Layout website creation: keep this in mind

August 22, 2022

A good layout of your website ensures that more visitors can find what they are looking for. A logical website layout is especially important for visitors who have trouble seeing, operating or understanding your site. So when building your digitally accessible website, think extra about a logical structure and layout of your website.

Find something faster through logical website layout

You obviously want your website to be easy to find and successful. Therefore, it is important that visitors can quickly find (or do) what they come to your website for. This will increase conversion rates and give you more satisfied visitors.

Reading information, buying a product or service, downloading a white paper or contacting you. Every company or organisation has different website conversion goals. And for one company, the conversion is only successful when money is made, while for another, receiving an email is already a nice 'end goal'.

Visitors often "scan" a page first to get an impression of what to expect. A quick look over the whole page is done first, and only then is a decision made as to whether the content is interesting and relevant enough to read in full.

You get a logical layout of a website by:

A clear structure of your main navigation
A clear structure of texts on your pages
Avoid confusion: make sure the visitor gets what he expects

Tips for a clear website structure

Have you yet to create your website or are you about to start redesigning your site? Then think carefully beforehand about what you want to say on your site. And don't forget your conversion goals: what do you want to entice your visitor to do?

Make a good plan for the structure of your website. Think of this as a kind of blueprint for your site. Make an overview of all the pages and determine what the relationship between them is. The following tips will help you with a good website layout.

1. Don't go crazy: don't deviate from the standard format

The first is also the easiest tip. And OK, to be perfectly honest... of course, there are always exceptions to this. But sticking to a layout that visitors expect and recognise helps a lot. That doesn't mean your website has to be boring. Even within that standard layout, there are lots of possibilities.

What to think about when creating a standard website layout:

Top left of your logo with a link to the homepage
Main navigation to the right of the logo or directly below it
Possibly a second (extra) navigation with less important items in the top right
Also, the search function should preferably be placed in the top right
Below that starts your main content, the most important part of your page
Below that you have another "footer" with your contact details and extra links to, for example:
- General terms and conditions
- Privacy statement
- Accessibility statement
- Social media

2. Make navigation simple and quick

The main navigation on your website helps visitors to quickly see what they can find on your website and where they need to be somewhere. Therefore, make sure you have clear menu names. Visitors have no desire to navigate through your website like a scavenger hunt. They should be able to do this almost automatically: "click, click and through!". If the main menu is not immediately understandable, visitors get irritated and click away.

Speed matters. Visitors don't want to think. Click, click and through again. Or away. To the competitor if you're unlucky.
Bart Pluijms
web designer & digital accessibility specialist

Ideally, you should place the main menu directly on the screen. So don't hide it behind a so-called "hamburger menu" that you have to unfold first. This makes the layout of your website less clear, at least at a glance. Then again, on mobile or tablet, a hamburger menu is common.

3. Add a sitemap

A clear sitemap helps visitors to quickly see what's on your website. The sitemap is therefore also one of the techniques for fulfilling success criterion 2.4.5 "Multiple ways".

You create this sitemap yourself, but you can also ask your website builder to create the sitemap automatically.

4. Clear structure of your texts

You make reading a page interesting by alternating blocks of text (paragraphs), headings and lists. Images and videos also provide variety while reading. Don't make paragraphs and sentences too long and don't use too many difficult words. The text is then better understood, it is easier to read and the content "sticks" with the visitor for longer. This is important for people who have difficulty reading. Think about:

Low literacy
Dyslexia
Learning problems
Concentration problems

5. Don't overcharge the visitor

Can visitors contact you via a form? Or can they purchase a product or service from an online shop? Then don't overask the visitor. Your form contains only the minimum fields you need to help the visitor further. Sometimes two fields for a name and e-mail address are enough to welcome the visitor as a customer for years to come.

Bonus tip: Don't make the phone number field in forms mandatory. Not all your visitors can call, for example because they are deaf or because they use a voice computer.

6. One topic per page

Each page discusses only one topic and therefore ultimately has only one purpose. This not only helps your visitor, but is also important for findability. After all, Digital accessibility and SEO have many similarities.

Divide all information over several pages and make sure there is a clear relationship between them. By linking internally, you guide your visitor through your website in a natural way. Make sure you use clear link texts so that the purpose of the link is clear at once. You can group your content by topic. SEO specialists also call this a content cluster.

7. Use "skiplinks"

Skiplinks allow visitors who are keyboard-dependent, for example because they are blind, to quickly jump to the most important information on the page. Repeating blocks such as the main navigation can be skipped. This saves very frequent keyboard "tabbing". In other words: happier visitors.

Why is website layout important for accessibility?

Websites that have a logical structure are important for many visitors, for example:

Visitors with cognitive or learning difficulties
Content can be found more quickly and it is also easier to recognise what is important. Disappointments and confusion are also avoided more quickly this way.
Visitors using pre-reading software
Skipping repetitive blocks takes you straight to the most important information. Navigating between items on the page also saves a lot of time.
Keyboard users
Many users of assistive software or hardware use the keyboard. If the website is laid out logically, navigation is much easier.
Visitors with visual impairments
Also with reduced vision, everything becomes clearer and you get less confusion if the website layout is logical.
Visitors who only view the main content
Some visitors have software that only shows the main content. This helps people with cognitive disabilities, for example, to focus better on the main information.

About 25% of the Dutch experience some or regular problems when using the internet. So with an accessible website, you can reach many more people. Curious how many visitors you are missing now? Calculate it now!

How many visitors are you missing out on?

Get a new design checked quickly!

Are you having a new website created and have you received your initial design? Or are you the web designer of a accessible website yourself? Then get the design checked by Cardan Technobility's specialists as soon as possible.

The earlier you get involved with digital accessibility, the better. Of course, that starts with accessible design. Then have the design checked by us. Even during the design phase, we can spot and thus prevent many accessibility problems. We also warn you of potential technical problems. You will receive an extensive report with tips on how to make your design more accessible and advice to give to the web builder (programmer).

Curious? Please contact us for the possibilities.