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Tilda Publishing Blog

Common webpage
design mistakes
Simple layout and design tips to help you create a stunning webpage

ere are thousands of people all over the world who create websites on Tilda. is article is
based on recent research by my colleagues and I. We analysed common mistakes that people
make when they create websites using our platform. Here is a list of dos and don'ts applicable
Nikita Obukhov
Tilda Publishing Founder
to any web design tool or service you use.

Common landing page design

mistakes to avoid
1. Content is not broken down into logical
blocks
It is easier for users to digest information if it's grouped into logical blocks. Set padding to
120 px-180 px and separate blocks of text by using colour backgrounds.
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ere is little padding between sets of related information, plus this design needs colour Paddings are large enough, and the blocks are separated by colour, which makes one thing
blocks to divide content into logical sets. As a result, this information is hard to digest and it immediately clear – these blocks contain di erent types of content
is unclear which text should go with each block

2. Uneven spaces between items on a

webpage
Same-size spaces should be set around logical blocks. Otherwise your page will look messy,
and users may not give equal consideration to each section.
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Spaces of various widths look uneven and create an impression that company information is Same-size spaces around headings and the body copy help perceive the logical blocks as
linked to the header although every block is equally important carrying equally important information

3. Padding that is too small means that users

cannot break down content into logical blocks
To avoid logical parts from blending in, keep them separate and insert a large space (at least
120 px) between them.
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Use narrow padding, and the blocks that make up the site stick to each other. is overloads Padding is large enough so the di erence between these two blocks is immediately visible
the page and is quite confusing — a site visitor is led to believe that this is one solid text and
not parts with di erent meaning

4. Avoid low contrast for text copy on an image

ere should be su cient contrast between text and background. To make copy prominent,
place a contrasting lter over the image. Black is a popular colour but you could also use
bright colours and mix and match them.

Another option is using a contrasting image from the start and placing the copy on top of a
dark section of a photograph.
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is image is too light, which makes reading the text copy too di cult

A lter applied to the photo makes the copy easy to read

5. Too many styles on one page

 Too many typographic and design styles on one page make it look unprofessional and hard
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to read. To avoid this, limit yourself to a single font and two options for saturation, for
example, normal and bold.

Because of too many typography styles beings used, it's unclear where the emphasis lies One font, one colour and two types of saturation. e typography on the page looks neat and
clear

6. The colour block is too narrow

Avoid emphasising narrow page elements with colour. It just doesn't look good. For example,
headings are already well marked thanks to their size, type saturation and paddings. Would
you like to highlight a particular point on a page? Use a colour background for the entire
block, including a related heading and text copy.
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Headings placed on a colour background break up the page's continuity and look like Both the heading and a related text share the same background. It shows they belong to the
separate, independent elements same logical set

7. Too much text copy inside narrow columns

When there is a lot of text copy in narrow columns, it is di cult to read because site visitors
have to skip from one line to the next. Plus, it just doesn't look good! It's best to cut on the
number of columns and shorten the text copy, otherwise nobody will read it.

Long, contered columns are hard to read ere is little text in these columns, so reading it is easy
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8. Too much centered text

Centering text on the page works well when there is little text, otherwise it's hard for users
to navigate it e ciently. At the same time, increase the font size starting from 24 pixels.

If you need to include a lot of text, use the blocks featuring collapsable text copy (in Tilda,
it's blocks TX12, TX16N or the button BF703).

Long, centered texts are not easy to read A short text under a headline (both centered) look good on a page

9. Text copy is superimposed over an essential

part of an image
Avoid covering meaningful parts or small details of an image with text. is way, you will
both obscure the image and make the text illegible. Try di erent positions for the lines such
as centering them or aligning text le or placing them vertically.
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is headline gets in the way of the woman's face. With so many tiny details, it's hard to read e image and text copy are easy to read and form good composition
the text

10. Misusing visual hierarchy

For information hierarchy to be clearly visible on a page, the title on the cover should be
bigger than the rest of the headings or at least the same size, especially if the headline is long,
for example.

e heading on the header is disproportionally smaller than the following heading, which is e heading on the header is bigger than the one in the following block, so the whole page
confusing. Why? It makes the second heading appear more prominent looks consistent
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e same principle applies to visual hierarchy within a logical block. e headline should be
the largest design element on the page, followed by a smaller, less prominent subhead. Next,
features titles that follow should be noticeably smaller than the heading, and of the same
weight. e smallest fonts should be used for features descriptions.

is will help site visitors distinguish between the most important and less important
information.

e headline is smaller than features titles and seems secondary, although it's more important e headline is the most prominent element on the page and although features titles are
in this context written in a smaller type, they are still clearly visible

11. One logical set is split into two

A full-screen image or gallery, following a text, resembles a separate, independent block. If
you add padding around the gallery, both text copy and images will look as a logical whole
thanks to a shared background.
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A full-screen gallery looks disjointed from the headline above and looks like a standalone e gallery shares the same backdrop as the heading right above it, which makes the whole
block composition look solid

12. The title is too large and long

A very large font is perfect for a short sentence. If the headline is long, use a smaller size
font. It will be easy to read and leave plenty of space to all other design elements on the page.

A headline that is too big takes up an entire cover, while design elements jostle for space and is page is composed well, all the design elements are in balance with each other, and the
the headline is hard to read copy is easy to read
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13. Wrong use of border styling for buttons

Borders are necessary when a button is transparent. Adding a border for a colour button
does not make sense, it's just another meaningless design feature that overloads a page and
makes it di cult to read it.

14. Using too many colours

Using too many colours on a page is confusing, and it's unclear which bits are more
important. One or two colours are enough to give visual prominence to what's really
important.
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ere are too many bright colours on the page; this is confusing One colour accent creates variety and doesn't distract from the contents of the page

15. Overloaded menu

People visit websites to nd solutions to their problems. Help them! Use the menu to help
people navigate the website and nd what they need quickly and easily. Don't overload them
with with excessive information. It's enough to have 5-7 menu items.

is menu carries too much information, making site navigation more di cult
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A simple menu makes nding what you need easy

Mistakes in article design

1. Long, solid copy
A wall of text makes reading di cult to understand. For easy navigation, split it into
paragraphs or introduce breaks such as a key phrase or an image.
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A wall of text is hard to look at Elements such as pull quotes or images make reading texts easier

2. Headline is positioned at the same distance

between previous and next paragraphs
A headline should not 'hang' between chapters at a similar distance because it belongs to the
paragraph that follows. e distance above a headline should be 2-3 times bigger than the
space under it. At the same time, the distance under a headline should be roughly the same
as the space between paragraphs, or slightly larger. is way, the header will visually refer to
the subsequent text.

e heading is positioned at an equal distance between paragraphs above and below it, and anks to the use of padding under the heading, it's obvious that the heading belongs with
it's unclear which paragraph it belongs with the text that follows
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3. There is no logical order

In typography, contrasting is used to visually divide di erent levels of text and establish a
strict hierarchy. Main headings should be the most prominent on page, subheads should be
considerably smaller but still clearly visible.

A heading and subhead are approximately the same size, and there is no clear hierarchy Logically, the heading is more important than a subhead
between them

4. Different padding above and below blocks

If blocks carry the same weight, they should have the same look and feel and be positioned
at an equal distance from each other.
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If the space between the header and an author's image is too narrow, it looks as if the author anks to identical size padding above and below the image, blocks appear equal
has more to do with the header rather than the text that follows

5. Caption is positioned too close to an image

On one hand, an illustration and its caption form a whole but these are two separate
elements, and captions should not interfere with images.

e caption sticks to the image and we have trouble properly engaging with either of them ere is a lot of white space between the image and its caption, yet it's clear that the caption
goes with the image
 6.
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and text copy

A subhead and text copy that follows belong together but if the space between paragraphs in
an article is bigger than the space between the subhead and the following paragraph, the
article looks disjointed.

Space between a heading and a paragraph is smaller than between paragraphs themselves Space a er the heading is slightly bigger than space between paragraphs

7. Stand-out elements are placed too close to

the main text
Elements used as expressions of emphasis such as key phrases or quotes are independent
objects. For them to truly stand out, set them at 75-120 px from the main body copy.
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ere is too little space between the main text and stand-out elements A pull quote truly stands out thanks to big padding

8. Low-contrast elements
If you'd like to emphasise a certain phrase, be bold, make a key phrase bigger than the main
text by 10-15 px. Let the key phrase really stand out from the rest of the text.

A key phrase blends in with the rest of the copy. It looks messy, so try to avoid this Now everyone can see it thanks to a large font and su cient padding around the text

9. Colour background for a narrow text block

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If you'd like to highlight a small section of a page such as author information, it's enough to Create a website

set su cient padding around this, which will create an impression of space. Don't place this
section on a colour background; this will look out of place.

Don't use colour for the subhead. Using a bigger font and padding should be su cient to
make it pop on the page
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screen images
When you are using several full-screen images in a sequence, avoid leaving a space between
them. e border will still be visible, and there is no need to add an additional element. It
just doesn't add anything.

An empty space between full-screen images make no sense and doesn't look good ere is a harmonious ow between images in this example

11. Too many design accents being used

Design accents (such as boldface here) work well when there are few of them. Put in too
many, and this will get in the way of reading the page.
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Many words are marked in bold, so the text copy appears broken

A few marked words draw attention to themselves, and don't interfere with the rest of the text

12. Too many typography styles

 Design should not interfere with readability. e fewer typography styles there are, the
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better important elements are visible. It's enough to emphasise headlines and subheads, and
use contrast for key phrases.

is text has too many typographic devices. ey are distracting to the reader Very few typography styles, emphasis is clear, and text hierarchy is observed

13. Centering text in a long article

Centering is usually applied to headlines and block quotes to distinguish them from the rest
of the text. A centered long text is di cult to read.
 A centered text looks messy, plus it's hard to read A text aligned to the le is easy on the eye
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14. Headline appears too close to the image

A headline is an individual design element. It should not sit too close to an image that
follows. For a winning combination, set padding at no less than 60 px, and add a subhead –
it will unfold the contents of the page and place the right emphasis where you need it.

e headline sits too close to the image, there is no breathing room on this page Here the headline is separated from the image by a subhead, and it relates to the entire
section, not just the image

15. Using italics when they are not needed

Italics are used to highlight a word or a short phrase within a text. It is not as immediately
noticeable as bold type but it does allow you to make an emphasis where you need it.

Don't write everything in italics (body copy, headlines). And if sans-serif fonts are used in
text copy, avoid italics altogether.
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e phrase stands out already thanks to the font size and padding, so the italics are not really needed here

Italics are in the right place, adding the right amount of emphasis
 16.
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centre of the page and each other

You can spot this error easily yourself if you take a small break a er editing your
page(changing font size, alignments or indentation) and taking a look at what's on it.

In this example, the headline is shi ed to the le , and text copy to the right All text elements are in harmony with each other

Writers: Ira Smirnova, Masha Belaya, Julia Zass

Design and layout: Julia Zass

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