It was a Sunday and I had been reading a book for over four hours. It was one of those cant-put-it-down type thrillers. And then I started thinking… Why is it that a single book can hold my attention for four continuous hours, while a single website could not achieve that? There are several websites and blogs with really good content. So, why is it that my attention span ranged from anywhere between two minutes to twenty?

There could be many reasons. Firstly, reading off screen strains the eyes much more than reading a book or a newspaper. Even with good resolution, a computer screen can not match the sharpness of a book or newspaper. Screen flicker also tends to exhaust the eyes.

A web designer has to keep this in mind while designing a website. After all, you’d like to hold the attention of the visitor for as long as possible. What good is it to have an awesome web design, if no one wants to see it for too long? So, a web designed must keep in mind the 3 Cs. While a lot has been written about the 2 Cs of Color and Contrast, I would like to emphasize on the most important C… Clarity.

The most important thing a web designer must do is to understand what the site is all about. What is really important for or relevant to the site and what is of less relevance. A well designed website should highlight the important and relevant text. This will allow users to skim through the web page quickly. Moreover, related stuff should appear related, while things that are different should appear so. Also, it should be clear how the different stuff relate to each other. Links to pages must have a logical flow.