The Use of Color in Web Design
One of the crucial parts of web design is choosing the right color(s) for the web pages. Initially one may consider it to be a very light topic, but the success of a web site depends highly on the choice of colors. Thus one should possess a sound knowledge about color schemes while designing pages for web sites.
The online business of a web site depends much on the visual appeal of the web pages. The use of right kind of colors on the pages can turn the pages attractive and eye catching to the users. Attractive web pages not only catch the attention of users/readers but they also help in their retention.
Color is one of the major tools in the hands of the web designers. Color can be used to make the web pages very attractive, to highlight major content on the pages, to frame and also to differentiate content from another.
Here is some basic information regarding use of colors for your web pages:
- To make the pages of a web site visually appealing to new and existing users, first of all a color scheme has to be decided. A consistent use of colors is necessary. The colors can be of matching hues or they may completely differ from one another.
- It has been quite a convention to place textual content against white background. Even if the background is not white, light colored backgrounds are what readers prefer while browsing through the web pages. If the texts are placed against a light colored or white background, the readers can easily make them out from rest of the content on the web page. When the text of a web page is placed against colored background, readers tend to skip the colored parts and find it inconvenient to read the content.
- Use of too many colors can cause a lot of confusion for the users. On the other hand, use of very less or dull colors make the web pages look inert and boring to browse through. Colors are used to differentiate, highlight and identify elements on web pages.
- Intense colors can be used on web pages. These kind of vibrant colors catch the eyes very easily. But use of a number of intense colors causes distraction for users and their attention is diverted to a number of elements.
- Use of too many varied colors is to be avoided. Use of many colors at the same time can cause visual jarring effect if the colors do not go well with each other or clash.
- While setting the color scheme for your web site, another important thing should be kept in mind. It is advisable to avoid placing photographic images with intense colors.
- A balance between background and foreground colors is to be maintained on the pages of a site. These two colors should provide ample contrast with each other.
- While choosing color scheme for web pages, the designers should be aware of the different connotations and significances the different colors indicate. The target audiences for whom the site is designed should be kept in mind, as the different colors may indicate different significance in two different cultures or among different group of people. Preferences for colors vary not only from culture to culture but from person to person. The preference for colors by the target readers depends on gender, age differences, class etc.
The choice of intelligent and sound color scheme for web site can make your business, whereas poor and clumsy use of colors for web pages can break your business. Aesthetically designed web site is sure to be a hit and when visitors start coming back to the site again and again, it is bound to achieve the pinnacle of success.
