GDT 150 Design for the Internet
Handout: Page Layout Guidelines for Photoshop
All web pages should be designed at 72 pixels per inch. This is approximately the resolution of most monitors.
Color management should be set to web, so that the color gamut approximates a PC.
Before you start designing, determine how wide your page will be. For a 640 x 480 monitor, your document size will be 600 x 600 pixels with 280 pixels above the fold. For 800 x 600, it will be 750 x 600 with 400 pixels above the fold.
Html text can be approximated by using the text tool with the following options:
- No anti-aliasing
- Fractional widths off
- Use acceptable fonts, ie. verdana, arial, helvetica, times new roman, palatino, etc.
- Remember that text areas must be bounded by a rectangle
Web pages must be designed around some type of a grid. Graphics can hide the grid, but ultimately they must be rectangular.
Colors may be websafe or not websafe; it depends on who your audience is. Remember that even with websafe colors selected as your main colors, anti-aliased pixels will not be websafe, so some dithering will occur in your graphics.
