Lecture 1.pdf

Web Designing Carlo Zebedee R. Gualvez Definitio n of Web Design Web design is the process of creating and arranging content on websites to make them visually appealing, user-friendly, and effective in delivering information. It involves several key aspects, including layout, color scheme, typograp...

Web Designing Carlo Zebedee R. Gualvez Definitio n of Web Design Web design is the process of creating and arranging content on websites to make them visually appealing, user-friendly, and effective in delivering information. It involves several key aspects, including layout, color scheme, typography, graphics, and functionality. Component Color s of Layout Scheme Effective Web Graphics Design Typograph and y Imagery Functiona lity Layout Structure: The layout is the foundation of a web design. It determines how content is arranged on the page. Common layouts include grid-based designs, single-page designs, and multi-column layouts. Layout Navigation: Good web design includes intuitive navigation, making it easy for users to find information. This includes menus, buttons, and internal links. Layout Responsive Design: Modern web design ensures that websites are responsive, meaning they adapt to different screen sizes and devices, such as smartphones, tablets, and desktops. Color Scheme Color Psychology: Colors evoke emotions and set the tone of the website. Designers choose color schemes that align with the brand's identity and purpose. For example, blue often represents trust and professionalism, while red can signify energy and urgency. Contrast and Readability: Designers use contrast to make text readable against backgrounds and to highlight important elements. A balance between colors ensures that the design is visually appealing without overwhelming the user. Typography Font Selection: Typography involves choosing fonts that are easy to read and reflect the brand's personality. Serif fonts are often used for traditional or formal websites, while sans-serif fonts are common for modern, clean designs. Hierarchy: Designers create a visual hierarchy by varying font sizes, weights, and styles. This guides the user's eye through the content, emphasizing headlines, subheadings, and body text accordingly. Spacing: Proper spacing between letters, lines, and paragraphs (known as kerning, leading, and margin/padding) is crucial for readability. Graphics and Imagery Visual Elements: Images, icons, videos, and illustrations are used to enhance the user experience. They should be relevant, high- quality, and optimized for fast loading times. Branding: Graphics should be consistent with the brand’s identity, using logos, color schemes, and design elements that are recognizable to the audience. Accessibility: Alt text and descriptive captions are essential for making images accessible to users with disabilities, ensuring compliance with web accessibility standards. Functionality User Interaction: Web design includes interactive elements like buttons, forms, sliders, and hover effects. These should be intuitive and responsive to user actions. Loading Speed: A well-designed website is optimized for quick loading times, improving user experience and search engine rankings. Cross-Browser Compatibility: The website should work consistently across different web browsers (e.g., Chrome, Firefox, Safari) and versions. Other Concepts of Web Design USER EXPERIENCE SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION  User Experience 1 2 3 Usability: A user- Accessibility: Ensuring Engagement: Designers friendly website is that the website is focus on creating an easy to navigate, with accessible to all engaging experience clear calls to action users, including those that keeps users on the and a logical flow of with disabilities, is a site longer, encourages information. Designers critical aspect of web interaction, and leads conduct user testing to design. This includes to conversions (such as refine the design based using screen reader- sign-ups, purchases, or on feedback. friendly code, keyboard inquiries). navigation, and sufficient contrast ratios.  Search Engine Optimization Web Search Content On-Page SEO: Web Mobile-Friendliness: Content Structure: design impacts on- Search engines Well-structured page SEO, including prioritize mobile- content with clear the use of proper friendly designs, headings and easy heading tags (H1, making responsive navigation improves H2, etc.), meta design a key factor SEO by making it descriptions, and in SEO. easier for search keyword placement. engines to index the site.  Web Design Environme nt  Hardware 1 2 3 Computers: Web Monitors: Large, high- Input Devices: designers typically use resolution monitors are Precision tools like high-performance common in web design graphic tablets (e.g., computers, whether environments. Dual- Wacom tablets) and they’re desktops or monitor setups are styluses are often used laptops. Mac and often used to allow for detailed graphic Windows machines are designers to have their design work, while both popular, with Macs design software on one ergonomic keyboards and being favored for their screen and reference mice help improve design-centric software materials or code on productivity and ecosystem. the other. comfort. Software and Tools Design Software: Adobe Creative Cloud: A suite of tools including Photoshop (for image editing), Illustrator (for vector graphics), XD (for UI/UX design), and more. Figma: A cloud-based design tool that allows for real- time collaboration, wireframing, and prototyping. Sketch: A vector-based design tool popular among Mac users, particularly for UI/UX design. Canva: A user-friendly design tool for creating graphics, often used for quick design tasks and social media Software and Tools Prototyping Tools: InVision: A prototyping tool that allows designers to create interactive mockups and gather feedback from stakeholders. Marvel: Similar to InVision, Marvel is used for creating prototypes and conducting user testing. Software and Tools Development Tools: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript Editors: Code editors like Visual Studio Code, Sublime Text, or Atom are essential for writing and editing code. Version Control: Tools like Git and platforms like GitHub or GitLab are used for version control, allowing designers and developers to track changes, collaborate, and manage codebases. Software and Tools Content Management Systems (CMS): WordPress: The most popular CMS, used for creating and managing content on websites without needing extensive coding knowledge. Joomla and Drupal: Other CMS options that are more customizable and scalable, often used for more complex sites. Software and Tools Frameworks and Libraries: Bootstrap: A front-end framework that provides pre- designed components and a grid system for building responsive websites. Tailwind CSS: A utility-first CSS framework that allows for rapid custom design by applying classes directly in the markup. React, Angular, Vue.js: JavaScript libraries and frameworks used for building dynamic user interfaces. Collaboration and Communication Project Management Tools: Trello, Asana, Jira: Tools used to manage tasks, track progress, and collaborate with team members. Slack, Microsoft Teams: Communication platforms that allow for real-time messaging, file sharing, and collaboration among team members. Collaboration and Communication Design Handoff Tools: Zeplin: A tool that bridges the gap between designers and developers, allowing for seamless handoff of design specifications. Avocode: Another design-to- code tool that provides detailed design specs and allows developers to inspect and export assets from design files. Collaboration and Communication Client Collaboration: Feedback Tools: Platforms like InVision and Figma allow clients to leave comments directly on design mockups, facilitating clear communication and revisions. Presentation Tools: Tools like PowerPoint, Keynote, or Google Slides are often used to present design concepts and progress to clients. Testing Environments Local Development: Designers and developers often work on a local server setup where they can test and tweak the website before pushing it to a live environment. Staging Environment: A replica of the live site where final testing is conducted. It’s used to ensure that everything works correctly in an environment that mirrors the live site before it goes public. Testing Environments Browser Testing Tools: BrowserStack, CrossBrowserTesting: Online tools that allow designers to test how their website looks and behaves across different browsers and devices. Performance Testing Tools: Google PageSpeed Insights: A tool that analyzes the content of a webpage and provides suggestions to make it faster. GTmetrix: Provides detailed reports on website performance, including page load time, size, and requests, along with recommendations for Web Hosting and Deployment Web Hosting Services: Shared Hosting: An economical choice where multiple websites share the same server resources, suitable for small to medium-sized sites. VPS (Virtual Private Server) Hosting: Offers more control and resources than shared hosting, suitable for growing websites. Dedicated Hosting: A server dedicated entirely to one website, providing the highest level of control and performance. Cloud Hosting: Scalable hosting solutions that use a network of servers to host websites, offering flexibility and reliability. Web Hosting and Deployment Domain Management: Domain Registration: The process of acquiring a domain name, such as through services like GoDaddy or Namecheap. DNS Settings: Configuring domain name system settings to point the domain to the correct hosting server. Security SSL Certificates: Encrypts data between the server and the user’s browser, ensuring secure data transmission, especially important for e-commerce sites. Firewall and DDoS Protection: Tools and services that protect the website from malicious attacks and unauthorized access. Regular Backups: Ensuring that the website’s data is regularly backed up to prevent data loss in case of server issues or cyberattacks. Web Design Principles Balance Symmetrical Balance: This involves creating a design where elements are evenly distributed on either side of an imaginary center line. Symmetry creates a sense of harmony and order. Asymmetrical Balance: Instead of mirroring elements, asymmetrical balance uses different sizes, shapes, or colors to create a dynamic, yet balanced composition. This often leads to more visually interesting and modern designs. Contrast Color Contrast: Using contrasting colors can help elements stand out, making text more readable and important features more noticeable. High contrast between text and background is particularly important for readability and accessibility. Size and Shape Contrast: Varying the sizes and shapes of elements creates visual interest and emphasizes key areas of the design. Hierarchy Visual Hierarchy: Organizing elements to guide the user’s eye through the page in a logical order. Typically, the most important information is placed at the top or given prominence through larger fonts, bolder colors, or more central placement. Content Hierarchy: Structuring content from most to least important helps users find what they’re looking for quickly. Headings, subheadings, and body text should be clearly differentiated. Alignment Edge Alignment: Ensures that elements are aligned along a common edge, whether it's the left, right, or center of the page. Consistent alignment creates a clean, organized look. Grid Alignment: Using a grid system to align elements ensures that the layout is balanced and cohesive. This is especially useful in responsive design to maintain consistency across different screen sizes. Proximity Grouping Related Elements: Placing related items close to each other signifies that they are connected, helping users understand relationships between different elements (e.g., grouping a headline with its related content). White Space (Negative Space): The space between elements, also known as white space, is crucial in design. It prevents the layout from feeling cluttered and allows each element to stand out more effectively. Repetition Consistency: Repeating design elements such as colors, fonts, and styles across the website creates a sense of unity and helps reinforce brand identity. Pattern Recognition: Users can more easily navigate and interact with a site when patterns are repeated, such as button styles or navigation layouts. Consistent patterns reduce cognitive load and enhance the user experience Unity and Consistency Unified Design: All elements of the design should work together harmoniously. This includes consistent use of colors, typography, and visual styles across the site to create a cohesive look and feel. Brand Consistency: Ensuring that the design elements reflect the brand's identity consistently throughout the website reinforces brand recognition and trust. Simplicity Minimalism: Removing unnecessary elements and focusing on the essentials helps avoid overwhelming users and makes the site easier to navigate. Clarity: The design should be straightforward and easy to understand, with clear navigation and concise content. Simple designs load faster and are often more effective in communicating the intended message. Functionality Usability: The website should be easy to use, with intuitive navigation and clear calls to action. Elements should be functional and contribute to the user experience rather than just being decorative. Accessibility: Ensuring that the website is accessible to all users, including those with disabilities, is a critical aspect of functionality. This includes using appropriate contrast ratios, alt text for images, and ensuring keyboard navigability. Activity USING THE PRINCIPLES ABOVE, OUTLINE YOUR ARGUMENT WHY THAT SEARCH THE WEB AND PROVIDE AN WEBSITE IS GOOD AND WHY THE EXAMPLE OF A BAD WEBSITE AND OTHER ONE IS BAD. GOOD WEBSITE.