9 Tips on Designing Your Own (Good Looking) Website by Astrid Paramita
I won’t kid you and say something like: “You could start from knowing nothing about web design and then make an awesome looking website in 24 hours.” As writers, we all know it takes time to learn a craft and produce a good result. Just like writing a novel isn’t just about typing the words, making a good website isn't about how fast you could type the code. The design takes time, making sure it looks good, readable, and serve your purpose.
That being said, it’s not impossible to build and design your own site. It does help if you have an eye for designing things, some programming skills would also be useful. But there are tools and resources to help you and it’s really easier to do this now than back in the days. These are my tips as a designer and a writer to get you started.
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[/caption]1. Set aside a good amount of time
It’s not something you could do in one afternoon. Or a weekend. A good design takes time to create and develop, just like a good book. You’d need time to learn the basics of building a website, designing and planning the content, and some troubleshooting after you’re finished with the site.
2. Start looking at websites with a designer’s perspective
Just like a writer should read plenty of books, when you design a website, you should look at other sites. Start by paying attention to the sites you visit often. Blog sites, author’s sites, news sites, social networking sites, even your favorite restaurant sites. Try to see it
[caption id="attachment_5605" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="www.jkrowling.com/en"]
[/caption]not just as a reader, but have a look at the elements. The layout, colors, what kind of contents they put in there, and how it all makes you feel.
3. Take notice of website trends
“Why should I even care about trends? I’m a writer, and there’re no trends when it comes to book!” Unfortunately, there are trends in websites. Most likely what’s cool five years ago would be obsolete now. Just think of it like fashion with its style and color. To start with, here’ some good web design trends article for 2011 and 2010. If you want to see more samples, have a look at books like Web Design Index or Web Designer’s Idea Book
4. Learn some basic technical skills
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[/caption]It’s very important to know the basic things about websites, like what it means by a web address, how you could get it, what’s a web page, etc. There are already plenty of how-to step by step guide on the web (a simple googling would do). Also you might want to find a HTML/CSS guide as a reference. The W3C.org site is a good starting point. You don’t have to master the HTML/CSS part, just make sure you have the link handy so you could look it up if you encountered problems.
5. Learn about the design elements
This is the part where no software could really help you. Software could help for layout templates, good base colors, and things like nice buttons. But since you will have the final say, it's better to know a little bit about colors and typography. Here you could find a short
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[/caption]description on colors (scroll down). Kuler is a good website if you need help choosing a color scheme. This is a short crash course on typography. If all of the learning sounds quite daunting to you, try a video-based tutorial like lynda.com (not free, but well worth the price)
6. Use a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) Editor for creating the website
A good WYSIWYG editor means you don't have to deal with much of the codes. Dreamweaver is good, but it isn't cheap. There are some other cheaper and free options
around, but I haven’t tried them out so I'm really sorry couldn’t really recommend anything
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[/caption]here.
7. Inject your personality (or your book) into the site
This would help making your website different from other sites. The aim is for people to be able to tell that it’s your site because it shows your personality or your genre. Putting image is the easiest way to achieve this. Even if you're a writer and you're sure people would love to read your stories online, image is still the way to go for a distinctive first impression and catching reader’s attention. A good image would help the reader know the content of your website. Why else would you think the #amwriting blog has a typewriter image on their logo?
8. Send the right message
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[/caption]Remember what I said about authors’ websites and how color, image, and typography influence the way you see thing? Now have a look at the websites I put in this post. Notice the difference between Jen K Blom (middle grade), JK Rowling (children/YA fantasy), Anne Fortier (romance), Sophie Kinsella (chick lit), Terry Pratchett’s (fantasy), Neil Gaiman (fantasy/horror/science fiction), and Ransom Riggs (YA Fantasy). It isn't a fixed rule, but if your book is about historical romance, you probably shouldn't have done your site in a metallic grey futuristic theme.
9. Opt for a blog instead and pick an awesome looking blog theme
Blogging platform like Wordpress has plenty of great themes. Choosing and using theme are easier than starting from scratch. It's even the best way to go as a beginner. You benefit
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[/caption]from someone else's expertise, and you could get it (mostly) for free. The downside of a theme is you might find another site that looked just like yours. Not to worry, as you grow more confident with your design skill, you could modify the theme and make it more personal. Or pay a little more for an easily customizable theme.
If all of these fail or you still don’t feel confident enough, then hire a web designer. You could still use what you have learned to help you choose a web designer that could help you create the website of your dreams.
PS: Bragging rights - I designed Jen K Blom's website.
