Whatever your reason is for designing a “dark” website – you’re tired of light backgrounds, your client told you to do it or you have a deep seated anger problem, there are a few things to keep in mind during the design process.  Dark websites can be hard on the eyes, especially if the dark is mixed up with large pieces of light.  In fact, if you don’t know what you’re doing we highly suggest hiring a professional web design agency Manchester to either guide you through it or do the work for you.  If you’re still intent on going it alone, here are a few tips:

Font Selection

Most dark websites have a black background and white font.  This is all well and good but you need to make sure that your readers can actually read your text.  When designing a dark website, you will be advised by your web designer Manchester to use serif fonts rather than sans serif fonts.  Why?  Well to put it simply, serif fonts tend to be brighter on the screen.  Sans serif fonts tend to appear in muted colours and are incredibly hard to read.

Muted Headers

It’s a known fact that brick and mortar stores often have a gap between the entrance to their store and their first rows of merchandise.  Why?  To give the customers eyes time to adjust from the bright sun to the dimly lit store atmosphere.  It works in the offline world and you should be thinking about doing the same online too.  Most websites are bright and going from one to the other within seconds can really hurt your eyes… try it if you like.  This is why, if you are planning on designing a dark website, you should include a muted header.  A dark design with a muted header gives a customer’s eyes time to focus… and limits the pain.

Colour Selection

Any good web design agency Manchester will tell you that an attractive website will be a popular one; and the same rings true for dark websites.  Although intense colour schemes can be pulled off with light websites, this is not the case for dark websites; instead simple colour schemes work better.  On a dark website, your eyes are more sensitive to colour variations and by using this to your advantage you can use colour to encourage your customer to focus on certain areas of your site.  Stick to one colour though unless you want to confuse your readers.

Designing a dark website can be challenging, although when done correctly it is a great way to set your site apart from others.  If you do struggle with the design process, contact a web designer Manchester – they will help you to harness the power of the dark side and guide you along the way.