• Don’t center text unless you have a good reason to. Definitely never center an entire paragraph. Left-aligned text is much easier to read, and left-aligned headings over left-aligned paragraphs is a modern, sophisticated style.

 

• Use bulleted lists, and keep your items as short as possible.

 

• If you have a longer item or paragraph of text, emphasize significant words and phrases. This information will draw the user’s eye and help them determine if the paragraph contains the information they’re looking for.

 

• Use short, descriptive paragraphs and list headings. Take advantage of the html heading tags to help both users and search engines identify the content of your documents.

 

• Leave plenty of white space. Don’t feel like you have to fill up every square inch of the page. Documents with adequate white space are more appealing to look at and easier to read.

Icon: read by fajar hasyim from the Noun Project

As in every other area of life, there are fashions and fads in Web design — and certain elements went out in the 1990s. Skip the following (unless you have a very good reason) so your site looks current and professional. Continue reading “Design Tip: Pay Attention to What Others Are Doing — and Not Doing.”

C	Contrast creates visual interest and indicates relationships (or lack thereof) between content.  Emphasize differences between unrelated content by making it really different.  For example, use a large, fancy font for the title of your page, and a simple, more readable one for page text. Small differences between separate items — like two slightly different fonts on the same page — ends up looking like a mistake rather than a design feature.
A	Alignment of design elements on a page creates a strong vertical line that encourages the user’s eye to move through the document exactly as you want it to. Every item on the page should be aligned with other items: The left edge of your paragraph heading should be aligned with the left margin of the text, or with the left edge of a photo or graphic, for example.
R	Repetition lets users know at a glance that they are (still) on your site. Repeat design features like navigation, colors, text alignments, and graphical elements across your pages, and keep them in the same place on every page.
P	Proximity helps users know what information is related to each other. Group related information together — for example, the date and time of an event should be next to or directly below the event name, not in another area of the page. Keep sections of text close to their headings, and add space between the end of one section and the heading for the next.

* This acronym is credited to — and conveyed a bit differently by — the great Santa Fe designer Robin Williams. Read her books; they will help you.