Planning Your Web Site

There are important factors that you need to be
aware of when you are designing your web page. 

You need to keep in mind the people for whom you are creating the web page. They are called your audience.		The content or information on your page is the most important element of your web page. It is why you created your web page in the first place.
You will need to be aware of the theme or idea that motivates your web page. Are you creating it just for fun or  to tell people something important.		You also need to put a lot of thought into how you want the page to look - the layout. If it doesn't look any good, people will not want to explore the site.

Audience

Be aware of your target audience,  the people who will view you web page. How you design your web page depends a lot on the people on whom you are focusing . Are your audience to be adults, children or adolescents?

Young people like lots of colour, sound and images instead of written text. However don't put too many images on your page or too much sound because these files are big and they will take a long time to download. Young people are always in a hurry and don't like to wait too long.

Theme

Is your site to inform, entertainment, or educate? You should be aware that  design elements such as background colour, style and layout should reflect the content of your site. Background colour and font colour can create a certain atmosphere or look. However be aware that some colours combinations are hard to read hard to read or difficult for the eyes to focus.		Using different fonts can produce different effects. Comic Sans is an informal font. Garamond is a corporate or company look. Times New Roman is easily read and more formal. Use a font that is easy to read, not like this!
Images or graphics are very useful because that can provide instance meaning or act as a signpost for your audience more readily than text.		Create your own  images or photographs rather than clipart if you want your page to look more sophisticated.
If your site is for fun, use clipart or animated gifs but only if the art reflects the content of the page. However, be aware that too many animated gifs can be annoying .

Layout

Elements of a Web Page

Heading or Title Navigational Bars Content Statement of Responsibility Author Date

Hyperlinks to other sites Graphics or images Video or sound files Tables Bulleted lists Horizontal Lines

Examples of most commonly used layouts

Icons Images Index Search Facility

Images
	Logo/Image
Images

Hyperlinks or buttons

Author's Name Date             email 

Logo	Title
Content Links	Image Overview
	Author or Statement of Responsibility Date email address

 SOME OTHER HANDY HINTS

Don't forget that there are different browsers, eg "Netscape" and "Internet Explorer" and sometimes what you create for one browser doesn't fit the other one.

Be aware of the size of your screen 600x800 pixels is standard.

Don't try to put too much information on each screen. The most crucial information should be able to be read on your first screen without scrolling down to the next screen.

If there is too much on the page, the reader will find it too hard to read and will become confused and will just quit the site. Check out this site from hell.

Use lots of "white space", that is g a p s  between different types of information as it makes it easier to read.

Or Indent text (like this) to make it more readable as the human eye tends to go for the centre of the page.

Using a table structure will help you place things evenly on the screen.

	Heading
. . .	Use borders or frames in which to place navigational directions or buttons

If you decide to use an image, instead of text to indicate directions such as, "go back", make sure people understands what it means.

Make sure the  hyperlinks to another site or another "anchor" on your own page are obvious and not confusing.

Content

If you are creating your web page as a guide or help page, you have to be
sure the information you are putting on the page is accurate and precise.

There should be enough information displayed so that the reader doesn't
have to guess anything. However don't overload your audience with too
much trivia.

If you are providing hyperlinks to other sites, provide an explanation of
what they will see there. Check your links regularly as sites often "drop out".

Provide directional information if you need to, for example "scroll down",
"enter here". Although most internet users know that underlined or highlighted
text indicates a hyperlink to some other site or file.

(L.Hughes, 2001, updated 2006)