Saturday, January 7, 2012

Types Of Web Pages

Surely a web page is just a web page? Not necessarily, as you are about to find out.

Getting a basic understanding of the different types of web pages that exist will help you to design a better website. Certain types of page are present on almost every website, while others only play a very specific role which is relevant to a certain kind of website, such as one that sells a wide range of goods.

Perhaps the most important page of any website is the home page. This acts as the front door to your website and paves the way for what lies within it. This needs to be clear and concise and enticing if people are to venture further into your site.

Next you have content pages. These tend to contain articles and other pieces of content that have information about the subject of your website.

Information pages cover a number of subjects, but a good example is a page which gives the user information about your company and what its role is within the marketplace. It may also contain contact information, email addresses and so on.

If your site has goods for sale then it will certainly have a range of product pages. These show the visitors what is available and gives them all the information they need on each product.

There are countless other types of page which often fit into one of these broad categories, as is the case with interactive web pages. As the name suggests these are pages that involve the visitor in some way - they might be forum pages, pages which ask for an opinion or request the visitor to sign up to receive a free newsletter, or any one of a number of other options.

The key here is to make sure you know the difference between the different types of web pages, so that you can choose the ones which will fit into the structure of your website in the best way possible.

Website Structure And Navigation

Have you ever got lost in among the pages of a website and come right out of it because you couldn't find what you wanted? That very situation is why structure and navigation are vitally important to the overall success - or failure - of your site.

There are millions of sites on the internet on every subject imaginable, all trying to get your attention and make you stay for a while once you find them. What sets the good sites apart from the bad sites is the way they try and keep you there.

Some do it in a very sneaky way - they almost want you to get lost among their pages so you'll never find your way out again. Why people think this will get you to buy something or like their site any more (or even at all) is a mystery; all it does is frustrate you for the lack of good direction, layout and navigation.

The good sites are run by people who know how to make life easy for you. Excellent navigation and a good solid structure provide the backbone to every single successful site online today, and if you make sure your site has these two essential things as well, you will be much more likely to keep people on your site for longer.

The key word to remember here is simplicity. Don't make your site hard to understand. Everything should be organized logically and it should all be easy to access. When you are planning your website it can help enormously to go back to using a plain old pen and paper for a while, at least during the early stages. Work out what pages your home page needs to link to, and whether you will need subsections that lead off from those.

The overall structure will depend on how big your site is going to be. It doesn't make sense to try and link to fifty other pages from your home page; it will simply be too much for the average visitor to pick their way through. Instead, break the subject of your site down into several smaller areas. Your visitors can then click on the specific area they have an interest in and go in that in more depth from another page.

Make sure the navigation structure you use is the same on each web page you design. This will create a familiarity for the visitor and make it even easier for them to find their way around your site. A top or left hand side menu bar works best in this respect.

In the end it's worth spending a good amount of time on the planning and structure of your site. By putting in the work in the early stages you will reap the rewards later on.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

The Concept Of User Centered Web Design

The visitor is always the most important person as far as a webmaster is concerned, which is why making use of user centered web design is to your distinct advantage.

User centered web design is all about putting the visitors in the driving seat when it comes to finding and viewing your website. Not everyone uses the same browser and not everyone has the same preferences when it comes to looking at web pages. A typeface that one particular person finds easy to read might not appeal to someone else; similarly the size of the font being used can present problems for people who need glasses to view what's on their computer screen.

This is where user centered web design comes into play. The interface you like to use isn't necessarily the one your visitors will enjoy, so by taking a more flexible approach to web design you can make your website more accessible to even more people.

The fact is that how a website looks plays a great part in how long visitors hang around before going elsewhere. It may also be the case that your website looks great in Internet Explorer? but it doesn't fare so well in Firefox. If you design your site rigidly so that it works well when viewed in Internet Explorer, you may lose all the people who find it and have trouble viewing it using a Firefox browser.

But user centered web design is also about making the experience as easy and as user friendly as possible for the visitor. In this sense you should ensure that every aspect of your site is easy to negotiate, easy to use and doesn't cause any problems whatsoever. Make sure all the files you use are as small as possible to make for fast downloading. Don't keep your visitors waiting.

Another aspect to remember is not to talk down to your visitors. Just because you want to make things simple for them, that doesn't mean you should regress too much. You need to maintain a balance between being too simple and too complicated. Giving people the right information in the right place at the right time is an essential part of what user centered web design is all about.

Finally, bear in mind that this can be an ongoing process. You can always improve on your current website, no matter how good it might be. Invite comments from your visitors, as they will be only too willing to tell you what's wrong with your site - as well as what's right with it.