Web design covers a lot more than just aesthetic considerations. When planning out your website\u2019s design, you need to take a lot of factors into consideration, including ease-of-use, navigation, search engine optimization, and branding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you pay attention to all of those elements, you\u2019ll end up with a WordPress website design that\u2019s not only a pleasure to look at, but also to use. That last part is essential, because usability is a deciding factor when it comes to keeping visitors engaged and coming back to your site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this article, we\u2019ll introduce you to several tips for WordPress design, along with best practices for you to keep in mind the next time you\u2019re working on a new website design with WordPress. Let\u2019s get to work!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Every website is unique in its design and functionality. However, there are a lot of web development best practices that can help you design sites that look and work much better than most of what you see online. These practices apply to all types of projects, and internalizing them will help you create better websites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a nutshell, these are the factors you\u2019ll need to keep in mind to make sure your website doesn\u2019t only look good, but also serves visitors effectively:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These are all high-level concepts that are easy to understand, but not as simple to put into practice. With that in mind, let\u2019s move on to some actionable tips you can use to elevate your WordPress site\u2019s design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Websites need to be aesthetically pleasing. However, it\u2019s also important to think of your site\u2019s layout as an element you can use to increase accessibility. Some techniques that can help you achieve that include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those elements are the fundamentals of accessible website layout design. However, there are plenty of other web design standards and best practices to explore, so let\u2019s look at a few of those as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Navigation menus<\/a> shouldn\u2019t be hard to use or understand. As a rule of thumb, you want to minimize the number of elements on your menu, so everything is as easy to find as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only exception to that rule is if you\u2019re running a highly-complex website, such as a large online store. In that case, a \u2018mega\u2019 menu can provide enough value to justify its bigger footprint. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Although it\u2019s important to keep your navigation menu short and sweet, that accessibility shouldn\u2019t come at the cost of a lack of information. Ideally, visitors should know precisely where each link will lead them at a quick glance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With most menus, you\u2019ll want to shorten each link to one or two words at most. For example, including an About <\/em>or About Us <\/em>link gets the point across perfectly. Other common menu items include Shop<\/em>, Contact Us<\/em>, and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unless you\u2019re designing a one-page website, it makes sense to include a search bar<\/a>. It\u2019s an element that doesn\u2019t take up much space, and it adds a huge amount of functionality to your website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One mistake a lot of designers make is failing to look for ways to make their search bars stand out visually. Something as simple as trying different colors for your Search <\/em>button can help make the element pop and add some flair to your pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Great web design goes well beyond optimizing your pages\u2019 layout. There are several other considerations you want to keep in mind. In this section, we\u2019ll break down five essential web design tips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your website needs to reflect your brand\u2019s style, and that includes colors, the fonts you use, and even the message you project. Those are what we call \u2018brand elements\u2019, and they help visitors associate content with your site or business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Consider logos, for example. You can probably recognize dozens of companies by their logos alone, because they make sure to include them throughout their entire online presence. It\u2019s important to create a clear and consistent brand identity<\/a>, which includes all the elements you\u2019ll reuse across sites, social media profiles, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It doesn\u2019t matter that your website looks amazing if it takes too long to load. Users these days are highly demanding, and you\u2019re likely to see sharp increases in bounce rate if your website takes over two seconds to load<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A trap some users fall into is packing too many elements into their pages. That might include high-quality images with massive file sizes, or video backgrounds that take too long to load.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s important to understand that you don\u2019t need to sacrifice visual quality to have a fast website. Rather, it\u2019s important to look for ways to optimize WordPress<\/a> and minimize the size of your site\u2019s assets. That way, you can deliver the best user experience possible while keeping things looking fresh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most people interact with the web primarily through mobile devices<\/a>. That means you need to design your website with a mobile-first perspective. If it looks great on a large screen, but isn’t very appealing on a smartphone, then your website isn\u2019t responsive<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With WordPress, ensuring that your website is mobile-ready isn\u2019t as difficult as with other Content Management Systems (CMSs). For starters, you\u2019ll want to make sure you use a theme that looks great on mobile devices<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s also a broad range of plugins you can use to increase your website\u2019s responsiveness<\/a>, most of which focus on providing a better menu experience. If a website works perfectly on mobile devices, it should be a breeze to navigate on a full-sized screen, so the effort you put in here pays off in spades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Strong web design is about providing a better experience for your users, through both style and usability. A large part of that involves using design to highlight the content users want to find.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are a lot of ways you can go about accomplishing this goal, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s important to understand that a lot of users won\u2019t spend time poring over every pixel on your website. In fact, studies show that most visitors skim through websites<\/a>, which is precisely why a lot of the advice we\u2019ve gone over focuses on making key elements stand out visually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can use any font you want on your website. However, not all fonts are equally readable, which is critical from a web design standpoint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For your website\u2019s content, we recommend sticking to classical, safe choices such as Arial, Georgia, Trebuchet, and Verdana. The default fonts that WordPress uses are all great choices for publishing highly-readable content. However, the CMS also enables you to use third-party fonts<\/a> if you want to spice things up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The good thing about WordPress is that because it is user-friendly, you can design an optimized site yourself. Just make sure to check out some WordPress tutorials on web development and design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your website’s appearance can play a significant role in how likely visitors are to engage with its content. Of course, design isn\u2019t the only thing that can help you “hook” visitors and keep them coming back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For that to happen, your website needs to be blazing fast as well. With WP Engine, you can get access to high-quality hosting for WordPress sites<\/a> and the resources you need<\/a> to design an incredible digital experience<\/a> for your visitors!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Web design covers a lot more than just aesthetic considerations. When planning out your website\u2019s design, you need to take a lot of factors into consideration, including ease-of-use, navigation, search engine optimization, and branding. If you pay attention to all of those elements, you\u2019ll end up with a WordPress website design that\u2019s not only a…<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":106238,"template":"","resource-topic":[904,901],"resource-role":[895,896,899],"resource-type":[916],"class_list":["post-106236","resource","type-resource","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nBe as descriptive as possible<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Include a search bar<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
5 web design tips for WordPress<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
1. Establish brand design standards<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
2. Optimize your WordPress site for speed<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
3. Ensure that you have a responsive design<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
4. Make your content easy to find<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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5. Use easy-to-read fonts<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Embark on your web design journey with WP Engine and WordPress<\/h2>\n\n\n\n