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          To Do
Not To Do
Purpose
  • Know the audience and the general purpose of your web site.
    
Content
  • Examing any existing web site for your class and determine what needs to be updated or deleted.
  • Define the goals of the website with your professor, define the content and function requirements. Have the professor provide the wish lists and the order of importance.
  • When you determine the purpose of your site, think of how and why people will use it. Once you have identified the main purpose of your site, structure the navigation so that important information is no more than three or four clicks away.
 
  • Don't bury frequently used information under too many subheadings
Layout
  • Always keep the the visual appeal of a site simple, neat and tidy.
  • The contents need to be arranged in a logical manner and provide a clear presentation of the information.
  • Keep the background as clean as possible with high contrast.
  • Keep the font style and size consistant.
 
  • Try not to use frames. Frames eat up too much screen real estate, they makes it difficult for screen readers to use, and you can't bookmark the individual pages.
  • Try not make each line contains more than 20 words
  • Don't use too many fonts or size because they make the page cluttered.
  • Do not use a picture as your background because it distracts from the text on your page.
Navigation
  • Use a consistantly placed navigation bar through out your site.
  • Provide an access to the index page on every single pages.
  • If a page is really long, there should be links to the top and various other points in the page.
  
Color
  • Use the 216 universal-color palette.
 
Graphics
  • Figure out when to use JPG and when to use GIF. Use JPG for digital photos and GIF for graphics.Gifs are flexible, and have capabilities that jpg doesn't, such as animation and transparency. Always save the original image in a format other than JPG so you can go back and make changes later.
  • Use small pictures .
  • Too many graphics and animations will slow down your page as well as distract the users attention.
Page Size
  • Long pages (ie pages with long blocks of text) can be difficult to read. Users tend not to scroll to the end of lengthy pages. Consider breaking up content into multiple pages where appropriate.
  
  • Too long of a page or too great of a file size can turn off users.
Footer
  • Always provide the class contact information of your professor and you on the footer of each page.
  • Provide the origional modification date and the date of last update.
 
Links
  • Make all links underlined.
  • Check for deadlinks.
  • Try not to make the users click on too many links to obtain specific information.

* Notice that these are all guidelines, not rules.
   There are no rules in web design.
   Your page design will reflect the goals of your site and,
   as a result, you may need to break one or more of the above guidelines.
   Following these guidelines will help make your page
   easy to navigate, readable in any browser and accessible to all users.

 
By Amy and Jia
29th May, 2001
IT Lab, School of Information