Solid areas of screen real-estate

Leading on from the clearly differentiated top area, you will observe that many web sites describe the different areas of real-estate boldly and visibly.

Real estate is found in different forms and it includes:

1. Navigation
2. Background / canvas
3. Main content area
4. Other stuff
5. Callouts / cross-links

It's possible to design a web page so that these areas are immediately distinct from their neighbours.

The strongest way to do this is using colour.

But white space can be just as effective.

The risk with strong colour is that it draws the eye, so it can take attention away from other relevant screen elements.

I feel that putting clean content on white space produces a simple experience, aiding the user to feel more relaxed and free to browse. You will find more instances below.