Larry R's Virtual Notebook 5

My Virtual Notebook for "Web Page Design For Beginners" Week 5

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Web Page Design Notes

Image Size
I use images of 640x480 or smaller. While some may consider this a bit large, both the authors and readers of the articles on my website have sent me feedback that they like the larger size, as they can see more details in the photo's.

"Good design is very subjective. When you visit an art museum you often notice that one person will love a painting and the next person thinks it's horrible. Web Design is very much like painting a picture. Avoiding the recognized problem areas will definitely contribute to a "better" designed page, but simply doing that will not create a "well-designed" page." I like the analogy to a painting. You can never make everyone happy.

A Few Page Types:

• Personal: This fits my web pages, as they are about one of my hobbies.
• Creative Expression: My pages showcase the creativity of various model railroaders and modelers.
• Informational: Hopefully, my pages information that others can use or perhaps for which others might be looking.

I'm afraid that my pages just kind of grew bit by bit with no real overall plan. Now I'm slowly going back as I learn mmore about HTML and modifying them. I expect I'll be doing this as long as I have webfpages on the net!

Who is your audience?
I've written my webpages for fellow hobbyists, people that like to build railraod models and layouts. I'd like to add more material for beginners.

Decide on the layout of text and select a navigational style.
I wish I had given this more thought when I first started HTML coding. I now have a hodge podge of pages with various navigation features. I hope to rebuild my main page and carry over its design to all my other pages so that there is some consistency.

Divide your information up into manageable sections:
Guilty as charged! I failed to do this on many of my early pages, and am now in the process of correcting it. I was very happy to learn tables and use them to provide a toc for various sections.

Review Your Page

After your page is complete, go over these important points and be objective, as if you were viewing the site for the first time:

• Critically review your own content.
  1. Does your page say what you want it to say?
  2. Is your most important content on the TOP of the first page?
  3. Have you stated your purpose?
  4. Have you deleted anything that is repetitious or unnecessary and otherwise does not contribute to the page as a whole?
• Rate your page graphically.
  1. Clear your browser cache after you have uploaded your pages and see how long it takes to "fill in" in your browser. Remember the general rule is that it should not take more than approximately 30-60 seconds.
  2. Can you read the text against the background color or background image?
  3. If you have chosen a dark or busy background, are your "links" and "visited links" in contrasting colors so they can be seen?
  4. Have you coordinated your pages with a similar color scheme or background?
  5. Have you used thumbnail images to offer your visitors a choice if you have a lot of large images to display?
  6. Have you made sure that your images are not too wide for lower resolution monitors?
  7. If you have used an element or elements with motion, such as scrolling, blinking, fading in or out, have you limited the use to a modest amount?
• Do a click around test.
  1. Have you provided a clear method of navigation around your page?
  2. Can you at least get back to the main page from every other page on your website?
  3. If you used images or an image map as a navigation tool, did you provide a text alternative for those who cannot see images?
  4. If your page needs to be navigated in a specific order, did you provide a previous and next link on each page.
• Perform a thorough check over every controllable aspect of your page.
  1. Check your links -- dead links are death to an otherwise well done page. It is especially important to make sure links to all of YOUR own pages work.
  2. Check your spelling and grammar. If necessary have someone else DOUBLE or TRIPLE check for you.
  3. Check to be sure all your images appear on your uploaded pages. Sometimes problems in coding or the transmission of files can't be checked until the page is up on the web. Make sure all of your images can be seen once your page is out there!
  4. Check to see how your page looks with the images turned off. Have you used the ALT attribute on all of your images? If you have used images for navigation, have you provided a text alternative on the page for those who cannot see the images?
  5. Check your HTML. Use a validator to make sure you have written the best code possible.
  6. Check your page in different browsers. If at all possible, be sure your page is legible at the very LEAST on the last TWO versions of both Netscape and Internet Explorer. You almost certainly will have to enlist the help of friends or classmates for this task. This check is especially important if you are attempting to use advanced features such as Cascading Style Sheets or JavaScript. It is also a good idea to be sure this check is done if you use tables or frames since the output of these can look a bit different in different browsers.
  7. Check against various monitor resolutions
• "Sign" your page! Now that you have done the hard work, take credit for it. Include your email address at least and possibly an email link for those who wish to contact you. (Perhaps your page will win an award!)
• Ask for and graciously accept feedback!!Ask your visitors to report any problems they might encounter such as links that don't work or other aspects of your page. Be sure to send a "thank you" to anyone who does send a comment.

Final Comments

I really enjoyed this class. It's the 2nd time around for me, but I still learned alot, especially in Tables. I'd like to thank all of my classmates and instructors for making this such a pleasant learning experience.