Talk Web Design

Creating a site or a page layout requires proper considerations. You need to make sure you valuable contents can be viewed comfortably. That is why tips such as keeping the layout flexible for different screen resolutions or using the right color scheme are highly important for creating the best layout for your site. Another good trick you should use is blending the actual content area with page background.

Most of us love to use distinct table or div for presenting contents, and use different color for the actual page background. This is possibly the best way to present the content of your site, and it will generate more of users’ attention to the important information. Blending the content containers doesn’t mean you should create them in a similar fashion with the page background. By blending, you are simply creating a smoother transition to the entire page, allowing the page to look nicer and more usable to visitors.

Elements such as drop shadow, borders, rounded corners, and may more can be used to create a smooth transition between the page background and the actual content containers. My personal favorite would be drop shadow combined with some transparency to create window-like layout, since the combination works best to produce a stand-out page with distinct content section.

The biggest mistake in web design is creating a layout that doesn’t fit users’ screen resolutions. There are more than 40 different screen resolutions, and the best way to go when it comes to designing your site is to create a page that will fit the screen flexibly no matter what screen resolution is used. You can easily create a layout using 800 x 600 pixels as the base resolution, but you must always make the page flexible so that your site can be viewed comfortably.

Side scrolling is a big turn-off; you should never design a site wider than your users’ screen resolution since they will not appreciate having to side-scroll just to view the entire content. If your design is made for wider screen resolutions, make sure you keep it flexible so that users with smaller screens can still view the content nicely.

Flexible page layout can easily be achieved using percentage for table or div widths. Start with creating an outer container with 100% width, and then continue with setting the inner containers and content areas with fixed widths to fit any screen resolution. Make sure the alignment of the outer container is set to center so that the page can be viewed nicely.

Transparent is the new rounded corners! If rounded corners are the center of attraction in 2008 and 2009 web design trends, the new way to present your site nicely is by using transparent. Thanks to the use of CSS and PNGs for creating stunning site layouts, you can now easily use transparent elements to make your site looks better.

If you want to get the real transparent look, you can easily create elements and save them in PNG format before integrating these elements as layers using HTML and CSS tags. However, you can also use faux transparent elements to achieve the same look. If you design your site using software such as Adobe Photoshop, you can simply design the entire page — including the transparent elements — and create the layout using ordinary HTML and CSS coding.

There are several ways you can use the transparent look effectively. For popup layers or dropdown menus, you can make them transparent to produce a more fluid layout and enhance the user experience. Users will surely appreciate the use of transparent layouts and they will spend more time browsing through pages of your site. Use the new trends to your advantage and enhance your site today.