The Elements of A Web Site
What can you put on a Web site? Here's a look at the available design and content elements you have at your disposal along with some tips on
using them.
The Look and Feel
What do you want your site to look like? While this is not really an element, it
is worth considering. A Web site can look like a newspaper or a coloring book.
It can have an artsy theme or a formal, business look. You can put some
personality into the writing or just give them the facts. Of course, this
relates closely to the audience you want to reach and your purpose. A
manufacturer of large industrial hardware may want a very structured, solid
appearance, while a floral shop may want a colorful, softer look.
Text
The simplest element of a website is fixed text.
Text should be as short as possible. People don't read as fast from computer
screens as they do from paper, and they tend to scan instead of read. To help
people scan, include plenty of headlines if the writing is long. Bullet lists of
related points also help a user find information. A few other tips on
writing and formatting text include:
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Use
narrow columns (about half the screen width at 800x600 resolution) |
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Avoid
special fonts in the text. The fonts won't appear the same on another
computer unless both computers have the same fonts loaded. For the most
consistent results, stick with Arial, Times New Roman and Courier. |
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Use
short paragraphs and pages. |
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Print
your writing and proofread it on paper. It is difficult to proofread
from a computer screen |
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If
the writing must be long, do one or all of the following: |
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Break
it up into several pages. |
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Let
readers open the document in a single, frameless page that's
easy to print. |
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Let
users download the document as a compressed file or as a PDF
file so they can print it later. |
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Data
Many web sites contain constantly changing data like stock quotes, weather
conditions or your company's catalog. This data is generally stored in some type
of a database system and retrieved each time a web page is requested and
displayed. Web pages that contain live data from a database are referred to as
Active or Dynamic Pages.
Graphics
Graphics, pictures and special fonts can accent your site with color, visual images
and company style. The catch is that graphics take
longer to download, so too many graphics make can a web page load too slowly. A few
graphics or pictures liven up a page, so they are essential, they just need to
used in moderation.
Some Web sites require pictures to properly showcase products. (Can you imagine
selling paintings with nothing more than a verbal description?) Users are more
patient when they need to see the product to make a decision. A few hints on using pictures and
graphics include:
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Use graphics
to accent the page and create a design. |
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If
numerous product pictures are needed, put them on a separate
"catalog" page. |
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Include
a limited number of pictures on each catalog page (perhaps 5 to 10). |
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Use
small pictures on the catalog pages and link the small pictures to
larger pictures if customers need to see more detail. |
E-Mail
Fast, easy and cheap, E-mail is an excellent way to interact with customers.
Notice I said "interact with customers" and not "reach
customers." The Internet is an interactive medium, so communication goes
both ways.
Include a link to your e-mail address on your web site. If you're in business, you
need to know how to use e-mail.
Spicing up your Site with Video, Sound and "Multimedia" Options
Video and Sound
The Internet has become a multimedia presentation medium with video, sound and
interaction with the user. As the Internet and computers become faster, video
and sound will become standard for high-end Web sites.
Video and sound take noticeable time to
load, even over fast connections. So in some cases, they may be impractical. You shouldn't rule them
out, just make sure they are important and your customers think they are
important. If they don't, they won't wait for them. They'll simply go someplace
else.
"Multimedia" Options
There are still some options for putting movement and sound on your site. They
take extra time to download, but they are faster than video and sound. Some
examples are:
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Java
script buttons that change when the mouse rolls over them or clicks
them. |
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MIDI
music that downloads small files to the user. |
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Animated GIFs. A US Flag Animated GIF is pictured below
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Flash Animations.
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While text, graphics and multimedia are important elements of a Web site, there are
other pieces of the puzzle that are easy (and even cheap) to include as
part of a Web site. They are not part of the look and feel of the site,
but they are part of the content. Keep them in mind as you consider
what to offer on your web site.
PDF Files
"Just what we need," you say, "another Internet TLA." (three-letter
acronym). This one stands for Portable Document Format. Even if you don't know
what that is, you may know about Adobe Acrobat, the program used to create and
read PDF files. This format has become a strong standard for sending documents,
manuals and literature over the Internet. PDF files have some good points:
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They
maintain the same layout and font appearance on any computer (maybe I
should qualify that since I haven't personally tried it on all computers...on almost
every computer.) |
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They
are a standard, so many people already have the free Acrobat software to
read them. (The free software can be downloaded from Adobe, the maker of
the software.) |
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They
can be locked to prevent people from copying the text into other
documents. |
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They
can be password protected. Those who don't have the password can't read
the document. |
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They
can be read and printed after the user disconnects from the Internet. |
The disadvantages of PDF:
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They
are larger than a similar HTML page (regular Web page), so they take
longer to download. |
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They
require extra software to read them. (This is a small point anymore
because the Acrobat reader is free, and many Web users already have it.
However, if your customers are not computer savvy, Acrobat installation
may be an extra step you don't want to put them through.) |
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It may be difficult or impossible for
a PDF page to be indexed by every internet search engine. |
PDFs are perfect for colorful brochures, catalogs,
technical manuals and other lengthy documents. And they are a great universal
file format for
distributing, displaying and printing documents on a variety of different
computer types.
Forms
Sometimes you need specific information to answer a customer's question or solve a
problem. With a form, you can request or submit information. A visitor to your site
can fill out a form and click the submit button. Then the form can be e-mailed
to you or stored in a database.
As usual, a few caveats apply:
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Keep
it short. People will become annoyed if they need to fill in a dozen
fields just to ask about your hours of operation. At a minimum, don't
make all the fields mandatory and indicate which fields are mandatory
and which are not. |
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By
itself, a form is NOT secure. Don't ask for information that's sensitive
like credit card information or financial history. |
A few sample applications for forms include:
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Customer
surveys. |
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Product
information requests. You may need specific information so you know
which account executive or region should reply to the request. |
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Registration
for a class or other event. |
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Auction
registration and bid gathering. A form can get a customer's name and bid
for your inventory. |
Zip Files and Other Compressed File Formats
Zip and other compressed files are used to
package one or many computer files into one file which can be easily distributed over
the Internet. Depending on the type of files you put in a zip file, the zip file
is usually much smaller than the original files. It is a good
option for distributing large files like computer programs, detailed technical
manuals or reference material.
Hidden Files (A Simple Thing, Really)
You can put hidden files and
directories on your Web site. That way, only people who know the exact address
for the file will have access. This is simple to do: don't
create any links to those pages you want hidden and give the complete
address to those people who need access to those pages.
However, don't assume that hidden pages are secure. True Internet security requires
encryption and digital keys...and a whole new list of computer TLAs
(three-letter acronyms) the programming gurus like to use. That's a whole new
set of articles in itself.
Links To Other Sites
Links hold the Internet together. They weave the Internet strands into a
web. The web would be largely useless without them. So you should
populate your web site with lots of links, right? It depends. (If the
answer were simple, there would be nothing else to write.)
The links you
should put on your web site depend on your purpose and your audience. Sometimes they are very interesting and useful links. This is great if
you want your site to be more like a search engine portal--a place to go
to find other sites.
If you want
people to find information about your products, you shouldn't send them
away so quickly, you may want to put the links on a separate page or exclude
them completely.
Sometimes Links Lead to Your Competition
Another mistake I see is that the links give visitors a way to find a
competitor. For instance, some resellers and retailers want to provide
product information, and the easiest way is to include a link to the
manufacturer. But many manufacturers make it easy to find other
retailers. In one case, a building supply company has a link to ABC Doors and Windows. And at the top of the
ABC Doors And Windows home page
is a link to find other dealers...the building supplier's competitors.
In this case, the
building supplier's sales force maintains a relationship with large,
institutional clients who already know about the competitors. So
including the link would help their customers get product information.
Since the building supplier doesn't sell much to consumers, they were
not concerned about giving the random surfer a link to the competition.
They felt the benefit to their large clients outweighed the
disadvantages.
Another link to
beware of is a link to a professional organization. It gives credibility
to your company, but professional organizations usually have listings of
its members including your competition.
Should You
Link? It Depends
So, should you include links? As with every communication project, it
depends on your audience and your purpose. But you should beware of the
fact that links send your clients away from your site. You may want to
put links on a separate Links page other than your home page and put the link to the
Links page
(say that three times...) at the bottom of your home page.
Search Engines
On-Site search engines allow your users to search for words and phrases within
your web site. Internet search engines allow internet users to do global
searches for words and phrases on the internet. Internet searches return results
from all the web sites that have been submitted, read and indexed by the search
engines indexing tools (often referred to as bots). Many search engines offer
you the opportunity to include a search form on your web page that uses their
search engine. This is not be a good idea if you are
concerned about leading your potential customers to your competitions web sites.
On-Site Search Engines
On-Site search engines allow your users to search for words and phrases within
your web Search Engines
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