First thing to know about improving website layout and design

Question

I am building an internal, data-heavy website for my company on the Microsoft stack (ASP.NET 2.0/C#/SQL Server). Lately I have been trying to improve the layout and design of this site, partly because I want it to look good for my employers, but mostly because I want to learn about page layout and design.

My question is, what is the first thing I should know about improving the layout and design of pages in a data-intensive (e.g. lots of large grids, validation, minimal navigation, etc.) website. I really have no idea where to begin.

Answer 1

Just Don't Make Me Think.

Answer 2

This is something I constantly learn about myself.

I'm not sure what to say exactly. But I can recommend a good source... Alistapart.com. In particular their "design" section of articles are good and may provide just what you need...

http://www.alistapart.com/topics/design/

They talk about designs, layouts, and in many of their articles -- the HTML & CSS required to make it happen.

Answer 3

I consistently refer to this article when asked this question. This is by far the most to-the-point summary you can read:

http://wefunction.com/2009/04/quality-within-web-design/

The first 4 points I believe would apply to you the most. Here's a quick synopsis:

1. Spacing
2. Pixel Perfect Detail
3. Well thought out Typography
4. Organization of Elements
5. Restraint & Subtlety
6. Using Colour to it’s Full Potential
7. Doing something Nobody else has done

Answer 4

Hypothesize. Test. Reiterate. Iterative testing is the most important thing you can do because it gives you objective evidence as to what actually works. If you were doing an external website, you would have an analytics package that you could use for this. With an internal website, pull some of your colleagues in from the hallway and ask them to use the new layout while you observe them. You'll learn a lot by watching your users and you can make changes based on what you learn.

Answer 5

Well the FIRST thing for web is the browser box model.