What are some effective ways to organize and present information on a website?

Get into the head of your website visitors, particularly those that fit into your target audience. Think of the homepage as the top of an informational funnel, the goal of which is to effectively serve the needs of that audience, while also promoting the objectives of the website owner. The homepage content and design should work together to efficiently convey to the visitor what the website is about (i.e. if they are in the “right” place) and provide a simple and streamlined method of “funneling” them to the information they are looking for - whether that be to learn about a service, purchase a product, etc.

First, I don't think the nuance that you should always use a grid system like Bootstrap or something like that is a good thing. Sure, it may be convenient for design and development, but I think it's better to develop a grid system that fits your design intent. Above all, the UX design should be well prepared for the content before the design. In addition, it is necessary to reflect the perspective of direct interaction with users, not to be stuck in a flat screen design.

An effective way to present and organize website info may depend on the cultural landscape. If you are designing for a Western culture, I'd suggest considering using the Gutenberg Diagram. This diagram is a wonderful way to orient the user in natural visual reading rhythms. The principle is based on research that discovered common eye-mapping patterns, and natural reading gravity when looking at a website. The principle displays four quadrants. The first and last are considered the 'primary optical areas' for a user — the most important visual info is placed here. The second and third quadrant are considered 'weak fallow' areas — where secondary and tertiary info is placed. Optical reading gravity then moves from top left to bottom right.

Don't reinvent something just because you can. Most websites will be more effective when following well known patterns that users are familiar with. When you want to break away from conventional layouts, make sure you have a good rational to do so and consider what your users will have to re-learn to engage with your site.

Yes layout your website consistently so it looks like one entity. Arrange the elements in such a way that they differ enough on each page but also make the site look cohesive as a whole. It is important to have a basic layout that is cohesive for your site because the user needs that to recognize branding and the relation from one page to the next.

The alignments of elements on your website should be organized carefully. Pictures and logos above website names should in some way align with the text for instance, maybe with the pic's left side at the same left margin as the text box below it, or the middle of the pic should be at the 50% point of the width of the text.

That's right. The tone of your overall design should be consistent, both in the branding design and in the web design realm. It's important to have a design policy that aligns with your content and your audience.

To add here, I think especially today, users want to use a website for usually a specific purpose, so less is more when designing a navigation system. Make the most important information for them strong in the hierarchy. Moreover, on the internal side make sure you are setting up your website to maximize conversions, or whatever specific goal you want your website to achieve. Make it obvious what the user is there to do.

Think about how you want your content to look and choose a font that matches. For a soft, elegant look, use sans serifs; for a bold, emphatic look, use serifs; and for a cute, friendly look, use rounded off fonts. The most important thing is consistency. Never use more than three fonts. Colors are also important. Think about the feeling you want to express with your colors first. All of these things are acceptable for personal use, but in the real world, when you're choosing for a client, make sure your choices accurately reflect the client's design guidelines.

With typography, it might be useful to add using a font which has enough variants (e.g. thin, regular, semi-bold, bold, italic, etc) to differentiate between different elements such as titles, sub-titles, paragraph text or quotes. I always filter fonts that have 6 variations or above so I know it’s going to be versatile enough to use throughout a website without running into issues where it’s difficult to differentiate between various types of text.

Also use hierarchy to differentiate sections of type on a page. Make headers larger and bold and body copy smaller and regular. Play around with it until it works for your brand and content. You will find a balance that works.

As others have mentioned you can embed Media such as videos from YouTube. This can be doubly beneficial because you can also get the statistics from YouTube as well which is very helpful a lot of organizations use content management systems like Adobe experience manager or Sdl tridion To optimize content and load times.

Optimization of images and media is really important, but you also need to optimize for device performance and size, and different internet browsers.

You can also embed videos which might reduce the loading time for the page. Yes you must also reduce the images in Photoshop or an outside program to get a smaller size. Usually using 72 resolution is recommended but if you can see pixels try making the resolution a little higher. Also, if you make a shorter animation into a gif it can reduce the size.

Never depend solely on your website platform to optimize your images. Although it may say that it optimizes images to the appropriate size, you are always best to optimize before adding images. I like using Tiny PNG for fast optimization.

Balance ensures a harmonious layout, making your designs appear professional and well-structured. Proper alignment organizes content for readability and visual appeal. Contrast highlights key elements, guiding the viewer's focus, and creating visual interest. Proximity groups related elements, enhancing content organization. Hierarchy guides the viewer's eye, prioritizing essential information. Color selection influences emotions and perceptions, crucial for branding. Typography choices affect readability and convey tone. Applying these principles effectively ensures your designs are visually appealing, functional, and aligned with your clients' goals and brand identities.

Accessibility guidelines are key to creating a website that is easy to use for anyone who visits your website. There are specific tools to test your design choices against accessibility guidelines that can help you make the best decisions without diving into the legal language. WebAIM's Contrast Checker is a great one to start with even for DIY websites.

Especially if your company is of a certain size, there may be regulations you have to adhere to with respect to accessibility.

How you design your first UX design is the most important thing, but so is being flexible and open to feedback. Unlike print design, web design must always adapt to the changing times. Trends in web design are changing even as you read this.

My two cents Effective website organization hinges on clarity and user-centric design. Everything that we do with the user in mind, will always pay off in the long run. It's important to me to structure content using hierarchical headers (H1, H2, etc.), maintain consistent navigation menus, and use table of contents, bullet points or grids for easy readability. Integrating visual elements like images or infographics can break up text and enhance understanding. Also, organizing content with SEO in mind—using relevant keywords, meta descriptions, and optimized image alt texts—ensures the site is both user-friendly and search engine accessible, boosting its visibility and reach. This could be much longer but that’s a basic overview. ??

I think in the age of copying what works and repeating it, we should also remember what makes ourselves unique, and apply that to the experience of your website. Does your website design match the feel or values of you or your organization? Is that reflected in the landing pages or maybe animations of the menu? Remember to express yourself, because we can sometimes forget when trying to be as good as everybody else.

One thing to mention about organization is copywriting. Good copy helps organize your site and content. If your content doesn't make sense or align with your business the design won't help. Make it clear and simple to follow throughout your brand.

Use a sitemap and layout your site and write out all your information from most to least important. Then you can divide the info into sections for each page. Then focus on your visual design: images, content, fonts, branding guidelines, and everything else.