Designing Web Pages for Scanning, Not Reading!Create a clear visual hierarchy
One of the best ways to make a page easy to grasp in a hurry is to make sure that the appearance of the things on the page all of the visual cues clearly and accurately portray the relationships between the things on the page, which things are related and which are part of other things. In other words each page should have a clear visual hierarchy.
Pages with clear visual hierarchy have three traits:
The more important something is, the more prominent it is. For instance, the most important headings are either larger, bolder, in a distinctive color, set off by more white space, or nearer the top of the page or some combination of the above.
Things that are related logically are also related visually. For instance, you can show that things are similar by grouping them together under a heading, displaying them in a similar visual style, or putting them all in a clearly defined area.
Things are "nested" visually to show whats part of what. For instance, a section heading would appear the title of a particular book, visually encompassing the whole content area of the page, because the book is part of the section. And the title in turn would span the elements that describe the book.
