You might have valuable content and appealing graphics and images for building your site. But all these stuff will turn useless if you can’t organize or arrange them in a suitable and effective manner on a web page. Page layout or page composition is an essential aspect of website design. The ingredients of a good page layout not only lie in its decency, but it must also be able to transmit the intended message of the text and graphics to its target audience.

Over the years, web designers have worked hard to find best page layout practices. These tried and tested practices can lead you to build an effective page layout. All these practices can be closely related to various design principles.

You must make efforts to ensure that all text and graphics on a web page are aligned to each other. They must be able to convey a visual connection with each other. You can make use of horizontal or vertical alignment to achieve this visual connection. The other way of alignment is to place the elements along the same edge or place them centrally. The grid is also useful in case of complex layouts. This page layout technique will help you greatly as human brains and eyes are in the habit of looking at things which present a great deal of order and consistency.

You may opt for a single image that presents a strong visual presence. Most powerful layouts prefer this one image technique. However, if you’re very much interested in having multiple images, make sure that they are visually connected with the help of alignment and closeness. Make a grouping of all these images so that they seem to be a solitary visual unit.

This practice is related to the number of text columns or graphics that can be arranged on a web page. You can create a right balance by organizing them in an evenly or oddly fashion. The odd number of text columns or graphics can deliver you a more dynamic layout. An asymmetrical balance is possible with this technique. On the other hand, if you want a symmetrical balance, even number of graphics (a block of 4 pictures) or columns (2 or 4 columns) can be used. This layout will provide you a more formal and static look.

This practice is a very interesting one. Divide your web page into three horizontal and three vertical sections. Then you can place the most vital elements within these horizontal or vertical thirds. You can also have your vital elements concentrated in the upper or lower third of the page.

Don’t add excess text and graphics onto a web page so that it wears a clumsy look. Provide enough white space or empty space around the edges of the page or around the edges of text and graphic objects. In this way, your web page will have a decent look where every object is arranged in an orderly manner. You can also increase the number of paragraphs, line and letter spacing to enhance your layout.

Tags: Guidelines for Effective Page Layout