| 03.02.2008 | Before you sit down to design your website, there are quite a few things to keep in mind. One of the most important things to consider when planning the site is your page layout. How do you want things to flow? Where should all of the necessary features be placed on the page? Do you have any special aspects of the page that might help sell your product or service more effectively? There are many things to keep in mind when laying out your page and in order to build an efficient website; you have to look into all of them.
When thinking about your page layout, it is usually best to sit down with a blank sheet of paper and let your mind do a little bit of wandering. This will help you figure out some important factors, such as how many pages you will need, what those pages will be, how the navigation will work, and what sort of images you might want to add. When you begin the sketch of your layout, you can figure out how many columns the pages will need and where things might end up going when the final product is finished.
Over the course of time, some popular layouts have come to the forefront for website designers. Most websites these days have a good looking, clean, and fairly simple design that enables visitors to get around without much headache. Included in this is a consideration for where to put the primary navigation tools. Most web designers these days are opting to put the navigation features at the top of the page, where they can be featured and found quickly. This will also keep the navigation available for people who have different browsers that might not be compatible with side navigation bars.
There are also many designers who like to put the navigation links on the left side of the page. Since most internet browsers put their scroll bar on the right side, this is a functional way to layout the website.
The basic layout form to consider for absolute functionality is one that features a good looking header on top, the navigation tools either on the left or under the header, and the primary content of the website in the central area of the page. This is a clean look that adds professionalism and ease to the equation in impressing visitors.
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