Articles on Website Design and Development.
Beauty is in the eye of the... Browser.
Ahh color. One person's red is anothers maroon. I'ts not so important that you choose a particular color,
but that the colors you choose are complimentary
You can tell a complimentary color when it does not compete with other colors for attention on the page.
The colors blend more than they contrast with each other and add to a page's sense of order and consistency.
Arriving at a this color balance is part art and part science.
Each web page is a dance of color, content and white-space. Conventional color guides would dictate that no
more than 4 colors be used per page, and I tend to agree with that yardstick for the most part.
The old adage; "Too much of anything isn't good for you" holds true in page design too. Keep your use of attention getting colors to an absolute minimum. Effectiveness drops very quickly on reuse, because part of what makes an item stand out is the fact that it 'stands out'...that is, its color is different from all others on the page.
Be consistant in color use from page to page. This conveys a sense of reliability and planning, and speaks to the owners' unwavering and thorough vision to its completion.
Factoid:
The most discerning of all the human senses is hearing. For instance, when listenning to an orchestra you can choose to listen to
any instrument you want to hear. The least discerning is vision, a bright white light will overwhelm the optic nerve and prevent you from seeing any other color.
The National Science Academy (1994)
If your page just has too many important items requiring high visibility, consider breaking it up
into several pages rather than bombard your visitor. They will thank you for it. (hopefully in sales)
To get some eye-color-sensitivity practice, do a google search on a subject you know little of,
say, "botany". Click on the top 5 sites that return in that list. Pay attention to your
reaction to color as each site appears...even before you've read a single word...you'll already be reacting
to the color of that page. Ask yourself why you reacted a certain way or not. Use this as a tool to help
you arrive at your own color scheme AND the balance of color to content. The more pleasing sites actually
use color quite sparingly. Discover for yourself. Try it. *smiles*