A brief overview of web design functional elements

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A brief overview of web design functional elements

Posted on 7 September 2022

Introduction

As visual elements are important for any website, functional elements are equally integral. They help the site to rank high on search engines. Moreover, these are the ones that make sure that users have a great experience on your website. So, along with visual elements, it is a must to consider them while designing a website.

Navigation

How you design the navigation protocol of your website is extremely important, especially from the UX point of view. Navigation allows your users to use the website depending on their purpose at the website. For instance; if someone is present for the first time at your website then it allows them to discover what your site has to offer. If someone is back again it will help them to start from where they left off. Thus, navigation is integral to improving the visitor’s overall experience.

User interactions

There are many ways with which users interact with your website depending on the device they use. Some may click while others may scroll or tap, point is, when there are various ways with which a user can interact with your website then you need to make sure that viewers smoothly interact with your website. Some of the ways with which you can guarantee the smooth interaction of your website include;

● Don’t auto-play audio/video

● Don’t show pop-up

● Never underline the text unless it is clickable

Mobile friendly design

Animations

There are plenty of sources available on the net from where you can have the inspiration of animations which you can use in your design to make it more interactive. They engage your site visitors instantly. However, if you are a new designer then we suggest you keep your design as simple as possible to avoid developing conflict later on.

Speed

Nobody likes to wait more than a few seconds for a page to load. You can’t keep your visitor on your site if the waiting period is too long. No matter how good or beautiful your site is it can’t do well or rank high on google if the speed is not high. The top site mostly compresses the size of the data on the website this way they shorten the loading time. So, make sure to do your research thoroughly.

Site structure

The structure of the website is a major contributor that affects both; what would be the user experience of your website and how your site rank on google ranking- meaning it affects the search engine optimization process. It should be able to help your users to be on track without getting lost. If site structure would be poor then users can lost easily while navigating and if they can get lost, crawlers can get too, which can affect your site ranking.

Note: Crawlers (bot) search through your website and determine its functionality.

Conclusion

As a designer, you must know how to maintain a balance between both visual elements and functional elements. If only you can grasp the skill of taking both sides by side in your design, you will be able to make a design that is both aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly.