Why Choosing a Colour is Important for Web Design
In web design why choosing colours and the use of colour from a users point of view. How important it is to find the right colours for your site.
This article explores the use of colour in
websites from the user’s point of view. It discusses effects of mood and
perception from a user as well as the effects of eye fatigue when faced with
certain colours. It also covers the effects of dithering and advice on browser
safe palates.
As everyone knows colour can be a massive
influence on mood and perception when a visitor first sees a website or indeed
a billboard, movie trailer or room. Choosing the right colours for your website
is crucial and if you are not careful you can easily drive visitors away just
by choosing the wrong ones.
A big obstacle in choosing the right colour
for your site is the fact that most web browsers can only see 256 colours, a
further problem is that these browsers don’t even have this selection
standardised and there is only a common range of 216 web safe colours. It is
always recommended that all aspects of your design are inside the 216 colour
palate, failure to do so can end up with images and text on your site
dithering.
Dithering is a process us by browsers (and
other programs) to create colours that don’t exist in their own palates. They
do this by generating lots of tiny pixel points of colours they can render
close together so that from a distance it appears to be a different colour.
While this can be successful, it can also cause images to be speckled or
distorted. Obviously you need to avoid this wherever possible and remember one
important thing, just because your screen renders it ok does not mean every screen does.
Another reason you should be careful of the
colours you choose for your websites is that excessive use of certain colours
causes eye fatigue. While this is hardly the most serious of affiliations it’s
something you should strongly avoid giving your users. Let’s face it there are
too many reasons someone would leave your site already, we don’t want to give
them more.
Yellow and red are the biggest culprits for
causing eye fatigue, they are much more intrusive (hence their use in warning
and caution signs) and extended periods of looking at these colours the cones
that detect these specific colours become fatigued and you stop seeing it as
strongly. This can also bring on headaches and strain.
Only use these colours to highlight areas
and even then do not use them on large areas of the site. It is also wise to separate text out into
smaller blocks for the same reasons. This may mean you slightly breech grammar
guidelines with too many paragraphs but it will be easier to read and that’s
simply more important.
Colour also has an effect psychologically.
There are far too many reasons and effects to cover in just one short article
but I will outline the basics as much as possible. Cool colours such as blues
or greens have a soothing effect on users but can also set a negative mood or
slow response. Warmer colours such as oranges and gold’s have a positive and
vibrant effect but can be overwhelming especially if this is not what the user
is looking for.
Good luck with the development of your next
website and make sure you take note of how much influence colour can have on a
site , if you want more information on website design and development why not
speak to a professional from Soula Web Design UK.
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Tags: affiliations, billboard, choosing colours, colour palate, eye fatigue, failure, images, massive influence, movie trailer, obstacle, palates, perception, point of view, standardised, web design
