The three main areas of your website or blog that we need to pay attention to are the header, the body and the footer, this may seems simple to you but when it comes to web design we should aim to ensure that our website stand out from the crowd not to blend in, we can all be original in our design. Before we take a look at the areas individually we should remember that even humans were born head first, so technically the header of our website normally loads first. This is the first area that our readers see. Now before you absorb this just remember that I am by no means an expert here, okay with that out of the way let’s take a look at them individually.
The Header – A simple header is good but have you stop for a moment and look at the important role that the header plays? We talk about branding 99% of all logos are found in the header and your logo represents your brand, Getting this right has huge impact on your website this includes loading time. If we could just put the presentational side apart for a second and look at the underneath, the inside of the header for wants of better words, the header host some of the most important codes that lets the website function, codes like the style sheet, meta tags and others thus shows the importance of the header.
The Body or The Content – another area of focus, this is the main area which houses the content of our website and should be the second most important part of our design. As bloggers we write as writing is the main part of any bloggers life. The body or the content area needs to be design to fit its content sometimes we as designers believe that the best way to design your content area is from inside out by inside out i meant designing your body area to fit your content. Whatever ways you look at it just remember that your body plays a very important role in your blog design.
The Footer – Originally the footer was used for displaying copy right information and a few navigational links, but like everything else in technology web design has evolved and website footers has now been put to different use. The footer has now been used to display ads and other information related to the website. We have just looked at the three main areas of website design that needs our focus. Some believe we can liken it to human beings head body and foot these all makes up the body each depends on the other to function. I put the question to you do you pay these areas any attention? if you don’t I believe you should. Share your thoughts let us hear what you areas of focus are when it comes to design.
I agree with all your excellent points but with the popularity of blogs nowadays, I feel the sidebar should be included as point of focus.
Since the head, body and footer play such an important role, why not add some arms or legs. 🙂 Sidebars contain loads of great info such as opt-in forms, ads, social networks, links, etc, etc. I think many people who visit blogs do look at the sidebar.
Your post was very timely as I just changed my theme and I still have work to do on all those areas. Thanks for another informative article.
Don’t worry Robert i should have explain in my views the sidebar would fall under the body as it is part of the main content area thanks for pointing this out and your blog looks good and best of all it loads much faster now. thanks again for your comtinued support
Gary, Thanks for letting me know about the load time…I wasn’t aware of that. 🙂
It does really loads at least twice faster than usual keep it up your blog is looking great and i know that you will tweak it further
Agree all three areas are equally important but Header is the most important , so it must need to be eye catching.
Yes that is so true having an eye catching header is brilliant as that is our first port of call so making the header attractive can only serves us good
Agree all three areas are equally important but Header is the most important , so it must need to be eye catching and attractive.
Thanks for your input firstly i must say welcome to my blog and hope this is not your last visit
Very important topics you have focused !
Header and body AREAS are given lot of attention by visitors and advertisers, however footer is neglected .
But what i think is that its only footer where search engine visitors spent lot of time and if footer is designed creatively it has power to decrease bounce rate 😀
I believe you are right a very creative footer can helps to reduce the bounce rate of our blog and this is an area i am constantly looking at. Thanks for your continued support.
I agree on entirely your first-class points but with the fame of blogs now, I find the sidebar ought be enclosed as point of center.
Thanks Chandellers for me the sidebar would form part of the body that is why it was not mentioned separately
For me, body and the sidebar are the most important factor of a webpage in terms of design, since it’s what most visitors look into right away and it’s also the reason why they have visited the page in the first place. how I wish I’m good with design, that’s the only thing that’s missing with me (and programming) to fully attain my ideal internet marketing business.
Thanks for dropping by my blog Gary 🙂
Regards,
Jason
No problem jason i strongly believe in networking so i always visit those that visit mine as a priority even if i don’t get the chance to visit as often as i would like as i am still full time employed at the moment. thanks for your comment Jason
Other than these 3 areas, nothing else remains to be known. Isn’t it bro ? To me header is the top most concern. I would like to get it in the best shape possible with some nice color combination and an appealing logo. Logo needs to be perfectly designed and must be placed exactly at the right place. And then comes the body or the content part. No doubt, its is the second most important section of your site. You need to have some original quality content over here. That makes the difference. And about footer, I am not that concerned but I know its important too. will work on it surely. Thanks again for such marvelous post. Keep it up 🙂
Well said Aswani our logo must be well place and research shows that about 95% of all website has their logo placed on the left hand side and again i am glad that you found the post marvellous.
I agree, the footer is also one of the most often overlooked places where webmasters should put more work into than most do. Do people generally find it a best practice to use the navigation in all 3 places? That is, a menu across the top, one on the right side in the body and one in the footer.
Thanks for your input it seems it is your first time here i do hope to have you around taking part in the debate here at lawmacs.com and last but not least a warm welcome here.
Great post Gary, I do money with my blog, so, in my view both header and body of the content are important if you want to monetize your blog. The header can be used to place some big banner while the content could become a strong landing page for your potential customers.
However, I agree, the footer is also one of the most often overlooked places. I don’t use it on my site, while I should give most importance to it.
The footer is one of the most over looked area of our Blog i often changed mine and at the moment i am testing a new one as we speak and as you mentioned Nicola the body should be the landing point for our potential customes.
Well, I always have an issue with headers, they are never what I want them to be, even when I have the right idea it simply doesn’t turn out right, so I keep changing them, which is bad, every time someone visits my blogs it seems like they are visiting a new blog, so I really have to work on that.
Content are is not an issue with me, but footer, I rarely use it, even though I know the benefits.
Hi Zarko your blog looks great as it is a few tweak here and there and you will be fine i have the similar problem like you sometimes my blog doesnot look the way i like it but we can’t change too often
Awesome post bro 🙂 header is the most important area and i need to work on my blog header.
You have covered all the parts in designing well.
Thanks Shabnam for your comments and valued support to my blog i like your site with a few more tweaks then you will get it to what you want .
Well very effective areas that are used for designing the blog.in my view both header, body of the content and footer are important if you want to monetize your blog.
what about my blog? please visit my blog, and tell me if there is something wrong with the placement of the header, main, and footer. We are sorry because I am still a beginner.
Your blog looks great and you have a wonderful theme keep doing what you are doing
I always think little of the footer part, but with your post, I am thinking differently about it now. Thanks for sharing this post!
And the sidebar also are the main foucs thing.
I understand total topic very meaningfully explain forphp programming , give more details about that point of PHP in future. Thanks
Great thinking about globalization issue . I appreciate with your blog fully,so give inform me when you have update your blog. Thanks
Good stuff here. I would definitely recommend this one. thanks for the post.
I never thought that footer design is also necessary and now I am sure that I will have to do some improvement in the footer design. Thanks for highlighting te major factos of the website design.
I always think little of the footer part, but with your post, I am thinking differently about it now. Thanks for sharing this post!
Great article. While content is king and the sidebar is often the main source of navigation I think a lot of people have been overlooking the opportunities available in the header and footer on blogs. I like what you have done in the footer here showing recent comments and popular posts.