1) Mobile-friendliness is Basic

We cannot stress enough the importance of a mobile-friendly website. A truly mobile-friendly site looks and works great on any device, such as a tablet or a smartphone. 

When you look for a theme for your website, go for the mobile-responsive one. Avoid pop-ups or limit their appearance (only on mobiles) as they annoy users. 

Because pop-ups consume sizeable real estate, they can obstruct the users from seeing the essential elements. Alternatively, one can also optimize pop-ups for mobile phones. 

Tips:

• Use Hamburger Menu for mobile devices
• Use Bing’s Mobile-friendly Test tool

2) Use Clear Call-to-Action Buttons

In real life, people hate to be told what to do. When it comes to online, it’s quite the opposite. You must tell users what they need to do not once but multiple times. 

The objective of any business website is conversion. Your Call-to-Action buttons, such as ‘Buy Now,’ ‘Sign Up,’ ‘Order Now,’ and ‘Claim Free E-Book’ should stand out from other elements. 

Make sure all of your CTA buttons carry the same color. Ensure that the content accompanying the CTA buttons does not end with ellipses. 

3) Have a Clutter-free Interface

Studies say an average human’s attention span is less than a goldfish’s. Keeping that as a yardstick, we can safely assume that a website with a clean interface does not distract a user much.

Bury the urge to dump all information onto the homepage. Remember: Less is more, even if your site has much data. Also, do not confuse a clutter-free interface with minimalism. That’s an entirely different animal. 

Keep your website information organized and categorized. The main benefit of a clutter-free design is its timelessness. You need not spend a fortune in revamping your site every six months. 

Tips:

• Separate the ‘must-have’ elements of your site from others. 
• Ensure that the critical elements are interlinked. 
• If you have large data, shift them to the Resources section. 

4) K.I.S.S (Keep it Super Simple)

A simple yet functional design is what the masses love. Take global giants such as Apple, Nike, and Uber. They all have one thing in common: Simplicity.

They don’t have an extravagant design in place. Instead, they adopt straightforwardness and simplicity. The reason they all follow a similar design strategy has something to do with the human psyche. 

A brief introduction to Hick’s Law will shed some light on the topic. The law says the more choices you give users, the longer it will take them to decide. 

5) Typography Matters

Fonts play a significant role in your web design. They dramatically influence a website’s readability, aesthetics, and user experience. 

Fonts with the proper distance between characters, suitable typeface, and open counters excel in readability. Such fonts never shout for attention. Instead, they blend well with the existing design. 

While choosing a font, please do not get carried away with its beauty. Not every font is created with typography in mind. 

6) Implement Visual Hierarchy

How you arrange the elements of your website to convey the order of their importance refers to Visual Hierarchy. 

You can use font size, popping colors, position, contrast, unique fonts, and spacing to establish a Visual Hierarchy. 

For example, humans have been tuned to look at the top right corner of a website for login/sign-up buttons. This is just a piece of entry-level advice. Visual Hierarchy is a deep subject. 

Tips:

• People tend to read the bigger things first. To give more weight to a phrase, make the font size bigger. 
• Use eye-catching colors such as Yellow for vital elements.
• English readers’ eyes have been trained to read content from left to right. 

7) Choose Usability Over Aesthetics

In 2019, netizens mercilessly trolled Google for its design update to its Workspace apps. 

This happened; Google adopted a homogeneous color scheme for its whole suite of apps. The Result: It’s all Greek for the users. 

People had, and still have, difficulty distinguishing one Google app from another. It was evident that Google prioritized Aesthetics over Usability. 

There is no doubt that aesthetics can hold people’s attention. But a visually stunning design sans usability is doomed to fail. 

Tips:

• Have a clear navigation
• Stay away from distracting transitions

8) Cross-browser Compatibility

Cross-browser Compatibility refers to a website’s ability to appear and perform the same across various web browsers — Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera, UC Browser, or any browser. 

Adopting a simple coding strategy will help you attain Cross-browser Compatibility. 

Incorrect stacking of elements, failure to load animations, and missing fonts are common issues that may arise if you fail to make your site compatible with all browsers. 

9) Establish Proportion

This technique goes back to our ancient architecture. Be it the Madurai Meenakshi Temple or the Greek Parthenon; the concept is the same. An accurate proportional system was in place in those structures.

Proportion brings harmony and balance between elements. Modern designers implement proportion in websites to achieve unity, symmetry, balance, and rhythm among different components. 

These things are crucial to make users hooked to your site. Lack of proportion will leave users perplexed as to the entry point. 

10) Use White Space

White Space helps you with website design on many fronts. To begin with, it keeps a space uncluttered. 

Do not make the term ‘White Space’ fool you into thinking that the space should be white. A White Space can be of any color, pattern, or image. The idea is to make the content of a page breathe. 

Think of a website without adequate White Space as a newspaper’s classified section. 

The chances of a listing getting noticed by an untrained eye are slim. The same applies to your website. 

Where to Use White Space:

• Between characters, words & lines (Though White Space occurs naturally in these elements, adjust it for a better visual appeal.) 
• Between layouts & content blocks.

11) Apply Fitt’s Law

Fitts’s Law talks extensively about the relevancy of size and distance in human motor movement. The law is broadly applied in good User Interface (UI) design.

In a nutshell, fast movements towards a relatively small target will result in higher error rates. 

The idea of making interactive buttons such as ‘Subscribe,’ ‘Learn More,’ and ‘Order Now’ bigger than other website elements has its roots in Fitts’s Law. 

One can apply Fitts’s Law to various elements such as forms, buttons, lists, etc.

Takeaways:

• Establish proximity between interconnected elements
• Take cues from real life. For example, look at your keyboard. The keys used (Enter, backspace & space bar) are often bigger than others. 

12) Give Easy Access to Crucial Info

The header and footer should carry the most important info about your business. 

Depending on your industry, the elements that go on your header differ. Say that yours is an NGO website. The header is where sections such as ‘Donate’ Work with Us’ and ‘What We Do’ should go. 

In the case of a global eCommerce site, buttons for multi-currency and multi-language toggles, cart, and sign-in/sign-up deserve a spot in the header. 

Place links to your privacy policy, terms of service, contact information, and social media icons on the footer. 

Takeaways:

• Use header for CTA buttons
• Use the footer for links to sitemap, legal pages, etc. 

13) Design Intuitively

Intuitive Designs make navigating a website natural. You need not tell users what to do. 

Say that you run a hotel booking site. The sole function of your site is to help users find accommodation. 

An intuitive design will display a prominent dialog box on the homepage with options to choose the city, check-in, check-out dates, etc. 

Why? 

Because visitors to a hotel booking site have an intuitive understanding of why they visit your site, a homepage dialog box is a no-brainer. 

Takeaways

• Think from your user’s point of view
• Follow the ‘F’ or ‘Z’ pattern layout while designing 

14) Give Brand’s Touch

To make your website user-friendly, simple, intuitive, and whatnot, let’s not forget the main thing — Branding.

Branding is vital while designing your website to make a lasting impression. 

“Branding is crucial because your business name connects them with you (read your site) at the end of the day”, said Jamie, owner of The Los Angeles SEO

Ensure that the key sections of your site — header, footer, pop-ups, favicon — carry your brand elements. 

15) Use Fonts That go Together

Retain the typeface of your brand across the site. Do not choose a font with a mechanical skeleton and geometric shape similar to your brand typeface. 

You should also go with the font that suits your industry. A font like Futura would be great for a modern look. Use a font like Roboto if your blog needs a natural reading rhythm.