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Andrew Lenti
Front End Web Development Techdegree Student 7,193 PointsOptimising space with sexy styles
Hello Treehouse. I have been a member here for a while with the strict objective of being more effective when working with my team in developing web-based software. Here I am no level 4 of building front end web applications tech degree and I am enjoying the real-life benefits this community is bringing to my day-to-day work. In general I would like to pose a question. The software I am building is very rich in informaton and often I am finding myself losing overall style to the user interface due to information being overcrowded. Hundreds of hours have been dedicated brainstorming with my team on design but in many cases, removing information is not an option and I need to optimise my solutions.
That being said, firstly, what best practices in font selection may help me? Are there any special fonts (free or for payment) that would help me reduce the size of my fonts and create more space on my screen without forcing our users to hurt their eyes?
Also, are there design forums where artisan graphic designers share their experience to better design interface and would be available to help me.
These are just my initial questions. Any feedback from this community would be very welcome. Cheers, Andrew
1 Answer
Andrew Lenti
Front End Web Development Techdegree Student 7,193 PointsThanks alot Rebecca Riley . Thats a big help and inspirational
Rebecca Riley
Courses Plus Student 2,265 PointsRebecca Riley
Courses Plus Student 2,265 PointsFor fonts, the only best practice is really making it readable. You can choose a serif for titles for more of a decorative flair, and then use a sans-serif font for the body. Typically, most websites stick to 1 or 2 fonts for the entire site, but they can style the font differently (italic, bold, etc.) to help create separation. A number of fonts also include different weights like Light or Thin, Medium or Regular, Bold, Extra Bold, and so on - for example, a popular Google Font like Roboto and Open Sans have these weights.
As for saving space - there is a myth that users don't like to scroll. That was because mice didn't have scroll wheel way back when and it was hard to scroll, but now, it's hard to find a mouse without a scroll wheel or scroll functionality, and the keyboard makes it easy to tab through fields. On mobile devices, it's as easy as a touch or flick. So don't feel like you need to save space to prevent scrolling. Just make sure your designs are responsive and scale nicely, that way you aren't overwhelming the users either with so much information in every inch of the screen. It's hard to give more advice without knowing more, but if you have a large form, consider breaking it down into steps that can be moved through in a more wizard like process. If you have radio buttons, consider drop-downs.
For sharing your designs, Dribbble and Behance are popular but are less forum based and more for portfolio or showing off your work - however it's really good for inspiration. There are a couple of Slack Teams (free to download and usually free to join a team) that are focused on design that are more forum based, but they can be hit or miss if anyone responds to your request. Design Talks and Designer Unites are specifically for designers, but you can also try other technical teams that will sometimes have a design channel for design support.