•Web design is the creation of the layout of a web page or an entire website. Web design could include anything from only creating the layout of the design as an image to the complete implementation of the design as a web page using images, software, and programming.

•Web design is a Web development process for creating a website that focuses on aesthetic factors like layout, user interface and other visual imagery in order to make the website more visually appealing and easy to use. Web design makes use of various programs and tools in order to achieve the intended look, such as Dreamweaver, Photoshop and many others. In order to create a winning design, Web designers need to think about their audience, the purpose of the website and the visual appeal of the design.

•Less is More – Simplicity Rules
        -In effective web design, simplicity rules. Not only does a clean, fresh design make the site easier to navigate, but the aesthetics are more appealing and will stand the test of time. It is unnecessary, as well as distracting, to load a site with design features that don’t serve a purpose.

•Innovative but Not Distracting
        -An impressive design involves creativity and natural talent.  Professionals in the design industry understand how to use whitespace. Whitespace, or negative space, is the area of the page that is “empty,” found between graphic elements, images, and text. An innovative use of design elements and whitespace creates a less distracting, more appealing design, and guides visitors where you want them to go.

•Aesthetically Appealing – To the RIGHT Users
       The design must be crafted explicitly to appeal to that niche. Research into buyer habits can reveal the type of image, colors, and other design features that are appealing to those you want to reach. Each “buyer persona” has specific likes and dislikes, and research into likes/dislikes are essential. High numbers of site visitors are useless if they are not those who will eventually convert — and buy.

•Respectful, Honest, and Engaging
    Social media has had a significant impact upon communication, both written and spoken. Visitors want to be engaged in a very “human” way. Even the largest multinational corporations have been forced to put a human face on what they do. Every word, phrase, and headline must be respectful of the user, honest, and have some engaging quality that makes it intriguing.
 
•Designed for Usability and Functionality
      In website design, usability and functionality must drive each decision – outstripping any other design consideration. To achieve a clear, easy, and ultimately, direct path to conversions, both design and technical issues come into play. Every link must function fast, and every button and call to action must be positioned correctly, demanding as little effort as possible for the visitor to move forward to the next step.      

1. Keep your interface consistent

One of the top principles of good UX is to keep the interface consistent throughout the entire product. The overall look and feel of your website should be consistent across all of your site’s pages. Consistency of navigation, color schemes, typefaces, and style of writing can have a positive impact on usability and UX. 
 

2. Design easy-to-use navigation

Navigation is the cornerstone of usability. It’s the main interaction technique on the Internet. Having good navigation on your site is crucial for ensuring that visitors can find what they’re looking for. 
 

3. Change the color of visited links

Links play a vital role in the navigation process. When visited links don’t change color, users could unintentionally revisit the same pages repeatedly. Knowing your past and present locations makes it easier to decide where to go next.  

4. Make it easy to scan your pages

When users visit your site they are more likely to quickly scan the page rather than read everything on it. For example, when visitors want to find specific content or complete a certain task, they will scan a website’s pages until they find what they are looking for. And you, as a designer, can help them with that by designing good visual hierarchy. Visual hierarchy refers to the arrangement or presentation of elements in a way that implies importance ━ e.g. where they eyes should focus first, second, etc. 
 

5. Take content seriously

Copy is just as important as the design of your website. More than 95 percent of information on the web is in the form of written language. Even if your site is beautifully designed, it’s no more than an empty frame without good content; a good website has both great design and great content. A designer’s job is to make sure that the design aids and complements the content.  

6. Minimize the number of choices

The number of choices people have affects their decisions; the more choices they have, the less action they take. When you present your user with too many options, you make them think too much. To increase chances for interaction, it’s better to minimize the number of choices.  

7. Engage users to scroll

Scrolling sends users deeper into the page and makes them invest more time in the experience, and this increases the chance that users will convert ━ e.g. buy something, sign up for a newsletter, or contact you. Despite that people usually start scrolling as soon as the page loads, content at the top of the page is still very important. What appears at the top sets the impression and expectation of quality for visitors. People do scroll, but only if what’s above the fold is promising enough. 
 

8. Make your website responsive

Today there are more than 5 billion devices running web browsers. This means that visitors can come to your site from various devices such as a desktop, tablet, phone, music player, or even a watch. A big part of UX design is ensuring that no matter how the visitor sees your site, all vital information will be displayed correctly on different screen sizes.

1. Don’t make users wait for content to load

Loading time is extremely important for user experience. As technology progresses, we get more impatient, and today, 47 percent of users expect a web page to load in two seconds or less. If a web page takes more time to load, visitors might become frustrated and leave the site. That’s why speed should be a priority when building a web application. 
 

2. Don’t open internal link in new tabs

Users expect different behavior from internal and external links. All internal links should open in the same tab; this way, you’ll allow users to use the “back” button. If you decide to open external links in a new window, you should provide an advanced warning before automatically opening a new window or tab. This might take the form of text added to the link text stating. “opens in a new window”. 
 

3. Don’t use too many typefaces

When you start building a site, it’s always tempting to use a lot of different typefaces ━ five or six different fonts or even upload your own. But, it’s better to avoid that temptation. Too many variations in font types can be distracting, confusing, and borderline annoying. 
 

4. Don’t use too many colors on your website

Similar to typefaces, it’s better to avoid using too many colors in design. Applying color to a design has a lot to do with balance, and, the more colors you use, the harder it is to achieve balance. Using too many colors in design is like trying to convey a million feelings and messages at once, which can confuse the person viewing your design. 
 

5. Don’t show automatic pop-ups too early

A lot of websites show pop-up boxes with a request to subscribe as soon as you arrive on the page. As a designer, showing pop-up windows is probably one of the most annoying things you can do to someone visiting your website. Pop-ups are interruptive by nature, and, since they are typically used to show ads, users often close them even before reading the content. 
 

6. Don’t use generic photos of people

Images with human faces are a very effective way to get your users engaged. Our brains are predisposed to pay attention to faces. When we see faces of other humans it makes us feel like we are actually connecting with them, and not just using a product. 
 

7. Don’t let promotion steal the show

Having too many promotions or ads on a page can easily overshadow the main content and make it harder for users to accomplish tasks. If you have too many ads on the page, they’ll all be competing to get your readers to look at them. This will result in a sensory overload that will ultimately increase your bounce rates. It’s also important to acknowledge that anything that looks like an advertisement is usually ignored by users ━ the phenomenon is known as banner blindness. 
 

8. Don’t use horizontal scroll

In order to stand out, some designers use horizontal scrolling on their sites. Unfortunately, horizontal scrolling is one of the few interactions that consistently generates negative responses from users. Users often have no idea they can discover content by scrolling horizontally — most of the users are accustomed to scrolling down on websites and don’t usually look left and right. As a result, they simply ignore content accessible through horizontal scrolling.