16 July 2010

50: Unifying Theme

Creating a unifying theme is one of the most important steps in designing a website. Your theme should reflect the purpose of your website and provide a continuity of design elements throughout your site.

Convey your message
In other words a theme should help you to convey your message and impart a consistent look that runs throughout your website.

Your site should not attempt to be "all things to all people". Observing some limits also involves NOT using every graphic, javascript, animation, music or HTML coding trick that you have available on one web site.

Using color
When the theme is a color combination, the links, buttons and graphics should all reflect that color theme. Use this type of theme for websites that don't fit neatly into any particular category.

Logo should be incorporated on every page. A logo can be any graphic that hints at the central focus of your internet site.

What you are doing, with a theme, is providing cohesiveness to your site - letting visitors know they are still in the same place no matter what website section they are viewing. Web users don't like the feeling of being ''lost'' and will leave a site if they feel they don't know where they are or how to find information.

More importantly a theme should tell a story or convey an idea. Your theme should enhance your message. It can help to make your visitors understand what it is that you are trying to say. Picture your theme as a frame for your message.

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