UNIV 600 Web Page Design Guide(Author: Chris Lepine, IT-User
Services, adapted from the UD Idea Center.)
Web
Page Assignment | Required
Resources
| Guide
for Larger Projects
| Design
Resources
Purpose You are establishing a web presence by creating one or more pages to showcase your work and provide resources for teaching. Guide your efforts with these considerations:
Create Make an outline of the contents that you will include such as:
Test Everything and Share Open your page files on your computer with Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla. Examine the materials, text, and look of each page. Test every link. Have a colleague or potential user give you feedback. Does their reaction match your original goals? If not, what should be changed? When you are done, upload the files to the UD web server (Copland) and test again. You may need to make more changes, but, eventually, you will be satisfied. Expect much revision. It will pay off. Now you can share your site.
You will need each of the following items to create and publish your web pages at UD:
As you begin to develop larger web projects, you will find that you must plan in more detail. Since the scope is larger, it is important to take much greater care, especially in the design stage. Following the process below will help ensure that your site is a success and save you time.Purpose and Goals Why are you creating this Web page or site? What do you hope to achieve? When you create the ideal site, what are the results? Your vision will guide site development and provide a filter for the look, content, approach, and user activities. It is very important that you start with a clear vision: It will help make your site a success and save you a good deal of extra work. Write a very concise vision statement describing the site and the benefits it will provide you and your visitors. Audience Based on your site purpose, make a ranked list of your most important future site visitors such as colleagues across disciplines, potential employers, graduate students, peers from your discipline, etc. Your primary audience will be at the top of your list. It is likely that you will have secondary audiences (lower on your list) that can be from inside or outside the University. External users may be one-time or infrequent visitors, while internal visitors may return often for updates. Each group has unique expectations and needs. Needs. Again, what is the purpose of the site? Do you wish to appeal to and serve mainly your primary audience or the secondary audiences? Be clear and develop your design and content based on audience needs. Refer to your vision statement. Your audiences may be:
Once you define your audience needs, you should develop an approach to meet those needs. What is your strategy? Are you providing simple steps to find facts? Do you want to entice your audience to read further? Do you want them to linger and browse your collection? Be sure, however, to develop an approach based on your audience ranking: Your site will be much more useful, and easier to navigate. Different audiences often require different strategies. Content/Materials Make a list of your potential content topics. Rank these topics for appropriateness for your audience. Building a content inventory and analyzing it with your audience in mind will speed up web page development:
List the activities/interactivity you want to provide on the site. This will require you to add special programming and navigation. These should be derived from your audience needs and could include:
Sketch each page and arrange these based on your flowchart. Indicate the placement of graphics, text, and links. Think through how each of your audiences (mainly your primary) will use the site:
Test each page as you build it, as well as the entire site. Use the site as you envision each of your audiences would. Have a colleague or friend review the site and provide feedback. Most importantly, find several people from each of your audiences and ask for feedback. Upon getting this representative data, let the project set for at least a few days. Then revisit your purpose statement, update your flowchart, and update the pages. Repeat the process until you are satisfied. Finally, upload the site to a public area for use and test everything that is online. Now you can share your site.
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