Spring is here! Time for spring cleaning! No matter what type of website you have, you need to cut the fluff, keep it simple, and every once in a while do a nice Spring clean! Anything that doesn’t have a purpose needs to be nada! Gone!
So, here are three fun ways to start spring cleaning your site, and getting rid of unnecessary things.
Sectum Sempra! Translated as ‘slice out sections’ 5 sections max Trash old fashioned columns Make sure Navigation is in the same visual section as the page heading.
Have NO more then 5 main visual sections in your website. If you can pull off 3 or 4, all the more power to you. What I mean by this is sections, like headers, footers, and body. All sites generally need a header, footer, and body section. If you can get away with no side columns then do it. This is the twenty first century people! We don’t need old roman columns to hold up our work anymore. Go Hogwarts style where no one can see the architecture of the grand hall, they are just impressed with the beauty of it. Those columns tend to just fill up with fluff and distractions from the main content of your site, anyway. So, scrap ‘em. Granted, if you have a lot of content than they are necessary, but if not, if this is a simple portfolio or blog site, I repeat: Scrap ‘em.
Columns are out, panels are in.
The other problem I see with using too many sections on a site is the break up of the header and the navigation bar. Have you ever had to search for the navigation bar? Super annoying!!! If the navigation is tucked into its own space at the very top of a page, or on the side camouflaged in with all the other menus it can be very frustrating for users to find it at a glance. Because they can’t. Keep your navigation in a visual section with the big bold header and it will never be hard to find. It is like attaching a keychain to your key so you can find it. You don’t necessarily want to emphasize the key but you want to know where it is at a quick glance in your bag, so you can find it when you need it.
Ninja Navigation
2) Reorganize the bookshelves- Consolidate Navigation Options Evaluate and reorganize site map Simplify tabs in navigation
If your website has been up for a while or even if you are just starting out, be sure to pay special attention to the organization of your site. Organize your content and simplify the levels within it. Using some sort of organizational flow chart can be really helpful for this. I am sure you have heard of the three click rule. Users don’t want to go more then three clicks to find what they want. Two clicks is even better. Using a hierarchy chart for your content and simplifying it to the point where there are only three levels will help you accomplish this perfect amount of click-age in your site. This is one of the best ways to clean up your website and make it user friendly.
Simplify your navigation. Have you ever gone to a website and there were so many buttons and options that you didn’t know what to push first? Yes, well, it’s annoying isn’t it? As human beings we like to have some sense of control over where we are going and what we are doing, right? So, simplify the tabs on your website and the users unconsciously be eternally grateful.
The best way to do this is to simplify your menu, and make sure there is consistency across all your web pages. When I was creating my personal portfolio website I asked many of my teachers for advice. My typography teacher mentioned not using more than four options in my navigation bar because the more simple I make it, the easier it will be for people who come to my site to find exactly what they are looking for. This runs true for a lot of websites. The more simple your menu options are, the easier it is to find things.
3) Clear out unwanted Critters- buttons, obsolete photos… Delete outdated things Organize Archives Evict strange Creatures
If your site has been running for a while you are sure to have noticed what people like/don’t like, what things are clicked on/not clicked on, and what things appreciated/not appreciated. Also you are sure to see elements that when you created the site you thought were cool, but now are not. Go ahead, clear them out. While you are at it clean up your links, make sure you don’t have any strange pages that are just floating around somewhere (like trolls in the dungeon). If you have a blog or site that gets updates frequently add an archive and again cut out any random things that no one will want or that don’t fit with the direction of your website.
Good luck with your spring cleaning! Have any other tips? Let us know in the comments.
