WordPress Tips

The front page preceded the home page by several hundred years. From grid systems and the Gutenberg Principle to above the fold, newspaper design and layout can teach us a lot about effective WordPress website design.

Create a WordPress Website with Proven Design Techniques

WordPress website technology is always advancing. Developers have a wide array of features they can use. Innovation is good. At the same time, tried and true design techniques work for a reason. The home page is really your front page. Let’s take a look at the design principles.

Custom Web Design and Newspaper Layouts

When you compare custom web design to newspaper layouts, the overlaps are very apparent. Many WordPress website design best practices lead directly back to newspaper design. You want your WordPress website to engage your visitors and come back repeatedly. Newspapers have been perfecting this strategy for centuries. It’s important to understand how newspaper design works, and why it works. The foundation is simplicity, which WordPress developers should embrace.

Your WordPress Website Home Page is Your Front Page

The first newspaper ever was printed in Rome around 59 B.C.E. However, the first weekly printed newspaper dates to 1605 in Antwerp. So, we have at least 400 years of fine tuning newspaper design. This is an art form since content changes daily, so the rules need to be flexible enough to meet that demand. In any given modern newspaper, 95% of the content changes daily. What you don’t see is the engineering of the content to shape it for print.

This is the framework and unspoken rules to consider as you create your WordPress website. They relate to form and how readers process information. The similarities to custom web design will be clear. Let’s take a look at the first principle: above the fold.

Your WordPress Developer and Above the Fold

Most likely, your WordPress developer has heard of above the fold. The phrase refers to the content a visitor first sees when they land on a web page. In actuality, it is an old newspaper term that dates back centuries. Newspapers are folded in half, so the phrase above the fold means the content that is visible literally above the fold. It’s the first thing readers see, and it is key to first impressions. It is also a primary means of marketing that newspaper and prompting the consumer to purchase the paper.

The space above the fold is always the lead story, the most important piece of news in the whole paper. It must hook the reader immediately. Typically, it will be a big headline, striking photography, and key information that relates to most people. However, there is no hard-line rule. Newspapers layout whatever catches people’s attention while remaining true to facts.

Design Rules Apply to WordPress Websites

The same design rule applies to WordPress websites and custom web design, which explains how the terminology carried over from newspapers to web development. Above the fold in custom web design means what is displayed online before a visitor scrolls down. It answers the question – what is the most important thing a visitor should know? This is particularly important to your home page, but the principle applies to every page.

According to a study of 25 million searches recently, above the fold was easily the most viewed element of any given web page. From newspapers to social media and business websites, the principle is simple: get to the point quickly.

Custom Web Design and NOYO Web Development

If you are searching for a WordPress developer, contact us here at NOYO Web Development. We offer a free initial consultation with no obligation to you. Our number is (619) 929-0381.