easy
to order
3. Speed
We all know that speed is the
key to keeping visitors. Though
it is normal to experience delay
at times (making some to rename
WWW as World Wide Wait !) people
DO get impatient if it takes too
long to make contact--so you must
ensure that your home page at
least, loads as quickly as possible.
That means no big, flash graphics.
Keep reminding yourself that your
first page is like a billboard.
When driving your car, you don't
have time to read detailed descriptions,
or admire intricate pictures on
billboards. The signs flash past
you and have to make an immediate
impression.
Your web visitors are 'flashing
past' as well, so keep your front
page simple and fast.
There are numerous articles on
the net about how to improve speed--take
the time to check them out and
then discard anything that slows
down your home page too much.
4. Graphics and Lay-out
The graphics and lay-out of your
home page contribute to that first
impression--think about what image
your site is trying to convey
and make sure everything on your
site contributes something towards
that overall image.
If you have a serious business
site, you don't want garish cartoons
on your front page--but if you
have a games site, then cartoons
can be an integral part of the
image.
Graphics are what eat up the loading
time of your site. A rough rule
of thumb to determine good loading
time for a page is to keep the
entire page around 30K.
Images should be between 6 and
8K. Each additional 2K adds approximately
one second to loading time. If
in doubt, right click the image
and then click on "Properties"
to get the size of the image.
Colour is also an important part
of your site; colours have different
effects on our emotions: Red and
orange excite the senses and increase
heartbeat, Blues and greens are
more restful, Yellow reminds us
of sunshine and is a happy colour
Consider the effect you want to
create and choose a colour that
is appropriate. When reading Western
texts, the eye travels from the
top left of the page, across and
then down to the bottom right.
Remember this when you're placing
graphics on your page.
Any graphic which has a directional
aspect should be placed to point
the eye towards the most important
section of the page. If you have
a picture of a bird on the top
left corner of your page, make
sure it is facing inward and that
its beak is leading the eye to
the centre of the page, not away
from it.
The same applies to all graphics:
Faces should 'look' to the centre
of the page
Cars should be 'parked' facing
towards the centre of the page
Roads, neck ties etc should all
be placed to lead the eye across
from left to right, or down from
top to bottom
This is also why you should place
your navigation bars down the
left side of your page - it keeps
them constantly in the visitor's
field of vision.
5.
Text Readability
This doesn't
refer to the words you use (we'll
look at them in detail later)
--but to the way the words look
on the page. Going back to the
concept of the billboard, your
words need to stand out on your
page- you need to surround them
with plenty of white space.
Think over some of the sites
you've visited--some make you
feel as if you have to duck
your head to read them! Dark
backgrounds make you feel as
if you're in a small space and
also have a depressing effect
on your mood.
Certain coloured backgrounds
make it very difficult to read
the text; purples, orange tonings
and reds dazzle the eyes.
The colour of your text is just
as important--bear in mind that
different browsers read colours
differently--what looks great
on your browser could well be
invisible on another !
Take a lesson from the newspapers
and divide your text into columns
for easier (and quicker) reading--even
two columns are better than
one slab of text that covers
the entire width of the page.
Another element that contributes
to text readability is the font
you choose. Plain fonts (Arial,
Times New Roman, Garamond and
Courier) are the easiest to
read. Fancy fonts are fine for
headings, but not for full pages
(imagine trying to read a whole
page in Gothic, Script, Westminster,
or Cloister). Your eyes would
soon tire of the effort involved
and you'd be reaching for the
back button !
6. Page 'Skimmability'
You have to make
your page as easy for your visitors
to read as is humanly possible
and this means breaking it up
into little 'chunks' for them.
We've already looked at the
need for columns, (which divide
the page vertically); you also
need to divide your page horizontally,
through the use of headings
and sub-headings.
When you were at school, your
teachers told you to use headings
in your notes--apply the same
principles to your web pages.
Look for the key points on each
page and write a short statement
that summarises each point--this
is your heading.
Read through each section and
see if it can be further divided
into smaller points. Write a
summary of these sub-sections
and these are your sub-headings.
7. Fonts
Select a font
for all your headings and sub-headings
(and stick to it). It's not
necessary to have a different
font for headings (just go up
one size for headings, and then
use bold on all headings and
sub-headings).
This way it's easy to recognise
which is a heading (large and
bold) and which is a sub-heading
(same size but bold). The point
of this is to make it easy for
your visitors to glance at your
page and to take in all the
key points. If what they see
interests them, they'll stay
and keep reading--so it goes
without saying that your headings
should be written with care
!
To draw attention to other important
points, you can also highlight
them by putting a whole sentence
in bold or a different colour
(or both). However, take care
with the colours you select:
some are quite difficult to
read--even against a white background.
8. Navigation
Your main navigation
bar should run down the left
side of your page, for two reasons:
We're accustomed to reading
from left to right and from
top to bottom We're accustomed
to finding navigation bars on
the left of web pages-- why
buck the system (especially
when it works)?
On a long page it's also a good
idea to have a brief nav bar
along the bottom of the page
(just home | top of page will
suffice).
When you've found a system you're
happy with, use it on every
page so that your visitors know
where to look for the information.
Make a blank page which has
your page layout (columns),
any logos or standardised graphics,
alt tags and navigation bars
already built in. Call this
'blank" and then when you make
a new page, you have everything
already set up and just have
to enter the content, html tags
and then save it as "whatever.htm".
9. Privacy
Statement and Testimonials
As your site is a business site,
one of the most important things
you have to do is to ensure
that your potential customers
feel confident dealing with
you. On the web, you do this
by telling people exactly what
you're doing to safeguard their
interests--in particular, how
you're protecting their privacy.
It's worth having a separate
page which sets out, in detail,
your policy towards their email
addresses; how you accept orders;
how you gather information;
who has access to this information;
how you use information gathered
from children and so on.
Visitors also like to know that
real people have used your products
or services, so it's worth asking
your satisfied customers if
you can quote any positive comments
they've made about you. Don't
be afraid to ask for testimonials--we
all like to know that our opinions
are valued.
10. Words
Now we come to the most important
element. If this part is wrong,
the rest of your efforts are
largely wasted. How many times
have you been impressed by a
site's initial appearance, only
to be disappointed by poor spelling,
careless grammar and punctuation?
It reflects badly on the site
owner and indicates that whoever
is responsible for this page
is sloppy, careless, lazy, unprofessional
or all of the above ! Would
you entrust any of your hard-earned
money to someone who doesn't
even care enough to check the
expression of his/her own site?
-
You
can take steps to improve
your own writing skills
-
You
can employ someone to proofread
and edit your work
-
You
can employ someone to write
your pages for you
There are places that will
assist you with any or all
of these steps. Don't spoil
all your hard work by skipping
this one, vital step! Browse
through these other articles
to read how you can improve
the writing on your web
site.
