Learning the CSS
Before you start considering how you want to alter your website to look really cool, it may be beneficial to learn the Cascading Sheets Style, or the coding for visual purposes. This can also be done in textwrangler, and notepad++ except you would declare the code to be CSS with the format settings in the program. Using CSS starts with linking it through your HTML page under the header. This will allow the CSS profile to be attached to the HTML document. The entire purpose of the CSS is to alter the visual effects of the content in the HTML document. Here are a few short tutorials on using CSS: echoecho.com\
This will take you through the basics of CSS such as colors, lists, links, etc. The benefits of learning these techniques are boundless, because you can alter every minute detail to your liking. This gives the creator nearly unlimited freedom in taking their vision from their imagination to the virtual world.
Considering the Aesthetics
With a bit of CSS under our belt, let's look at what we want the web site to look like. This is going to tie back into the decisions you made in your strategy phase. Considering the purpose, the audience, and the nature of interaction. For a brief example, let's comment on some decisions I made when creating this web site. First, you notice the different sections headed up by titles for that section, a gray and blue background with blue text. To some this may seem to be a random choice, however it was all deliberate. The blue background reduces heart rate to those who perceive it, and thus lowers stress levels. Learning to write code can be stressful, so I had all of you in mind! You're welcome. The gray background is much easier on the eye and a stark white. Finally, the blue text stands out enough from the gray to be easily readable, however it matches the blue background giving it a cutout feel. Also, it's more interesting that the stock black. Aside from that, minor screen shots and links are included for supplement, but the pages are kept simple. Why? Too much flash and razzle-dazzle is distracting, and quite frankly annoying. Therefore, be sure to consider every aspect of the visuals that can work to your benefit.
A bit of Color Psychology
Like I was mentioning in the last section, color can work in your favor greatly if you understand how to properly use it. Thus, it is beneficial to have some understanding of color psychology. To do so, you must first have a purpose to your web site. Hypothetically, we are going to assume it's a site selling food or perhaps a site for a restaurant. Further, we need to consider what kind of restaurant. Is it ethnic food? A health vegetarian cuisine perhaps? All of this should lead you to utilizing certain colors. In general, red will make people hungrier and want to eat more. Therefore, incorporating red will increase the likelihood of a positive response to your food images or menus. For the vegetarian restaurant or the restaurant pushing the "fresh ingredients" appeal, green will give the user a feeling of freshness and positivity. This is an example of the color psychology in action:
Taking a quick look at this page, we see a lot of green and red with some blue as well. The green gives one the reinforcement of the "fresh" ingredients, while the red makes the user more hungry and thus more likely to order their pizza. The red background by the image of the pizza also drives home the idea that this pizza is great, because you associate looking at that pizza as making you hungry or salivate. See how color psychology works? To put it in layman's terms, it's like a little ninja Leonardo Dicaprio getting into your dreams. But instead of selling your company, he's saying, "Buy Papa Johns pizza." To supplement your understanding, here are a few resources on color psychology and how to use it: Infoplease.com, Precisionintermedia.com, Blog.kissmetrics.com.
As a side note, it is important to understand the cultural context of different colors as well. It is important to be sure that you don't unintentionally project a message because you failed to recognize that the color is seen as a totally different concept in a different nation. For example, in America white is seen pure and is commonly worn by women at their wedding. However, other cultures wouldn't share the same sentiment, as white is considered bad luck, and a certainty of failed marriage.
With that, I leave you to the world of web design. You now have the basics, and the bacon. Now it's time to practice what you've learned. Never be afraid to use shortcuts to improve your working efficiency. If it gets you to your goal faster, then you've saved yourself and your (potential) clients time. Goodluck in your creative ventures.
