Why Choosing a Colour is Important for Web Design

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.