Stylish Content Page Web Design

This article discusses why careful attention must be paid to content page web design. It provides examples of effective content page web design for a travel agent.

Search engines frequently send browsers directly to one of your content pages. Will it make a good first impression?

Often, as WEB DESIGNERS, we place great emphasis on creating an exciting, splashy home page web design, while the content pages conform to a rather predictable layout. That is a safe way to design, as we don't want the viewer to struggle with unfamiliar layouts as they navigate content. However, there are ways to enliven the look of the content pages while keeping them legible, predictable, and easy to navigate.

There is a compelling reason to pay close attention to content page web design. Most visitors coming to your web site from search engines do not land on your home page. Typically, they will land on a content page that has the most relevance for a given search keyword or term. In fact, my experience has been that most visitors will never see your home page at all! Will your content page web design make a good first impression? Will it effectively promote your business? That first impression may mean the difference between new business or a lost opportunity!

Here is one approach we used on a recent TRAVEL WEB SITE DESIGN. We wanted a large, beautiful image on each content page while keeping text legible and neatly arranged on a clean white background. To create a compelling look, we simply borrowed a couple of ideas from print magazine style layouts and adapted them to our content pages.

For example, in this content page web design, we use a two-page, open-spread look borrowed from magazine layouts. The web page has a large 'full-spread' image on the left side of the page, and the content is poured in the right side of the page. It creates the overall impression of viewing a stylish magazine rather than a static web page. We are borrowing a layout that the viewer is already familiar with from magazines and applying it to web design. Rather than introduce a layout that is new and foreign to the average consumer, we use an approach they are already familiar and comfortable with.

This strategy, of borrowing visual cues from what is already familiar to the viewer is a prime principle behind much of our web design. Many web designers try to mimic the buttons and interfaces of current technology in the look of the web site. I don't agree with that approach in general. Most people are not as 'in love' with technology as we web developers are. When you borrow from things that the average person is most comfortable with, such as magazines, books, etc., you provide a more comfortable online environment for consumers. It feels more organic, less technical. That is a wise strategy when designing web sites that need to appeal to the average consumer!

Donald Peterson