We already posted some of the web 2.0 Design Features in our last article please click here to read part one of this article.
Lets continue with our next four features in this article.
“Web 2.0″ Design Features
First four features can be found in the part one.
5). Simple nav
Your main menu (nav) that appears on every page as part of the page template – needs to be clearly identifiable as navigation, and should be easy to interpret, target and select.
- 2.0 design makes global navigation large, bold, clean and obvious.
- Inline hyperlinks (links within text) are typically clearly differentiated from normal text.
Why simple navigation is good?
Users need to be able to identify navigation, which tells them various important information:
- Where they are (in the scheme of things)
- Where else they can go from here
- And what options they have for doing stuff
Following the principle of simplicity, and general reduction of noise, the best ways to clarify navigation are:
- Positioning permanent navigation links apart from content
- Differentiating navigation using color, tone and shape
- Making navigation items large and bold
- Using clear text to make the purpose of each link unambiguous
How to keep your nav simple?
Simply remember the key: navigation should be clearly distinguishable from non-navigation.
Just follow the best design practice guidelines above, regarding differentiation through position, color and clarity.
Inline hyperlinks should also stand out sufficiently from the text around them.
6). Bold logos
A clear, bold, strong brand – incorporating attitude, tone of voice, and first impression – is helped by a bold logo.
Why Bold logos should be used?
Strong, bold logos say “This is who we are.” in a way that we can believe.
How to use bold logos?
It’s very hard to say how to create a good logo, but in brief…
Your logo should:
- Work visually in its main context, and any other uses in which it may be used (like flyers or t-shirts?)
- be recognisable and distinctive
- represent your brand’s personality and qualities on first viewing
7). Bigger text
Lots of the best designed “2.0″ web sites have big text, compared to older-style sites.
If you fill the same amount of space with less “stuff”, you have more room.
When you’ve made more room, you can choose to make more important elements bigger than less important elements.
When & how to use big text?
Big text makes most pages more usable for more people, so it’s a good thing.
Of course, size is relative. You can’t take a normal, busy site, make ALL the text bigger, and make it more usable. That might not work, that might be worse.
For best results, in order to use big text, you have to make room by simplifying and removing unnecessary elements.
You also need to haave a reason to make some text bigger than other text. And the text must be meaningful and useful. There’s no point adding some big text just because it’s oh-so 2.0!
If you need to have a lot of information on a page, and it’s all relatively equal in importance, then maybe you can keep it all small.
Why bigger text should be used?
Making things bigger makes them more noticeable than lesser elements. This effect has been used throughout the history of design.
Not only does big text stand out, but it’s also more accessible to more people. That’s not just people with visual impairments, but also people looking on LCD screens in sunlight, on their phones, people sitting a little further from the screen, and people just skimming the page. If you think about it, that could be quite a lot of people!
8). Strong colors
Bright, strong colors draw the eye. Use them to divide the page into clear sections, and to highlight important elements.
When you have a best-practice simple, stripped-out design, you can use a bit of intense color to help differentiate areas of real-estate and to draw attention to items you want the visitor to notice.
Color is also a great medium for communicating brand values.
Be careful to use intense color on or around high-value features
A nice, effective page design is compromised by the use of large areas of intense color outside the main page area. The result is that the eye is drawn away from the real content.
Remember to use sparingly
If you’re using strong colors to attract the eye, it only works if there’s lots of area that isn’t strongly colored.
If everything is trying to attract the eye, then the eye just gets confused, and the site will feel confusing and chaotic.
Remaining of the four features will be posted in the next part.
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