Leland Initiative Web Tutorial Series: Overview of Last Lesson In the previous lesson we reviewed some of the software tools you can use to help out with web site development. In this lesson, I will go over some of the basics you can follow to make your site easier to use and more appealing. Give Users of Your Site a Map 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:
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:
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. And Finally… If you want to see a good example of a well-designed site, please check out the USAID/Ethiopia Mission site at the following URL: Next SessionIn the next session, we’ll talk about how to post your web site once it is completed. I'll tell you about web servers, FTPing files, and all that good stuff. See you then! Lesson 9 | Table of Contents | Lesson 11 This series was developed for USAID’s Leland Initiative by the Research and Reference Services Project (operated by the Academy for Educational Development). |