WEB SITE DESIGN
SOME BASIC IDEAS

These are some factors you might want to consider when designing your site

This doesn't hope to be a guide to the perfect website.

There are plenty of sites offering tips on site and page design
(check out our design links section).

 

Learn from Others

Before you begin have a good look at other sites. See how others have organised their sites and how easy theory are to navigate.

Examine and learn from others how they have crafted their sites. But...

Don't Pinch

Other webmasters have spent time on writing their site content, coming up with images etc. Simply copying images or chunks of text is theft of intellectual copyright. You could end up on the wrong end of a law suit if you do.

You can quote small bits of others text, provided it's origins clearly labelled (on the web that's usually the name of the author, name of the site it's from and a hyperlink to it). You can also ask for permission to use an image or text

Plan your site in advance

Think about what you want to get across in your site. Divide up into appropriate areas

Work out what you what to say on your site and how the layout should be. What cool gadgets do you need and are they (1) going to enhance your pages and (2) slow down its downloads (they may not even be appropriate)

 

Make it easy to navigate

Major problem is making sure your site is easy to get round. Try to divide your site up into logically linking main areas

Always ensure that it is easy to get back to a main page. Make sure that people without basic browsers can get round without using that fancy Java pulldown menu you've created

Have a Consistent layout

This gives your site a recognisable feel. People rapidly learn how to navigate it (also serves a useful factor in download times if you use the same background and logos!!!)

Watch case

Take care with the case of your filenames. Remember on the net they will have to be 100% accurate and uploading a file name with mixed case like this (YOURimage.gif) may be converted to single case (YOURFILE.gif)

 

Preview!!!

Check it before you upload to the server.. Check it once you've loaded it up. Get a friend to check it. Check it periodically to see links work........ ad nauseam.

Make sure you use more than one browser.

 

Watch your fonts & Multimedia file types

No good using your superslinkyspot font if only 100 machines in the world use it (other will see it replaced by a a default font and this may alter the whole appearance of your site). For the body of your text try sticking to common fonts like times new roman, arial, verdana etc. If you need to use fancy fonts in you page titles turn them into logo image files such as .gifs then all will be able to see them

Same applies for files types such as sounds or plug ins. Stick to commonly used standards and always have a link included so people can down load any required player or plug-in

 

Be Contactable

Leave a e-mail address or a mailto link on your sites (if you are worried about leaving your main e-mail address up get another one from many of the free web based services e.g. at yahoo or hotmail - these allow you to filter your e-mail without you even down loading it)

There are many reasons for this. Firstly error reporting, nobody gets there site 100% right when they start. Give people a chance to tell you about that dodgy link or wrong fact you missed. Also it gives a chance for people to contact you about linking to your site and vice versa as well as opportunities for advice, feedback and suggestions

 

Have fun

Most important. Remember everyone makes mistakes, it is all a learning process

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