Color and Your Website, Part 1 of 2

I have been surfing the net, which I often do, and have come across some pages that you either need sunglasses on to look at, or are so dark with tiny fonts that these eyes, at least, cant read them. Do you know the kind of site I mean? I think the one that bugs me personally the most is the black page with the dark red font. Recently I visited a site like this. The woman wrote beautiful poetry, but one couldnt read it unless you ran your mouse across it. I gave up and surfed off into the world wide web.

Or, what about a page where colors seem to fade into each other making text impossible to read? Why on earth would anyone present themselves in this way? Ones first impression when visiting a website is a lasting one; your web site is your presence to the world wide web. Remember: if your site is not pleasing to the vistor, they only have to click away to another site.

Big business has been aware of color and its effects on people for a long time. Fast food restrauants often use red to hurry the people through. Colors are closely connected with emotion and quite often your vistors will have an immeditate emotional reaction to your site which will decided whether or not they stay and look around for a while or quickly click away. Since colors are so closely connected with emotions, you can use them to your advantage in advertising and when you create your site.

We all already know a lot about color whether we whether we realize it or not. I saw red! Instant anger. Some shades of red also convey passion. I saw green! What do you mean by that? Were you envious? Other shades of green give one a feeling of growth, nature. Blue is usually considered a cool color, but certain shades are very calming and reassuring. Yellow is usually a happy color, very warm. Black denotes fear and depression; white, purity and innocence.

Now that you realize how much you know about color, why not use it to your advantage when creating a website? Think about what you are saying to your visitors with the colors you use. At least for your website, image *is* everything. That first impression matters more than anything else on your site. For if a visitor does not linger long enough to read your fantastic offer, you cant make the sale.

About the Author

Judi Singleton is the webmistress of Jassmine.com and Gotojassminesitenow.com and the owner of Jassmines Journal http://www.gotojassminesitenow.com/journal. She was a counselor for 20 years. You can receive her inspirational newsletter Jassmines Journal by sending an email to today jassminejournal-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

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