The design of your website plays a crucial role in attracting an audience. For councils and administrative units in the United Kingdom, having a website is very important. It allows them to provide details and make announcements of any upcoming news and any major changes.
However, the design of a parish council website is very different from a conventional website. There are a few things that you must consider before you get your website designed. A parish council website needs to be responsive and spacious, and should not seem too cluttered with information. There should be separate pages that provide information about the parish, its members, and other important details. Here are a few website design tips for parish councils and administrative units.
Easy to Navigate
Parish council websites are often quite cluttered with information, which makes it difficult for the common visitor to navigate through the website. Most people will simply avoid using your website if it isn’t easy to navigate. When designing the website, make sure there are proper links at the end of each page that lead to other pages on the website. Having links on each page that connect every single page with its own is very important.
You can hyperlink text, or add a few ‘read more’ buttons at the bottom of each page that lead to different articles and announcements. Many parish council websites also have small tickers running at the bottom of the page. These tickers provide details about any agendas or meetings that were held in a concise, one-line sentence. Clicking on the ticker should take you to another page. A great website design for parish councils is one that makes it easy for the visitor to navigate from one page to another without having to go back to the home page.
Light Colours
Parish council websites are designed to be simplistic and straightforward. There’s no point in using sharper colours such as yellow or pink when designing the website. Lighter colours do not tinge the eyes as much. When designing the parish council website, it is important that you choose the right colours. Many website designers will show you several different designs and ask you to decide the template that best suits your needs. Always go for one that has lighter colours, such as beige or white. Light blue is also a very popular colour simply because it is so easy on the eyes.
Fonts
You will need to spend a considerable amount of time selecting the right font for your website. Using casual fonts such as Comic Sans MS isn’t such a wise idea on a professional parish council website. Choose a font that looks simple and stylish, such as Times New Roman or Calibri. Also, make sure you create a separate box for important announcements so that your users can find all the important news directly on the landing page of the website.