WordPress and Web design

WordPress is one of the easiest web content platforms to get stated with, and, while there are powerful starter themes and a huge array of tips to get your website looking proper, there are a few web design philosophies that can help you make that website successful.  Design, in any field can be looked at as a means of making the product, whatever it might be, more easy to work with; a well designed shoe, to give a random example can be designed to improve walking, for running, etc; there is a purpose behind the way it is created, the guiding principles that are at the back of the manner it was produced.

So a website, particularly a WordPress website can benefit from a design that will aid the purpose of it; so, as always, function comes before form.

The important thing to note about WordPress is that it can take a lot of shapes and forms, and that it can pretty much accommodate any purpose the developer has in mind for it.

So, the first rule we can deduct from this is that you should bear in mind what your website is meant to do. For content delivery, for a news oriented website, you will want to focus on two fields; readability – the immediacy with which your content is available and looking to differentiate the types of content that you’re making available.

Most of us have learned to take for granted that a website will have its content well organized, but that is not a natural state of things; quite on the contrary, without some initial considerations, as content continues to pour in, a website can become clogged with information that is hard to sift through and that is almost unsearchable.

So, here’s a few ideas for you, to make your WordPress website more readable:

Self center your search

What we mean by self centered design, is an approach to creating your website with its apparent and intrinsic goals made to coincide. If your website offers the readers information, than that should be apparent at a glance. If the website is an e-store, than that too should be apparent at a glance. You don’t want to explain your users what you’re offering, it should be immediately clear from the get go.

Color and shape coding

Using color on your website should be done with purpose also. Using a limited color palette is always a great idea, if anything because it is easier to avoid color clashes and tiring your users, and also, because color can communicate at a glance better than text can.

Use fonts properly

A big part of a website’s design is also the way it uses words. Naturally, readability should be immediately relevant, but also, a good website is a website that communicates style and functionality via the fonts used. There are some great WordPress fonts that are tied to the platform, but you can also get font libraries from Typekit, or the Google Font API.

Use images to serve your purpose

Use of image can get understated on a website, especially one that is words centered; By choosing not to invest in images that add to the website, you’re taking away from your website, and similarly, using pictures that don’t communicate properly about your website is also a bad way of doing business.

Overall, guided simplicity of design and readability are the main areas that impact any website, and so a WordPress website design as well. So always try and make design choices work for you, and always consider function first.