The word anatomy automatically pre-supposes the idea of balance. The seesaw operates on the principle of physical balance. Similarly, we can extend this concept to layout design. A layout is said to be balanced when the elements on both of its sides are said to have equal weight. Balance can be symmetrical or asymmetrical. When the elements on either side of the axis line are the same the layout is said to be symmetrically balanced. This kind of symmetry can be used in website layouts by centering content or balancing it between columns. Other forms of formal symmetry are bilateral symmetry which exists when a composition is balanced on more than one axis and radial symmetry which occurs when elements are equally spaced around a central point.

Asymmetrical balance, on the other hand ranks high in popularity and is used much more widely for website design. An example of an asymmetrical website would be most websites which are built around two columns where the larger column is usually very light in color and serves as good contrast for the text and the main content. The smaller column is darker, has a border and stands out to create a balance in the layout.

Unity is one of the important factors to be considered in good website design. The whole is greater than its parts – that in a nutshell sums up the concept of unity. The elements in an unified design will vibe and interact with one another. They are not identifiable as separate pieces but rather act as a whole. Proximity and repetition are popular approaches to achieve unity within a layout. Objects, when placed together will create a focal point that will attract the eye. A pride of lions create a strong visual impact rather than a lone lion roaming the savannah. Similarly, repetition of colors, shapes, textures or similar objects create a visual synergy and cohesiveness that holds the viewer’s attention. Similarly, unity in text can be created by a bulleted list where the bullet that precedes each item in the list is a visual indicator that the bulleted items constitute only parts of a whole. Also, the direct center of a composition is the point at which users will look first and this is always the strongest location for laying emphasis. An element which lies far away from the center has the least chance of being noticed first.

Other important features to be kept in mind when designing a good website are Continuance, Isolation, Contrast and Proportion. When the eye starts moving in one direction it tends to continue along that path until a more dominant feature comes along. Continuance is often used to unify a layout where different elements on a web page form a vertical line down the left side of a page before any styling is applied. Isolation will make an element stand out from its surroundings and thereby command attention.

Defined as the juxtaposition of dissimilar graphic elements contrast is commonly used to create emphasis within a layout. The greater the contrast between a graphic element and its surroundings the greater it will stand out. Differences in color, size, shape and texture can go a long way in creating contrast. A good website can also make eye-catching use of proportion. Proportion has everything to do with the scale of objects. If we place an object in an environment that is of larger or smaller scale than the object itself, that object will appear larger or smaller than it does in real life. This difference in proportion will draw the customer’s attention as the object will seem out of place in that context.

Finally a word about screen resolution. A debate rages as to whether sites should be designed in such a way that people using a monitor resolution of 800 x 600 pixels can see the entire width of the content area when their browsers are in full-screen mode. We need to remember that the most important factor in web design is the end user. If the end user is the computer savvy web professional and people who are well-versed with the latest computer equipment and high resolutions, it maybe rational to stretch the design envelope to create designs wider than 800 pixels. The objective however is to prevent users from having to scroll from left to right in order to read content.

A fine balance of aesthetics and functionality – that’s what a good website should have. Yes it should be both informative and visually interesting – to hold the surfer’s attention. In order to be able to hold a customer it becomes important to maximize both beauty and brains.

Web design is essentially communicative in nature and must put across clearly the seller’s message – a beautiful website that does not speak for its products or services is not usable and therefore not functional in the long run. In fact a good website is a single cohesive unit which combines its visual elements and functionality into a comprehensive whole.

A website should attract both by content and design – the design should complement the content and act as the bridge between the user and the information. Graphics, colorful or otherwise should lead the eye back to the information without hampering the readability or the organization of the page.

The website design should also facilitate easy navigation with the main navigation block being placed in a way that makes it clearly visible. Each link should also be provided with a descriptive title for better understanding of the user. Secondary navigation should consist of search fields and outgoing links which however, should not be dominant features of the page. Also, a good website should have a coherent theme which holds the design together.

The arrangement of words on the webpage also matters. The magnetic poetry of words can be graphically represented in components or blocks of the web page. Every web page should ideally have a container which could be in the form of the body tag of the page, a division tag or a table – the container should contain the contents of the page. The width of the container could be variable in that it could expand to fill the width of the browser window or remain fixed so that the content is of the same width irrespective of the window size.

The identity block is as important as the content block which should highlight the company logo or name and ideally place them on the top of each page of the website. The objective of the identity block is to increase brand recognition. The site must also have an easy navigation system. The navigable items should preferably be placed near the top of the layout.

The focal point of design should be the main content block. It is only a matter of seconds before a visitor will enter and leave your website. Therefore, more often than not, content should take precedence over everything else on a website. The footer is to be found at the bottom of the page and contains important information pertaining to copyright, contact and legal information. Ideally, the footer should separate the end content from the bottom of the browser giving users the indication that they are at the bottom of the page.

Having white or empty space on the website is equally important as graphics and illustration. Whitespace is what makes a design breathe in that it helps the eye to glide around a page and makes for balance and unity.

A good website should also follow essential rules of the grid. The grid is all about proportion. A sophisticated use of grids always accompanies good graphic design. The concept of dividing the elements of a composition into a distinct mathematical pattern is as old as the days of Pythagoras. The golden ratio or divine proportion was a pattern that occurred so often in nature that it was given this name by Pythagoras and his school. The application of this divine ratio to graphic design postulates that generally compositions that are divided by lines which are proportionate to the golden or divine ratio are aesthetically superior. In that sense, this divine proportion gives us logical guidelines for the design of layouts that are visually appealing.

If we simplify the golden ratio we arrive at the Rule of Thirds which states that a line that is bisected by the golden ratio gets divided into two sections one of which is approximately twice the size of the other. If we divide our layout into thirds we get a simple grid work in place where we can lay out the various elements of our composition. That in turn can lead to a well structured web page anatomy.