4 Layout Design Tips to Optimize Your Divi Web Content

Last Updated on January 6, 2023 by 23 Comments

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4 Layout Design Tips to Optimize Your Divi Web Content
Blog / Divi Resources / 4 Layout Design Tips to Optimize Your Divi Web Content

Layout design isnโ€™t as simple as just adding text and images to your page and hoping for the best. A stellarย layout can help to attract viewers and guide them to the most important sections of your content. Thankfully, there are plenty of strategies you can employ to make the design process easier.

In this article, weโ€™ll offer four tips for creating a balanced layout for your website, such as using white space and repeating important design elements. Throughout, weโ€™ll also tell you how you can use Diviโ€™s functionality to bring some of the elements to life. Letโ€™s get started!

Why Your Page Layout Is Important

Your page layout can be the difference between people leaving your website almost immediately,ย or sticking around toย read your content. In a nutshell, the right layoutย can attract visitors, direct them to the most important content, and encourage them to stay on your site.

Of course,ย people would rather spend their time looking at aย beautifully designed website than something plain. Quite simply, an unattractive website is enough toย lose visitor engagement.

While gaining website visitorsย is one thing, getting them to behave in a certain way when theyโ€™ve landed is another thing entirely. Ultimately,ย you want your most important content to be consumed,ย and your Calls To Action (CTAs) to beย followed. In fact, the human mind actually expects and wantsย aย CTAย โ€“ so all you have to do is guide the reader in the right direction with the correct layout.

4 Layout Design Tips to Optimize Your Web Content

While the tips in this article will cover a myriad of design elements to get you started, thereย also numerous websites to help you find layout inspiration. Sites such as Awwwardsย showcase great, high-quality examples โ€“ and even Pinterest can be a source of inspiration. As for the tips, letโ€™s take a look!

1. Use a Grid System

In the context of web design, a grid is set of visible or imaginary horizontal and vertical lines thatย serve as guide to help you organize and arrange your content. While plotting your grid system, you can also incorporate other design techniques such as the use of a focal point and the rule of thirds.

A good focal point, whether itโ€™s part of an image or block of text, should serve to captureย theย readerโ€™s attention. It is often placed in the center of the page, or the center section of your grid.

The rule of thirds isย basedย on the concept ofย splitting the page in three vertically and/or horizontally. However, this doesnโ€™t necessarilyย mean that separateย content sections have to appear in three columns, and some might span two. For example, many web pages โ€“ such as our blog โ€“ have a sidebar thatย takes up the right third, whileย the main text spans the left and middle thirds.

Using the Divi Builderย makes it easy to create a grid of elements. For example, to apply the rule of thirds very literally you can create three rows, each with three columns:

A three by three Divi Module grid

To create this grid, first go into the Divi Builder and click on Insert Column(s):

The Divi Builder initial screen with the Insert Column(s) button highlighted

In the pop-up select the three column option:

The Insert Columns screen with the three column option highlighted

Next,ย click twice on the copy button and youโ€™ll have a three-by-three grid, ready for your content:

The Divi Builder with the row copy button highlighted

Of course, this isnโ€™t the only element of a great layout. Where you guide the reader is also crucial.

2. Structure Your Content in a โ€˜Z-Patternโ€™ or โ€˜F-Patternโ€™

Depending on the type of content you display, most people read web pages in a certain way. Eye tracking studies using heat maps have shown thatย the most common patterns are F-patterns and Z-patterns. You can use this knowledge to your advantage to guide the reader to the most important areas of the page.

When a reader scans the top of your site from left to right, then looks at your page from top to bottom, this is an F-pattern. They typically apply to more text heavy pages, such as blog posts, and it showcasesย the importance of usingย subheadings in yourย content.

In contrast, readers who scan across the top of your site from left to right, diagonally down to the bottom, then again from left to right are said to be reading in a Z-pattern.ย Theyโ€™reย applicable for simpler pages, particularly those with a CTA. This is why itโ€™s often recommended to place your CTA in the bottom right hand corner of the page. Of course, the other information along the bottom of your pageย should also offer the reader enough information to entice them to click the CTA. The Quick Sprout homepage is a good example:

The Quicksprout homepage

The logo and navigation menu lead you across the top of the page. The eye is then drawn to the bold text and image of a face in the middle of the page, which will hopefully entice you to read the sales copy.ย Finally the bright white URL bar leads you across the bottom of the main content to the CTA button.

In Divi, the modular system makes creating F-patterns and Z-patterns simple. You can start in the Divi Builder to create your general layout and content, then tweak it in real time using the Visual Builder.

Of course, itโ€™s also important that the CTA itself is clickable. Our Divi CTA module can help persuade your readers to clickย through:

A Divi CTA Module example

Within this module you have practically endless options for creating incredible CTAs. You can control sizes, fonts, and colors among other options, and can even make them sticky so that theyโ€™re permanently wedged in place.

3. Repeat Importantย Design Elements

Repetition of elements is something that we often add into our designs without thinking. Maintaining the same font and size for subheadings, or using the same bullet point style throughout a piece, are both common examples of element repetition. However, it can also be expanded to images, graphics, colors, spatial relationships, and pretty much any component of design you can think of.

Element repetition injects consistency into your layout, and itย unifies the individual components toย create a more cohesive and appealing design. It can also help the reader to navigate the page with minimal confusion. Forย example, take Bufferโ€™s home page:

The Buffer homepage

This shows the logo repeated within the focal image of the screen. The paper airplanes also resemble the sheets of paper featured in the logo, making the whole page make sense and look more cohesive.

Replicating elements in Divi is super-easy. Simply navigate to your chosen element in the Divi Builder, and clickย the copy button to duplicate the element. From here, you can and drag and drop the element elsewhere on your page, and tweak it without affecting your original:

The Divi Builder with a module copy button highighted

Similarly, you can save layouts for future to create consistency across your site โ€“ weโ€™ll have more on this a bit later.

4. Use White Space Appropriately

White spaceย โ€“ alternatively called negative space โ€“ is simply the blank portions of a page that are not occupied by content. The use of white space is often overlooked. Many designers find it tempting toย try andย cram in as much information as possible. However, when it comes to maintaining viewer engagement, it appears that less really can be more, and appropriate use of white space is key.

Here are some tips for using white space appropriately:

  1. Adjust the margins around copy.ย Increasing the margin size can help to separate sections of copy. This makesย the page appear less cluttered and the text easier to read.
  2. Add space between paragraphs.ย Increasing the space between paragraphs can break up text and make longer articles appear less intimidating.
  3. Adjust line height and letter spacing.ย You can tweak the space between lines and letters to make sure your text is as readable as possible.
  4. Surround your focal point with white space.ย White space added around a focal point, such as an image or header, can make it stand out even more.

For a real-world example, the Google home page is as good an example as any other โ€“ in fact, it takes things to the extreme:

The Google homepage

Apple is another company who usesย focal points (usually a product image and header) surrounded by lots of white space:

Apple's Mac Mini promotional page

Divi canย help you create just the right amount of white space by enabling you toย adjust margins and padding within yourย sections, rows, and modules. For example, to adjustย a row, click on the Menu button, which displays the myriad of options youโ€™ll need:

A section of the Row Module Settings screen

When you have text in a module, thereโ€™sย usually the option to adjust your line height and text spacing. For example, in a Text module, go into the Advanced Design Settings screen, and among the features youโ€™ll see that you have height and spacing options:

A section of the Text Module Settings screen

You can adjust them accordingly until youโ€™re happy. You can also opt to make these changes using the Visual Builder to see how your changes will look in real time.

Finally,ย for even moreย white space, you can use a Divider module. This enables you to create a line or someย blank spaceย between individual modules, almost anywhere on the page.

How Divi Can Help You Keep Your Layout Design Consistent

Once youโ€™ve crafted the perfect layout, you probably wonโ€™tย want to use it only once. Saving yourย layoutย meansย you can use it for multiple pages on your site. This not only saves lots of time andย effort, but also creates a sense of unity andย familiarity across your pages, which helps the readerโ€™s experience.

This is simple to do within Divi. Once youโ€™re happy with your layout, select Save to Library in the upper left hand corner of the Divi Builder:

The Divi Builder interface including the Save to Library button

In the pop-up, enter the name you want to use for your new design, and hit Save:

The Save To Library popup

To retrieve your layout for future use, select Load From Libraryย in the Divi Builderโ€ฆ

The Divi Builder with the Load From Library button highlighted

โ€ฆthen go to the Add From Library tab, and select the layout you want to use:

The Add From Library tab in the Load Layout screen

To edit your layouts, you can access them from your WordPress dashboard. Select Divi, and click on Divi Library to see a list of your saved layouts.

Conclusion

Your choice of layoutย is a hugely important component of the overall design of your site. However, it can be a seriously overwhelming task, especially if you dive in without a plan.

Thankfully, this area has been widely studied, and there are plenty of strategies you can employ to ensure a superlativeย outcome. This article has provided four tips to help you create the perfect layout design for your website. Letโ€™s recap them quickly:

  1. Use a grid system.
  2. Structure your content in a Z-pattern or F-pattern.
  3. Repeat important design elements.
  4. Use white space appropriately.

Do you have any additional tips for optimizing your page layout? Let us know in the comments section below, and donโ€™t forget to subscribe so you can follow the conversation!

Article thumbnail image by atibodyphoto / shutterstock.com.

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23 Comments

  1. Thanks for your sharing john, i will be try your tips in my website..

    • You’re welcome! Good luck. ๐Ÿ™‚

  2. how can i give semi bold for content??

  3. how can i give semibold for title or subtitle content??

  4. Helpful article.

    • Thanks! ๐Ÿ™‚

  5. “I like it. But make the Logo BIGGER. And make the Picture BIGGER. And there is still plenty of room left over there. Why? Use it”.
    That’s what we always hear.

    • That’s where your powers of persuasion come in, Adrian. ๐Ÿ™‚

  6. Good article and very well explained.
    thanks for sharing

    • Thanks. ๐Ÿ™‚

  7. Great tips! It remembers my photo course!

    • Great stuff!

  8. Very helpful tips, thanks!
    However there is another rule you missed here. This is called The Golden Rule, or The Golden Ratio. I found it very hard to build a grid 1:1,618 (or even close 1:1,6) using the Divi Builder. If I want to apply this rule my sidebar should be around 38% of the total screen width. Of course I can tweak the css manually, but it would be great to have such option in the theme customizer itself.

    • The Rule of 3rds is the same thing as the golden Ratio – approximately. It is mentioned in the first paragraph.

      I studied photography and graphic design. None of the teachers would measure 1:1,618 – just apply the rule of thrids and you are safe. 38% is not that far of from 33%. Nobody could tell a difference by eye.

      The rule of thirds is widely known. I just wonder, why do american tv stations not apply it. When you see news anchors on US TV stations, they are almost all the time in the middle of the screen. When you watch news anchors in Switzerland, Germany, Austria and other European countries, they are off the middle axis, to the right usually. the rule of thirds is applied on tv screen too over here. Does any of you bright minds know why?

      • You are wrong, @Adrian. The Golden Ratio, known as Fibonacci Principle is not the same as the rule of thirds. Although it’s often very easy to miss, the exact composed visuals has very strong impact on subcouncious feelings and reactions.

    • Great addition, Adam โ€“ while it’s not absolutely compulsory that you use it, the Golden Ratio works very well for many different layouts.

  9. Wonderful Post. I always like the quality of writing in this blog. And Elegant is the one of beautiful place of themes and plugins I really like. Thanks a lot for sharing.

    • Thanks a lot for your kind words, Pavan!

  10. Thank you for sharing the tips, Jhon.

    • No problem!

  11. Should the F be a mirror image now that primary sidebar navigation tends to go on the right rather than the left?

    • You would think so, Barbara, but no. The F-pattern is a rigid shape and based on the eye pattern of the reader, rather than a flexible design aesthetic.

      Hope this helps. ๐Ÿ™‚

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