It is often said that you can use Drupal to design a site so that it looks exactly the way you visualise it. While this is a 100% true, it can be said that this is not always the best option. You have complete control over the designing aspect and Drupal gives you maximum flexibility. However, the site needs to look visually appealing as well. There are many Drupal developers who overlook the aesthetic factor and create compositions that can look gaudy and disastrous. When it comes to designing a good Drupal site, there are certain Dos and Don’ts.
Dos:
1. Use reusable graphical elements:
When it comes to design elements like arrows, bullets, icons and the likes, it is best to keep them as they are. Most designers try to resize them and change the colours as per the theme of the page. However, you must try to standardize them as much as possible. The theme developers like to reuse these graphical elements often. One thing to keep in mind when the elements are being repeated is to keep them on separate layers so that they can be used along with transparency.
Don’ts:
1. Use unnecessary Photoshop tricks that do not work for the web:
Sometimes, people tend to find Drupal solutions in Photoshop. Many users may wish to apply special filters like Multiply, Overlay and other such options that are available in Photoshop for better appearance. However, these do not work on the web and cannot be produced precisely on the internet. The only feature of Photoshop that can be applied to the web is the opacity and PNG.
Dos:
2. Use a grid even if the site is small:
The uniformity factor takes the appearance of a website notches higher. It gives a clean look to your site and your layout looks more polished. On the other hand, shunning the grid can make the page look overly messy and shabby. This also saves a lot of time.
Don’ts:
2. Configure colour settings in Photoshop or Illustrator:
You must, at all times check the setting of the colour scheme in Photoshop or Illustrator. Sometimes, these colours get modified on the web. When using softwares like Photoshop or Illustrator, you can tell these softwares as to which setting you would like to choose. They have different colour management schemes that suit printing or the web.
Dos:
3. Get familiar with Drupal forms:
There are several forms that are part of Drupal and many a times, the users tend to use them. These include the log-in form, node add forms, contact form, comments forms and the likes. Structuring a Drupal form can sometimes be dreary and time consuming. If you wish to get this done quickly, you could opt for CSS. Try to keep it as simple as possible.
Don’ts:
3. Avoid ignoring elements that need theming in Drupal:
There are certain things in Drupal that should not be ignored. This is one of the basic Drupal solutions for all Drupal problems. These include the Header, Footer, H1- H5 and the likes. Most people get so influenced by the fancy things that they forget the basic yet most important tools that Drupal already provides.
Dos:
4. Pay attention to the content displayed by default in Drupal:
Some things take a little time to work with and you must pay attention to these details. Content may seem easy, but you must look closely as to the things you can do with it.
Don’ts:
4. Use styles that differ from page to page:
Every website looks decent when it is uniform. You could break the monotony by designing the home page differently. But try keeping the styles for other pages as uniform as possible.
Author’s bio:
Edward is a drupal developer and he has been working closely with his team members to come up with good and clean designs. He provides best Drupal solutions to his clients when it comes to designing their website. A sports enthusiast, he loves to play basketball with his colleagues.