|
Creating
a Web Site: Some of the Basics
Karen Vaughan
Elements
of good/bad web sites
First...
the bad
my
first page -- what do you think?
Elements
of a good web site
- Clear,
inviting, informative home page
- keep
to 1 screen
- use
tagline that summarizes what the site or company does
- users
are impatient -- they won't stay long if they don't like what
they see or if they can't find what they need immediately
-- 10 seconds
- Clean,
easy-to-follow (easy-to-update) structure
- break
the site into areas of interest or importance
- logically
sequence the areas (linear outline)
- use
style sheets, server-side includes to make editing and updating
more efficient
- Simple,
accessible, consistent navigation
- straight-forward
menu on every page
- left,
top or right
- contact
info, "about us," and home option on every page
- Fast loading
"light" pages
- pages
should be less than 50-60k (including images)
- Relevant
images ("symbiotic graphics
and text")
- 72
dpi images -- with "high-quality" look
- don't
let image dominate the page -- crop it
- minimal
animation, if at all
- Intelligent
use of technology
- use
multimedia/Flash only if it makes sense
- Continued
development and review
- review
pages and re-date pages after review
-
keep ownership information up to date (footer?)
· with credentials, affiliation, affiliation (institutional
logo)
- Things
that are unnecessary, confusing, or get in the way:
- too
much content
- textured
backgrounds
- page
counters
- blinking
or flashing text
- frames
- special
plug-ins to view page (offer option)
- separate
flash intro ("skip intro" was 2nd most clicked option
on Web
- Clear,
consistent, well-written text ....
|