User-Interface tips

The answer to this question will depend upon what your site is about. If you have too many sections on your website then you will tend to use 3 column layout. The answer to this classic question is both layouts are good and work if you design your site well.

2 column layout:

1. Use when website has less sections. Use it with fixed width themes to give better appeal to users.
2. Generally if you have a 1028px or more width users tend to get lost when reading from left to right. So use two column with 770 px width.

MSN.com is a good example of high content , 2 column layout design.

3 column layout.

If your website has high content and you want the users to use the search feature of the website to effectively find the material they want, you will have to make the search bar more prominent.

Eg: Checkout the Google.com & Personalized page. You can put as many blocks on the personalized tabs however the search bar still remains at the top encouraging you to use it.

You will notice many sites have Search Box big and prominent, mainly to encourage users to search the content. If the site is easy to use, Visitors tend to bookmark it and come again.

So work on your search box and use it

The idea of this section is to help Drupaliers create sites which focus on following.

1. Usability - How quickly and easily can user start using your drupal site
2. Navigability - How easily can user navigate to the content they want.
3. Visuals - How is the visual appeal of the site? Is there a proper use of colors, theme features. etc.
4. Sorting - How many ways the user can filter and sort the content so that he can make effective and efficient use of site content.

With the above intent in mind, few tips are added below.