Line spacing (as we touched on just a little bit on the previous page) can compliment fonts like nothing else can. You should (these days) never be leaving your spacing between lines of text the default. I like to go by the 8px rule (ok, it’s not a rule but I like to use it anyways). It’s in use on the featured section of devlounge, where the font size is 11 pixels and the line spacing is 20 pixels (ok, so we went over 8px, but we meant it’s a good place to start). Always take the size of your font and add a few more pixels to it and set it as the line-spacing. It can really help make things easier to read and will get rid of that ugly “web 1.0” crunched up text look.
Comic Sans
I read somewhere a few months back about Comic Sans still being used in some web sites. I’ve even seen examples of company sites using Comic Sans. Comic sans? What are you – a joker? Playful fonts like that work well if it goes with the context of your site, but if you intend to present a professional appearance, Comic Sans is definitely not the way to go. Try a simple Arial, Veranda, or Lucida Sans for you mac users, as it will alter the whole appearance of your site just by using a more professional and tidier font.
Em’s Vs. Pixels
This is something I have yet to do in my own designs (a designer fault for sure), but I plan on starting to do very soon. Em’s allow for much better accessibility, because they can scale much better than pixels, and usually won’t destroy your design. If you can, use em’s as early as you can when you are starting out designing, because the pixel habit can be a tough one to break (at least in my case). Instead of going on about em’s, I’ll direct you to effective styles with em’s from Mondaybynoon, who are picking up their second link in three days, but deserve it with this great write up about the differences between pixels and em’s.
Web +++ (The Web 2.0 Effect)
Stop asking yourself “Is my site Web 2.0ish enough?” Why? Because plain and simple, it doesn’t matter. Web 2.0 is really just a name given to a trend and explosiveness in new sites and start ups, but it makes no difference on the success of your site and design. You don’t need low opacity gradients to have a successful design, regardless of where the web may be at the given time. You should really stick to staying up to date with code (see below), than trying to match the designs of 400 other new web look-a-likes.
Html or (X)html
It’s time to standardize yourself. If you’re using html, learn your alphabet over until you can spell html with an x. If you want your site working in multiple browsers, you’ll code it using valid Xhtml and test it in multiple browsers. While this may not help while designing, to finish it all off you’ll need to code. Never coded with xhtml & css before? Know your strengths and weaknesses, and build designs you can handle turning into Xhtml and css.
Hopefully this article has provided some insight on things to consider when designing. If anything, you just wasted plenty of time which you could have been considering things – so I hope you can use tips for yourself. What are some of your favorite things to think about when laying down your next best design?
