8 Essential Web Design Standards Every Designer Should Embrace

Web design standards serve as models for what a web page should have to work without providing a horrid user experience because of poor web design. In this article, we’ll cover some reliable web design standards that web designers should always keep in the back of their minds while creating a website.

Why are web design standards essential?

Before we go through the web design standards, let’s describe why you should follow them in the first place.

Since web design is both technical and creative work, why is there a need for standardizing web design in the first place? Well, there are different reasons.

According to Sytian Productions web designer Philippines, web design standards are essential because they create a positive user experience throughout websites as much as possible. Mainly, it does so by allowing for consistency across different platforms and devices.

By adhering to these standards, designers can create intuitive and easy-to-navigate websites, which is at the heart of a seamless user experience.

Moreover, web design standards promote accessibility by ensuring that websites are compatible with assistive technologies such as screen readers. This design approach helps individuals with disabilities to access and interact with the content effectively.

Other than both of those, it’s simply a great way to have a good-looking website in your hands that is familiar to many users on the Internet.

Now that you know why it’s important to follow web design standards, let’s start with some criteria that are especially worth following.

1. Responsive across all devices

When creating your website design, you’re most likely designing it on a desktop (although that may not always be the case.) However, assuming all your web visitors will view it through a laptop or desktop is wrong. Hence, responsiveness is critical as part of the essential web design standards.

Responsive design ensures that your website adapts and functions seamlessly on various devices like smartphones, tablets, and desktops.

This design approach has become increasingly important due to the rise in mobile device usage. With more people accessing websites on their smartphones and tablets, your website must provide an optimal viewing experience across all devices.

Don’t forget that you should consider how the entire website adapts to the screen size, fonts, and other details.

2. User-centric design is key

We’ve mentioned earlier that one of the reasons you must follow web design standards is how they affect your website’s user experience or UX.

As a web designer, it is crucial to adhere to the web design standards as it ensures that the website you create caters to the needs and preferences of its users. When users feel that what they expect from your site is something that the site continuously meets, that leads to a positive user experience.

You can enhance user engagement and conversion rates while building trust and credibility with your audience.

Since they know that your website is pleasant to use, they’ll want to stay more in it, which is your aim in the first place as it makes it likelier that they convert.

3. Typography and readability

Even without the web design standards to guide you, any self-respecting designer should know the value of choosing the proper typography and the importance of readability.

Readability is the word used to describe how easy it is to read and understand the content on a website. Web design standards have standardized layouts that are visually appealing while maintaining readability through appropriate font sizes, line spacing, and contrast ratios.

As for typography, it would be described as your usage of fonts. Not only should they be legible for all screen sizes, but they shouldn’t be cluttered or consistent.

In this case, web design standards for designers have shown which readability best practices are worth pursuing since they give the best user experience overall.

4. Complementary color palette

Another part of web design that also would be in the web design standards would be one’s approach to the site’s color palette. Although the choice is mainly personal to the designer, that doesn’t mean there aren’t color palette best practices worth noting.

For example, one of the most reliable color palette schemes you can do would be a complementary one. That’s because this color palette has the best visual harmony and balance. The colors can create a pleasing contrast that captures the viewer’s attention and adds depth to the overall design without offending anyone’s vision.

The correct use of the complementary color scheme should help guide users’ eyes through the page with ease while also being able to highlight essential elements on the page. Also, since this color palette isn’t hurting the eyes, users would be more comfortable staying on the website.

5. Effective visual hierarchy

Visual hierarchy is how elements on your website are organized to ensure that you clearly show the order of their importance to the user.

The reason why you would want to pay attention to your website’s visual hierarchy is because it affects how your users can navigate their way around your website. You always want them to find the information they seek without confusion or frustration. That’s why visual hierarchy is there to help create that sense of structure and flow to the site.

There are many ways to actualize and plan the exemplary visual hierarchy of your web design. The most common way to do that would be to play around with the size, color, contrast, spacing, typography, and placement of visual elements on your website.

6. Simple navigation layout

As mentioned before this section, you want your web users to find the content they need from your website quickly. Visual hierarchy helps with that, which we’ve mentioned, but taking the time to simplify your navigation layout helps.

The best way to simplify your navigation layout is by organizing your content logically and categorizing it into easily identifiable sections. Use clear and concise labels for your menu items, avoiding jargon or ambiguous terms.

Next, limit the number of menu items to avoid overwhelming the user. If you have too many submenus within these menus, it can be problematic for users. Stick to the most essential sections or pages directly related to your website’s purpose.

Consider using drop-down menus or submenus to streamline navigation further and reduce clutter. This part would be the hierarchical structure where users can access specific pages within broader categories.

7. Accessibility design is a must

Making your web design accessible shouldn’t just be something you do on the side. It should be something you prioritize and take seriously. It doesn’t even have to be anything challenging to do since plenty of reliable web design standards mainly address accessibility design as well.

Some plugins for specific content management platforms help turn websites into more accessible ones with the click of a button.

8. Fast loading times is vital in usability

Minimalism as a design trend isn’t just because of aesthetics; it certainly does help with it. It also helps reduce the elements your site needs to load up before it becomes usable. That’s why, ideally, you should avoid adding too many visual features that can affect your website’s loading speed.

Conclusion

These web design standards are a standard for many reasons. They’re reliable. They are always part of inclusive, accessible, and smooth web design. Plus, they’re good to look at. Given these reasons, if you plan on designing websites any time soon, consider following these web design standards to ensure an enjoyable user experience for everyone.