Basic website formats
Almost all websites follow one of a few basic, simple designs and a few basic, simple rules.
Logos and Company Name
Almost always, the company’s logo is located on the top left section of the web page and the company’s name is located on the top right. We are used to looking at the top of a page first, and we read left to right, at least in the United States. Since most companies want to “brand” themselves to their logo and company name, it makes sense to put the logo and company name at the top of the page.
Amount of Content on a Page
The standard these days is for a web page to fit on a screen. Rarely do you see web sites these days where you must scroll down a lot to read the web page. This makes sense. Why? We live in a day and age of sound bytes. People like data that’s short, sweet, and to the point.
Templates
Many websites today are set up with templates. That is, there is a template page. Each and every page in the website is then based off of the template. There are several advantages to using templates. Firstly, if you make a change to the template, it automatically makes the change to every page in the website. Secondly, it helps maintain consistency in the website. Lastly, it reinforces logo and name branding.
Navigation Links
Most websites today have a bar of navigation links. The navigation bar might be at the top of the page, at the bottom, on the left, on the right, or a mixture of all of the above. Each navigation link leads to a different page in the website.
Formats
You might look at 100 different web pages and see 100 different designs, but there are really only a few different designs for web pages. The differences that you see are usually just in colors and graphics. There is only so much you can do in HTML, after all. The basic formats are shown (left).
Labels: basic formats, design, virtual assistant, web