The Golden Ratio In Web Design

Maths is a beautiful thing although sometimes it can be a little scary I must admit. Even so when applied to any form of product be it a chair, poster or eCommerce website the end result is often beautiful symmetry and proportions.

Of course there are those of you who think maths is boring and only used for adding numbers, well I'm afraid to say that without maths everything around you would be very different. One of the most famous maths related pieces of trivia is the Golden Ratio.

What Is The Golden Ratio?

For those of you who don't know the Golden ratio is one of the most used sets of rules to create a rectangle, or rules that govern the use of an area space e.g. an ecommerce solution. A simple example is the credit card in your wallet; its rectangular shape is governed by the golden ration.

When a rectangle is created using the golden ratio and placed along side various other rectangles statistically, if you asked 1000 people to pick their favourite rectangle, a very high majority would select the golden ratio rectangle. It's a very desirable ratio that just seems to be adored by us humans and nature alike.

How Can I Work Out My Own Golden Ratio?

To create your very own golden ratio rectangle is simple, so long as you know how to use a calculator. Firstly you need to determine one of the sides of your rectangle. For arguments sake we will say the width of our example rectangle is 300px (wide) now take that value and divide it by 1.62.

So for our example 300 ÷ 1.62 = 185.19, Now of course you can't have a .19 of a pixel so it's always best to round up or down to get the final answer. So to summarise our example golden ratio rectangle would be 300px wide by 185px high. Simple! This is such a useful equation and can be applied to any eCommerce solution or eCommerce websites.

For more information regarding our eCommerce solutions, please don't hesitate to contact us at Advansys Limited, Building 4, Millars Brook, Molly Millars Lane, Wokingham, Berkshire RG41 2AD Telephone: 0845 838 2700 Fax: 0845 838 2701 sales@advansys.com