WEB PAGE DESIGN...An experienced visitor's point of view
|
|
|
| 3.0/5.0 (2 votes total) |
|
|
|
Daniel Deane
|
Daniel Deane |
Copyright
1997 Daniel Deane
Presented by Daniel Deane, P.O.Box 3548, Chattanooga TN 37404 /Publisher
of Daniel's InfoZene, a general interest/public service ezine Internet
tips, Humor, Recipes, PSAs, disability advocacy, and more.
|
Daniel Deane
has written 1 articles for WebKnowHow. |
View all articles by Daniel Deane... |
There are certain things that make a web page easy to navigate and
still others that will chase away visitors. Below are some tips
indicating elements that should be in place in every web page in
your site.
1. IDENTIFICATION Who are you? Why do you have a web page
and why should they return or do business with you? These are questions
that should be answered on your title page and perhaps included
in some form in every page on your site. A simple way of contacting
you should be in place. One example of this is an invitation at
the bottom of each page, to email comments to you, with a link that
activates the email portion of the browser.
2. CONTENT DESIGN The download period is your most vulnerable
time on your web page. Keep your index page simple.
Make
sure you have text enough in the top of the page to give the visitor
something to read while your graphics are loading. Keep graphics
to a minimum. Use short paragraphs and a lot of room for the eye
to rest. A designer or advertiser calls this "White Space."
"White Space" is VERY IMPORTANT. It can make or break
any advertising space. Too little makes a document seem too busy.
Make sure your text margins can float if your skill or HTML editor
can manage it. Include graphics that are in harmony with the rest
of the page and the message that you want to present. Make sure
your background and your text can be seen by persons who are colorblind.
AND, if you are colorblind make sure someone else who is not colorblind
previews your work before uploading it.
Never
place a white text on light background or dark text on a dark background.
That is an immediate turnoff. It can make your visitor very irritated
at the page designer. It may be just the thing to motivate them
to look elsewhere for information and that elsewhere may not be
on your site!
Handicap
Accessibility.
If possible, make your site determine if the visitor browser supports
frames. If it does not, you should have an alternate page(s) with
the information in large type, text only, for persons who are
blind or have other sight problems and are visiting your site
with a text reader machine. You may include an image in between
paragraphs if it is fully described. If you do not want to do
this for some reason the graphics should be at the end of the
document with a warning that they are there and that this is the
end of the text. Again provide your name, business name, phone
number, address, and email address on this page if you want them
to have it.
One
last thing on the text only page. . . . Extra borders and === or
-0=-=-= or the like sound like the text machine or the software
has hung up like an old record player. Please do not use them.
3. SITE MAP or INDEX is necessary on every page. Link every
page in some way to every other page in your site. Failing that,
use a frames format and make sure that you preserve your margins
on all sides of the frames. Place your site map in the right frame.
I suggest that you provide a way for the person to determine where
they just came from and a helper to get them back to the very last
page presentation they visited on your site. The fewer times a visitor
needs the back button on their browser, the less likely they will
leave your site till they have seen it all.
4. It is not advisable to provide invitations to leave your
site on the top of your index page. If you advertise or provide
links to another site, you might want to make sure there is a way
for a visitor who left your site to return from THAT link. This
is called a reciprocal link. You do not need to hide your links.
Just do not leave invitations to leave where a person is really
tempted to do so.
5.When making lists with graphical bullets (such as picture
of a globe, a diamond or ball), if possible make them into radio
buttons or links to the area in your web page that illustrates your
point. When using graphics, remember that many people will click
on a graphic for a description, or expansion of the information
that picture represents. Some websites use this to their advantage
to create pleasant surprises for their visitor. Some visitors search
for those surprises. Perhaps you should consider providing those
surprises.
6. The more often you change your web page, the more often
a person may visit. There are services of which you may subscribe
that informs the subscribers when a member site has changed.
7.You may also create a guest register. Many people will
sign the guest register, thus providing you leads for future activities.
You may also notify the resulting mailing list when your web page
has changed. If you are so inclined, a newsletter will provide you
with a further opportunity to present your views or products.
8. Once you have created your site, view it with as many
browsers as you can. Read your site with an IBM and a Macintosh.
I have been told that 62% of all web sites are created on a Mac
and about 35% of the readers are on Macs.
(Personal Observation)
If you are friendly to a Mac User, you have a great chance to gain
his loyalty. He may even advertise your site to other Mac Users.
If you want a lot of positive hits on your page, create reasons
for a Macintosh user to visit and ask for his referral to your page.
These
are only nine of the many suggestions I have made when visiting
a web site. I visit only 20 minutes. That is as long as I expect
any visitor to remain interested in any site. If they need the bottom
scroll bar to read your text, I expect them to leave immediately.
Your visitor is your guest. Do not make them work to enjoy your
site.
|