Good Web Design Feng Shui

Feng Shui simply stated is the harmonious flow of energy. Pronounced "foong shway", The basic principle of Feng Shui is simplicity. Removing everything that stops the natural flow of chi (life force, energy, particles) into our lives to produce more harmony and balance.

The principles of Feng Shui can be applied to all areas of life including relationships, business, web sites, personal finances, and even your closet since there's nothing hidden from the natural flow of energy. You can slow it down, attract or repel it, but you can't stop it. It's not magic and in spite of what you may have read about Feng Shui, you probably won't win the lottery just by placing a three legged frog with a coin in it's mouth near your front door. <g> In fact, by diving right in to Feng Shui without a good understanding of how chi works, you could actually increase the amount of negative energy that you want to dispel. What do I mean by that?

The universal law of attraction states that 'like attracts like', so if you have piles of clutter around you (or on your web site) or you are surrounded by things that no longer serve you or that you don't like, you will attract more of the same until you do something to change it. By removing things in your life (or on your web site) that serve no purpose, and only keeping those things that serve you well and that you absolutely love, you are going to attract more of the same. The flow of energy is both receptive and aggressive (Yin and Yang) and when this flow is out of balance, there is disharmony.

How does this apply to web design, you ask... good question. If you've ever been to a web site where the colors hurt your eyes, the music offends your ears or you have a frustrating experience trying to find what you're looking for, it's probably because the site does not have a good flow of information that is pleasing to your senses. Web designers call it 'user-centered design' and it's the way content is organized so the user can intuitively find it without having to fight their way through or to stop and think about it.

You can tell when a site is out of balance, probably in more than one area, and not just in the layout or the graphics, but in the simple, logical order that you come to expect from the internet by visiting sites with good standards in web design and information architecture.

Sites with good Feng Shui typically have:

1) the logo in the top left corner and it's usually linked to the home page or a home link is provided on all pages,

2) the primary navigation is across the top or down the left side of the pages. If buttons are used for primary navigation, text links are duplicated at the bottom of each page, not only for better search engine results but so the user doesn't have to scroll back up to the top of the page to continue,

3) there is a visual balance on most pages of curves and corners with a pleasing color scheme,

4) headings are larger than content text and information is concise for skimming the page while providing the user with an option for more information if desired,

5) animation and ads are not forced on the visitor but are offered as a choice,

6) font is resizable in the browser, alt text is provided on images and the site is usable for people with disabilities and/or older browsers,

7) fresh content is added on a regular basis... weeding out or archiving out of date information to add new or more up to date information. This not only prevents 'web clutter', but tells your users that you want their visit to be useful,

8) graphics have been compressed in byte size making them load quickly. Time is the main factor in web design. The whole purpose of database-driven web sites is to load the information quickly off the server instead of depending on slower browser version dependent rendering,

You can probably think of many more ways to improve the flow of energy on your web site. There is room for improvement on every site and the best way to find out is to ask your visitor's opinions of what they like. After all, if you didn't build your site for your user's experience, then why did you build it?