Principles of Front-end designing
Graphics and font used, placing of image and content, placing of link, readability and navigability are the few crucial factors of determining success of front-end design. Front-end design is therefore an important part of website development.
While back-end programmers mostly deal with server end integration, front-end designers build the user interface. They are required to decide about placing objects in the webpage, color scheme, font, content hierarchy etc. They need to deal with HTML codes, Flash and CSS. As a matter of fact, front-end designers are required to follow some standardized rules of designing for improved user experience. They use wireframe and grayscale for website designing.
Principles of front-end deigning can be categorized into two parts - one that deals with end-users and the other part deals with developers. Front-end designers are required to maintain a balance between site's look and functionalities that will benefit both audiences and developers working at backend.
Though designers are often given the leverage to use their creativity and imagination in designing but there are few static factors that needed to be followed in ensuring that basic objectives of website designing are met.
What principles of front-end designing aims at
Front-end designing is more related to object oriented programming. It is essential for a front-end designer to ensure that clear and logical connection between different objects and functions on a webpage is followed.
On the user side the site design aims at achieving - performance, accessibility and device-agnosticism. On the other hand, at developers end, the design targets maintenance, readability and modularity. But when there is a conflict of interest, front-end designers give emphasis to user friendly designing over developer requirements.
While designing the following basic factors are given emphasis.
- Base it on requirements.
- The ultimate objective of the design should remain clear.
- Design according to content.
- Keep it simple so that users can navigate through the page and find information easily.
- Consider the future and the changes that it would bring while designing. Take device-agnostic approach.
- Stay within budget. Incorporate most important features first.
Wireframe
A website wireframe is a page schematic or screen blueprint that offers a visual guide to the designer in creating a web design. It is used as skeletal structure that denotes placing of different objects in webpage that follow logical connection. It focuses on getting best possible outcome by arranging page content in hierarchy where they receive maximum exposure. While using wireframe the focus remains on the following.
- Establishing right method of displaying information
- The functions available
- Describing relation between information and functions
- Establishing rule of displaying certain information
- Understanding effect of displaying different elements in page layout