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Website glossary· Layout and first impressions

What is white space in web design?

White space is the empty space between and around things on a page (margins, gaps and line spacing), whatever its colour.

Why it matters for a small business site

Space groups related things, separates unrelated ones and gives the eye somewhere to rest, so a page is quicker to scan. A crammed page is harder to read and can look cheaper, even when what it says is good.

How to check yours

  1. Squint at the page: can you see distinct groups, or one grey mass?
  2. Check the gaps are consistent: the same spacing between similar sections, and between similar cards.
  3. Look at paragraphs. Line spacing of about 1.4 to 1.7 times the text size, and lines of roughly 45 to 75 characters, are a common guide for easy reading.

What good looks like

A small set of spacing sizes used everywhere, more space between sections than inside them, and text that never touches the edge of its box or of a phone screen.

Common mistakes

  • Filling every gap because empty space feels wasted.
  • Different gaps between similar sections, so the page looks uneven.
  • So much space on phones that the main button drops below the first screen.
  • Tight line spacing in long paragraphs.
Free site audit

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The free audit checks spacing and alignment on your first screen, and points out gaps that don’t match the rest of the layout.

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