Effective use of White space (under development)

Effective page formatting can greatly increase readability and appeal. Adding white space is just one method -- Workshop materials prepared by shipscript

Breaking up your Page

A page should not run on and on. A page is easier to navigate if it is broken into groups of ideas, or sections with headings. Those sections should then contain paragraphs that are smaller visual blocks. That way viewers can skip around to the areas that most interest them. Web visitors do not normally sit down and read a whole page, they tend to skim. So use meaningful titles to pull them into relevant sections.

A page can be broken with titles, horizontal divider lines, photos, tables, or colored sections. However, be careful that there is useful content between those dividers. The only thing worse than a page that runs on and on is a page that is diced up into unrelated little bits that create a scattered mess. This interestingly divided page has lots of white space and uses images, titles and lines to denote sections.



Tip: One of the easiest ways to break up a page is to use titles to organize your paragraphs, as we have done with the workshop series.

Shape up your text

In advertising, white space is king. White space doesn't have to be white, it is just that blank space around your text. There should be a margin of empty space all around your page and text. Writing in paragraphs, and leaving gaps between blocks of text, provides a resting point that allows the reader to absorb what has been written before continuing to the next idea. Paragraphs should be short and contain a complete idea.

Paragraphs that are left-aligned (even on the left, ragged on the right) or fully justified (even on both the left and right) are far easier to read and comprehend. Our well-trained brains have difficulty reading text that is ragged on the left, as is the case with centered text or right-aligned text, and comprehension slows down. That is why only headings and small blurbs should be centered. Another problem is text that is too wide. If the eye cannot pan the text without moving the head, the text is too wide, and the reader can lose their place on the line. The solution is to bump up the text size, or decrease the page width, or create columns of text (as in magazines and newspapers).

The Design Basics Workshop Series

Summary  - The 10 Design Basics for a Better ME page
Design Basics 1  - Getting the most from Color
Design Basics 2  - Using Fonts
Design Basics 3  - Effective use of White space
Design Basics 4  - Using Photos
Design Basics 5  - Backgrounds and Borders
Design Basics 6  - Multimedia
Design Basics 7  - Top 10 Common Mistakes

 

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