Space and Whitespace

Beginning with the space and whitespace of the page, you should understand that using the whole page is preferable. However, do not be specific in the use of it. Instead, use layout sections that are relatively sized on your Web pages. In this way, they will either contract or expand in the best way to fit the browser window.

Think about the screen resolution. Most computer users have moved on from the 640x480 resolution and this is something you should bear in mind when you are creating the Web page. You do not want to lose customers because they cannot see anything except a logo on their monitor.

Define spaces by using color. For example, if you want a page with a specific width, try centering it on the browser screen and use a different color for the background of the page. This helps the page seem to resize itself for different browsers. The larger browsers end up with having more background color showing and the smaller ones have less or no color showing. It all works out for the best look.

Images and Graphics

Be sure your images are aligned. Novice designers often make the mistake of throwing images on a page in whatever order they happen to land and never give a thought to the actual layout. Using an img tag with text written to follow it gains you the image along with one line of text that will appear to the right of it. The best way to help you make images a part of the layout is by using the align attribute.

Graphics and text need to be balanced on the page. Avoid getting too caught up with too many images and animations. They will make your pages rather difficult to read. It is important to remember that your images are a huge part of the design, so do not treat them like they are afterthoughts.

Text Width

Something else to consider is scan length or text width. These terms refer to how many words will be shown on one line of text. The majority of the population can read a range of 7 to 11 words on a line comfortably. If it is longer than that, the text becomes harder to read. When it is shorter than that it is disjointed and becomes distracting. It is important to make sure the major text area shows the text in a readable width when you are planning your design layouts.

Avoid centering your text. Centering is one of the first layout techniques that a new designer is taught. Therefore, it is the thing they do the most. Everything on their pages is centered. However, centering is not as easy as it looks and when it is not done correctly, it is most likely difficult to read.

Keeping all of these things in mind when designing Web page layouts is not as difficult as it may seem at first. With a bit of practice it will all soon become second nature to you. Besides, it is much better to get it right the first time than having to waste time doing it over and over again.