The color of your text and background can have a dramatic effect on the readability of your site. There is more to readability than contrast. Light diffusion, eye strain, and the possible eye conditions of your visitors should come into play when deciding the colors of your site.
The majority of the web is focused on reading. While you definitely want to make sure your designs are attractive, they’re useless if your visitors can’t read what you’re trying to communicate. But lets be clear, there is a difference between easy to read text and text that looks easy to read.
Just as we make eye contact, so we are inclined to look where others are looking. You know what I’m talking about, you see someone looking up in a tree (maybe at the zoo) and you look up there to see what they are looking at. Is it interesting? Can I see it? Or is it something I’m not interested in?
Making eye contact is an innate practice we never have to be instructed to do. Infants make eye contact with their parents and are even nurtured by it. On the web, this powerful behavior can be used to help guide your visitors to the areas where you’d like them to look.
There’s a surprising lack of the human face in web design. While I certainly wouldn’t advocate over-using it, I am often surprised at how little I see it around the web. Perhaps designers and content creators are not aware of it’s power.
The personality of your users affects the way that they interact with your site. Design your site to capture the attention of your target audience and cater to their personality type.
Perhaps an obvious statement. However, it’s important to realize that there are two different ways this manifests and can cause us to make bad decisions when creating or redesigning a site.
Cognitive load is the total amount of mental effort being used out of the capacity of short term memory. Without going too deep: the more things on a visitor’s mind, the less they retain, and the shorter their attention span.
One of the primary reasons visitors leave your website is what we call “visitor fatigue.” The term is often applied to museum visitors, and is a constant focus among curators.
