Web Design

The secret to a good Web Design is the same as to every type of design, it needs to please the eye. Design trends change a lot, what looks good today is probably going to look out-dated in a few years. New technologies are being created and added to pages: streaming video, dynamic elements and other things that make you WOW when you first see them. Some good places to check current trends are Web Designer Wall and Web Design from Scratch.

According to Wikipedia, screen display resolution is also set to change, 640×480 was the standard resolution from 1990 to around 1996. 800×600 was the standard resolution until around 2000. Last time I checked, the majority of active computers have their resolution set to 1024×768, but new PCs are coming with even higher resolution settings, so that too is set to change.

Other than the resolution issue web designers should also take into account the browser differences. Internet users with the same resolution might customize their browsers using different settings like toolbars. There’s also the browser issue: IE, Firefox, Opera, etc… they all display websites in different ways. To get around this resolution problem you should create liquid designs, which uses the available space on the browser window to display the page’s content. Of course not all pages have the same design concept, in some cases you will not be able to create a liquid design, it really depends on the lay-out.

I’ve been designing websites using Corel for a long time, and just recently started working with Photoshop. I gotta tell you, if you are starting right now, go with Photoshop. This software is perfect for web designers, it let’s you slice images, export for the web, create animated gifs and so much more. It is as if Adobe developed the software with the web designer in mind. I once read that the best design software is the one you are good at, and that’s really true. I have seen beautiful designs from people using different software. In the end, the software is not going to create the design for you, the most important thing is to have creative and artistic skills.

UPDATE: An awesome free website to check how your site looks on various browser, operational systems and resolution is http://www.browsershots.org – try it!