor. 58% of websites have dropdown menus.
So each click tells you more about the visitor's intent, allowing you to understand the visitor more directly based on their needs. Drop-down menus get them to the correct page faster, where the chance of conversion is greater.
Note: Use dropdowns only if the section contains a lot of pages and subsections. Avoid small drop down menus with few options because they do not offer any benefit to the visitor or the site.
6. CTAs
call for action
Call-to-action buttons can take the form of a simple click, signup, access to a profile, sign up for a product trial or even a purchase.
By creating the right design for these CTA buttons you will provide more responsiveness to your site than the lack of it. The call-to-action button is a very necessary component of every website design.
More than 70% of websites had a call-to-action element in the first view while the home page was open. Therefore, it is highly recommended to use this standard out of all web design standards.
Imagine that 33% of homepages have a call to action (other than “contact us”)!
The call button might be standard, but the calls to action are not. Two-thirds of websites do not have an actual call to action on the homepage.
Thus, a call to action is more than just “contact us” or “read more”. It has a more action focused verb that is more specific. When the visitor reads it, he feels that the utility seems high.
The wording of the invitation or CTA must be clear, explicit and attractive in order to succeed in its objective and entice the client to interact with it and take the required action. for example:
Read more
buy it now
download now
To the store link
Subscribe to
Pay here
Go to the home page
Donate now
Browse products
data entry
Watch the original video
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7. Value display above the fold
Use the H1 header on the website's home page to simply say what your business or service does. Don't miss the opportunity to tell your visitors that they are in the right place.
And remember that some of your site visitors don't know you yet! In addition, H1 focused on keywords is an SEO best practice.
The H1 homepage header is the single most prominent part of the text on a website. Thus, the web content author has four options:
Mention the value proposition in a simple, specific and direct way, for example, “We do (such) for (such).”
Duplicate the trade name (not necessary).
Use tagline (often clever but vague and unhelpful).
Payment of an advertisement, advertisement or content portion (current promotion).
Most homepages use the first option. The header is the value proposition or class of business or services rendered. With the importance of using the H1 header for the title on the pages of each article if the site is in the form of a blog.
8. Descriptive title tags
Descriptive title tags
Almost half of websites' home pages fail to be descriptive in their title tags Ha. Many just display the name of the business, include a tagline or simply write “Home” or “Home.” This is the worst descriptive title tag.
This is a missed opportunity to talk about the business the company is in, similar to placing a value proposition in H1. It is especially important for research. For example, Spotify uses the phrase “Listening is everything” as a meta tag. See our "Winners" website for an example of the meta tag.
The homepage title tag is the most important part of SEO elements on any website. It is the strongest place to indicate the relevance of the page.
Therefore, use the meta title tag on the home page to indicate the value proposition, business class, or main service name. Do this in 55 characters or less if possible to avoid truncation in search results.
Modern supplements to web design standards
Technology is changing rapidly, and so are web design trends. Other common design standards may still be best practices, but may not be used by the majority of websites.
Web design standards and site features that were once modern and innovative have become tiring and boring in recent years.
So you need to support core design parameters with attractive complements that mimic the technological acceleration we are experiencing. It is custom web design combined with the essential structural designs of a business and its audience that rules the day.
First, the loading speed of the site is important
Ultra-fast loading time is one of the most important criteria for web design. Fast loading times have been a key factor in SEO for years, and are still a top priority for websites that want to rank well and convert better.
Studies show that more than half of Internet browsers expect a website to load quickly and no more than two seconds after clicking a link. If your site takes more than 3 seconds to load, visitors are more likely to leave, and not likely to come back!
So, you have to remember that site load times are a benchmark we look at to ensure a good user experience.
Second, the simplicity of the design with the use of bold colors
Simplicity goes hand in hand with bold colors, as one of the most prominent web design trends for 2022, which comes under the name Colorful Simplicity.
Bold, bright and saturated colors help your brand stand out from the soft neutrals, which many companies have chosen over the past few years.
Simplicity, sometimes called "flat design," is not a new trend in web design. However, it was usually associated with a lot of white space far from any striking colors (remember Apple).
But in 2022, it doesn't have to be all white, it has to be the bare minimum. We expect people to experience colorful simplicity.
Spotify use of colors
Spotify is a great example of a site that does colorful simplicity well. Every page of their website features a bold background color with clean text and simple design elements to create an eye-catching page that's easy on the eyes. This is clear evidence that simplicity doesn't have to be blatant or boring.
So if you want your website design to be contemporary, rely on simplicity and bold color!
Third, using smart video increases the fun of the experience
Video has always been promoted as essential for websites. People love videos, video is fun! It is the most effective online marketing tool.
Although the use of video is great, it needs some thought. And that's what Smart Video is all about: a video with purpose and meaning.
Gone are the days of embedding a YouTube video on your site. One well-researched, high-quality video is better than a dozen randomly collected videos. The video gives an interesting visual representation for visitors when chosen cleverly!
Fourth, use the dark mode for further customization
We have often noticed the inclusion of a dark mode component on websites lately. Where dark mode web designs serve many different functions, this is not effective for visitors.
Practically speaking, it helps reduce eye strain, which is a concern for many as we spend more and more time looking at screens.
Aesthetically, the dark mode easily creates a very modern look for your website, while giving you the ability to make other design elements stand out just by darkening the surrounding elements.
Fifth, use color to evoke certain moods
Dalal psychological colors
Besides bold color, we believe that careful use of color to evoke certain moods will be important in the years to come.
The psychology of color, the study of the effect of color on human behavior, has been around for centuries, and marketers have used it to aid selling for nearly a long time. While the way we interpret colors has a lot to do with our perception, some general feelings are related to colour.
for example; Green usually indicates nature and natural products while red symbolizes energy and passion. The blue color indicates credibility, while the yellow color indicates happiness and pleasure.
Therefore, focus on carefully using color to evoke the mood and feelings that the site is intended to evoke.
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Sixth, micro-reactions give more reaction
Micro-interactions on websites; A small animation that provides accurate feedback to users. We are all used to seeing a link that changes colors when the user hovers the mouse over it.
Focusing on micro-interactions, the same experience may be given more attention to stand out more a little. Like changing your mouse's path to a different image depending on the link it's hovering over.
Seventh, chatbots are becoming more like humans
Embedding chatbots or chatbots in websites is another feature that has been popular for a few years and will continue to be relevant this year.
As artificial intelligence and machine learning continue to evolve, we expect chatbots to become the norm for simple customer service requests and even in-person shopping.
For example, if a customer visits your website and wants to inquire about your services. The chatbot can let them know what's new, just by sending the word "Hi".
Thus, this can lead to a positive customer experience and save the customer support cost associated with talking to a real person!
In fact, there are currently more than 1.5 billion websites. Their number is increasing every day. Therefore, the competition between sites becomes insanely great. Nearly 50% of small businesses that build their websites ignore key web design criteria and therefore have less chance of success.
The higher the criteria you follow, the more likely your site will be successful and attractive to the user.
Therefore, it is very important to adhere to the basic web design standards as people have gotten used to it over the years.
This is generally a good way to help meet the expectations of your visitors. With some trendy complements added, to create websites that are highly functional, easy to use and look great!
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