Articles: Fundamentals of Good
Web Design
I consider the ability to
easily navigate a web site to be the single
most important element of good web site
design. This is especially true if you
have a lot of material on your site (I'll
define "a lot" as more than
20 separate web pages). As a first step
in building your web site--probably a
step you should take before making the
first page even--you should plan out how
the pages in the site will be organized.
Decide on the main "areas" of
the site. Prime candidates for many web
site include:
Staff Directory--list the
members of your organization, what they
do, and how to get in touch with them;
Documents/Publications List--many organizations
produce a wealth of written material.
If you would like to share this information
with the rest of the world, your web site
would be a great place to start!
Mission Statement--tell visitors to your
site what your organization does and what
its purpose is.
OK, once you have the site divided into
logical sections, then what? Well, you'll
want to devise a way so users can get
to any area of your site at any time.
That is, even if someone is several levels
into the site, they should always be just
one click away from the site's home page
or one of its other main sections. The
best way to give users a quick way to
navigate your web site is through a "navigation
bar".
A navigation bar is simply
a list of hyperlinks that point to your
site's home page and to the home pages
for its major sections. The navigation
bar usually resides on the left-hand side
or the top portion of a web page and should
appear on every web page in your site.
An easy way to include the navigation
bar in every web page is to start out
with a template that contains only the
navigation bar. You can then use and reuse
this template page for any new material
you add to the site.
Give Your Site a Consistent
"Feel"
If you were decorating a
new house, you would probably want the
furniture to match, pictures on the wall
that seem to fit the "atmosphere"
of the room, and so forth. In other words,
you would want the décor in each
room to fit what the room is used for.
That's why you probably wouldn't put your
best furniture in a recreation room--or
a dartboard in the living room.
The same principle applies
to web sites. You will want your web site
to have a particular look and "feel",
but you also want that look and feel to
be appropriate based on your site's purpose.
It would be very useful at this point
to think about exactly what kinds of users
are most likely to visit your site. Will
it be laid-back students or more conservative
businesspeople? People who already use
the Internet/computers quite a bit or
newcomers to the web? If the purpose of
your site is to simply inform the world
about your organization, then the site
can probably afford to be more "casual"
than if it is, for example, an on-line
store, in which professionalism would
be paramount.
Once you have decided on
a look for your site, be sure that the
look is maintained throughout the site
and not just on the front page. A quick
and easy way to let users know that they
are on your site is to simply include
a logo for your organization on each and
every page. Not only does such a logo
serve as an important visual cue, but
it can also be used as a link to the home
page for your site.
Keep Your Pages Short
Much of good web site design
depends on an understanding of how people
like to digest information. For instance,
researchers have noted that people who
read documents online tend to SCAN documents
rather than read them WORD BY WORD. You
may recognize this in your own web surfing
habits. I myself tend to jump from web
page to web page, searching for relevant
information--it's so easy to point and
click that there's no need to stay in
one place too long unless there's something
to hold your interest.
Keeping this in mind, it's
a good idea to keep web pages below a
maximum length. Although you could put
a 100-page document on a single web page,
there are several factors at work that
make doing this a bad idea:
The longer the web page,
the more time it takes to download;
Having to scroll through a long document
makes it easy to get "lost"
on the page;
Users are often forced to use more paper
than necessary if they decide to print
the page.
Give your readers a break, and limit the
length of individual web pages. Depending
on the content you are presenting, a good
rule of thumb is to have a maximum length
of 3 screens for each page. If it takes
more than 3 screens, then start thinking
about ways to split up the document (exceptions
might apply to very long papers or online
books, where it would simply be unfeasible
to break the document down into dozens
of sections). After all, with hyperlinks
web pages ARE well suited to being broken
up in this manner. Look for natural breakpoints--individual
chapters are good examples--in documents
you are posting to the web. Go with your
own instincts on this--if you feel like
a page is too long, then it probably is.
Use Images Sparingly
The ability to utilize multimedia
is one of the great strengths of the web--if
it is used sparingly and appropriately.
Images can really serve to spice up a
web page and make it visually appealing.
Put too many images into a web page, however,
and it becomes just plain annoying as
you wait for all the images to download.
Likewise, animated GIFs (such as the ever
present "letter flying into the mailbox")
can be catchy in moderation, but a page
that is FULL of moving text, blinking
lights, and flying letters will usually
just divert attention from what is really
being said.
When you start work on your
first web site, you'll probably be tempted
to add every feature you can to your pages.
You may want to load up your pages with
images, put background sounds into your
site, and use the flying letter animation
wherever you can. A word of advice: Resist
the temptation! Now that the web is maturing
and the novelty is beginning to wear off,
"less is more" when it comes
to web design. Your site will draw more
attention and repeat visits if it appears
uncluttered, tasteful, and professional
and--above all else--if users can quickly
find the information they're looking for.
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