Elements of Good Page Design

Before we start the process of developing text on a Web page, a few moments should be spent on the topic of good page design.

In this chapter we'll examine the interfaces and tools for entering text, lists and hyperlink in the FrontPage interface. In addition, we'll show you how to view your content in different browsers to make sure that they appear as you'd like them to.

As with any product used in the design of anything, you are given the full ability to design whatever you want with FrontPage 2003. Nothing will prevent you from making bad design decisions other than your style and taste when approaching a project.

Take a few minutes to ask yourself the following questions before you start any design process:

  • Will your audience find what they are looking for on your page? Most developers forget this simple fact and create dozens and dozens of pages for no other purpose than because they thought the content should be there.

  • Will anything on your page cause them to leave? You've got your audience at your site on the page you want them on is there anything that might make them leave? Are there too many fancy graphics and special effects? Is the page laid out nicely? Does it load quickly? Is there anything on the page that doesn't need to be there or that might be offensive?

  • Is your content any good? Most people think that having a Web page is enough. It isn't it is only the first step. Much like a poorly painted office with no place to sit and trash on the ground won't do well to anyone who visits your company, a Web site without good content causes people to leave quickly, wondering why they came in the first place.

  • Are you trying to squeeze too much on a single page? Are you overwhelming your audience? If the content is good, is there too much of it on any given page?

    TIP

    Although you don't have to think in terms of physical pages in Web design, you also don't have to destroy the paradigm that most of the world is still used to and still using. Is your page too long? Divide it in to a number of other pages.


  • Is there too much technology and too little content? FrontPage provides great effects and great multimedia elements at the click of a button. The desire to use these tools often is understandable but needs to be controlled.

  • Is your content truly accessible? Your site looks great on the computer you designed it on, but how will it look to someone using another browser, another computer platform, or another device such as a cell phone? What if your audience is visually impaired and uses a screen reader to "surf" the Net? Will your content work for them as well?

For more on building accessible Web sites and the tools provided by FrontPage for doing so, see "FrontPage's Accessibility Features," p. 235.


Have these elements in mind at the very first moment you start developing your Web site. These issues are true for the tools and technologies discussed throughout this book, but are equally important from step one, setting your page properties, discussed next.



Special Edition Using Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003
Special Edition Using Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003
ISBN: 0789729547
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 443

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