1. Headings

Headings are an excellent way for separating your content into manageable sections. They are an excellent tool for making the post more scan-able. They create white space which makes it easier for readers to scan through the post and identify which bullet or which heading they would like to learn more about, rather than digging through twenty paragraphs of solid text.

2. Margins

A margin is the white space around a particular element in a web design. CSS Margins are a great way to control this space to your advantage. When working with margins, there are a few things that should be kept in mind:

•    Consistency

Keep your margins consistent throughout your layout. The more consistent the spacing, the more professional and organized your website will look. When thinking of margins, think of both vertical and horizontal separation, as both have an effect on the overall web design.

•    Not Too Much

Don’t make your margins too large. Too much separation may make a website feel disconnected. Also keep in mind that there are only a certain amount of pixels that can fit on a screen, so don’t waste too much screen real estate on margins (unless of course the context of the site calls for such margins).

•    Not Too Little

It looks shoddy to have a text pressed up against a picture, sidebar, header, navigation bar, or any other element of a web design. Keep these spaced out to give your readers room to breathe.

1. Who are your target users?

During any web design process you never want to lose focus on the visitors. By knowing who you are target users and how you can meet their needs, you will be on your way to building an effective website. What style of design are your users going to like?

2. How can the website be more user-friendly?

Improving the usability and functionality of a website is always a good thing. It’s pointless to spend time and money on a website redesign that looks great but simply isn’t user-friendly.

3. Does the logo/branding need to be changed or updated?

Most likely the website will include some form of a logo or branding. Are these items still fresh and up-to-date and will they function effectively with a new web design? If your logo is out-of-date and not attractive, a new design may not do much good if it is still using the same old logo.

4. Should the color scheme change or remain the same?

Most of the time you will want to keep your website at least familiar to the old one to repeat visitors. Using a similar color scheme is one of the best ways to accomplish this. A lot of times it can be a good idea to make some minor changes to the color scheme, such as changing shades of colors or adding a few new colors, just to give the site a fresh look.

5. What screen resolutions are visitors using?

It’s important to know how your website visitors are going to be viewing the site. A program such as Google Analytics may easily give you this information. Obviously, a fixed-width web design should take into consideration the typical screen resolutions of visitors.

6. What connection speed are visitors using?

Knowing the connection speed helps you to know what types of elements you can include in the design without causing hardships for the average visitor.

Redesigning a website may be a very complicated process, so it is important to properly plan and consider the necessary factors that will make or break the redesign. Here are some factors that should be considered.

1. What is the goal of the redesign?

What do you hope to accomplish? It’s always necessary to have a clear understanding of your reasons and motivations as they should impact the decisions that you make along the way. Without knowing these goals your redesign project will lack direction and you will likely wind up with a website that still doesn’t meet your needs.

2. Is this going to be just a minor upgrade or a complete overhaul?

A redesign could be anything from a slight facelift to an entirely new website. Obviously the time, cost and effort involved will vary, but first you should determine what types of changes are required for you to meet your goals with the web design. If a complete redesign is done you should also consider to what extent the new design should resemble the old design. If visitors are coming back to the site, chances are you will want them to notice the new design without feeling like they’ve never been to your site before.

3. What aspects of the current design are most effective?

Most likely there are some things about the current design that work very well, and these may be aspects that you would like to keep or incorporate into the new web design. It’s a good idea to make a simple list of your likes and dislikes to help with decisions on the new design.

4. What aspects of the current design are not effective?

If you are redesigning the website you are bound to want to get rid of some specific aspects of the website or the design. Are there some characteristics of the web design that do not accurately portray your business to new visitors?