There’s a lot of confusion and misunderstanding surrounding “Web 2.0″ design.

Web design to “Web 2.0″ principles is easy.

Web 2.0 design is all about the “S” word…Simplicity.

KISS Principle

In the old days we called it the “KISS Principle”…”Keep It Simple, Stupid”.

And since “everything old is new again”, the KISS Principle is back in style.

Big, bold, clean and simple are the guide words for today’s Internet sites.

A classic example of Web 2.0 in action… the Apple website.

The moment the home page loads, which is lightning fast (another Web 2.0 principle), it is immediately clear where you are. Clean, simple, with  easy and obvious navigation.

And you can’t get much more “bold”, or much more “Web 2.0″, than the Apple site.

When considering designs for your site, you would do well to compare your site to Apple’s (and I’m not an Apple fan…I keep telling my Mac friend, “there are good reasons why Mac still only has 5% of the computer market” ).

 ”Above the Fold”

The “8 Second Rule”…After your page loads, you have 8 seconds to convince a new visitor to stay and check you out.

If you don’t clearly tell a visitor what your site is about AND give them at least one compelling reason to stay and check you out…they’re gone.

8 seconds isn’t enough time scroll down the page or play a video.

Therefore, your “above the fold” real estate is critical to your site’s success.

Don’t waste it.

 Simple Navigation

Obvious and simple navigation. Again, see the Apple website for an example.

Bold Colors

Colors should be bold, and no more than 3 colors on a page (black and white are not colors in this sense).

Fonts

Arial and Verdana are best for easy readability.

Arial is ideal for titles, but also works well for text.

Verdana should only be used for text.

Avoid all other font styles if you want your text to be easy to read. And if you don’t care if people read your text…why did you write it and put it on your site?

One of the easiest and best ways to improve readability is to increase the font size. I don’t know who said that 6 pt fonts are “easy to read”, but they’re WRONG.

10 pt should be the absolute minimum for ANY text on your site. And 12 pt is better for blocks of text, especially if you want people over the age of 35 to be able to easy it.

Use bold sparingly. The general rule is that if a person only scans your page and reads the bold items, they should still have the vital information about that page.

SUMMARY

Web 2.0 design isn’t hard, if you remember to follow the “KISS Principle”.

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