Site design
should be aimed at simplicity above all else,
as few distractions as possible.
Home
Page
The home page should be designed differently
than the other pages but share the same style.
There should be no home link on the home page
but should have a larger logo. The home page
needs to answer the questions “Where am
I?” and “What does this site do?”
The answers should be obvious from the design.
News or special features you want your users
to be aware of should also have a place on the
home page.
Home pages need to offer 3 features:
(1) navigation (2) summary of the most important
news or promotions and (3) a search feature.
For sites where search is a primary access mechanism,
include search box at the top of the home page,
otherwise a simple link to the search page.
Navigation should be the number one priority
for the home page. The search box if any should
be in a prominent position in the top right
hand corner.
How wide
should the page be?
Do not design for any standard width but create
a page layout that will work across a range
of window sizes.
Splash
Screens
Splash screens are annoying and the only appropriate
use for them is to filter users and warn users
about the content that will be found on the
home page.
www.xxx-banners.com’s website
shows a warning splash screen
The Home
Page versus Interior Pages
Interior pages need to focus on specific content
and the home page needs to focus on providing
a general welcome message or an overview of
the site.
Deep
Linking
Deep linking enables other sites to direct users
to the exact spot on your site that is of interest
to those users. Users should not be forced to
enter your site through the home page and then
have to learn your navigation system just to
get to the content they want.
Metaphor
Users live in the real world and not the metaphor
world. It is best to explain what each interface
element is and what it does rather than trying
to fit everything into a single metaphor. Metaphors
are good for providing a unified framework for
the design and can help learning by allowing
users to draw upon the knowledge they already
have. E.g. shopping cart icon.
Navigation
Navigational interfaces are required to help
users answer the three fundamental questions
of navigation
1. Where am I? Relative to the Web as a whole
and to the site’s structure.
2. Where have I been? The Back button, history
list and hypertext links in different colours.
3. Where can I go? The visible navigation choices
and links on the page answer this question.
Site
Structure
It is extremely important to have a site structure
and that it reflects the user’s view of
the site and its information or services. The
site structure should be determined by the tasks
the users want to perform on your site.
User
Controls Navigation
Web designers need to accommodate and support
user-controlled navigation. Users use the Web
as a whole and not as a specific site. Nobody’s
site is the centre of the user’s universe;
sites need to be designed to make it as easy
for the user as possible.
Sub-sites
Sub-sites are a collection of web pages within
a larger site that have a common style and shared
navigation system. There should be a separate
home page for each sub-site with a link to the
home page of the entire site. The sub-site should
have a global navigation system in addition
to its local navigation.
Search
Search should be made available from every page
on the site. Try to avoid scoped searches, as
users often don’t understand site structure.
Advanced search should be on a separate page
linked from the home page where there is a simple
search. Search results page should display the
best hits at the top without duplicating occurrences
of the same page. Highlighting all occurrences
of the user’s search terms should enhance
search destination pages.
Page
Descriptions and Keywords
The page abstract is contained in a META tag
with the name “description” in the
page header and should only be 150 to 200 characters
long. Lists of keywords are also placed in a
META tag in the page header and are only used
to determine the relative ranking of the retrieved
pages. The keywords must be focused and highly
descriptive and should include simple e.g. bus
and compound terms e.g. double-decker bus. Keywords
should be added for all the main synonyms for
your topic and add alternative keywords for
any terms used by your competitors.
URL Design
“Company.com” and “www.company.com”
should be used as aliased names for your web
server. Links from other websites are the third-most
common way people find sites, so your site must
be built to make it easy to attract inbound
links. Ensure all URLs live forever and continue
to point to the relevant pages. Temporary URLs
are used to store content that changes on a
regular basis e.g. the news and should be archived
under a permanent URL in addition to the temporary
URL. Old URLs should be kept functional for
at least 6 months and preferably 2 years. It
can take search engines 6 months to update their
databases and get rid of their old URLs.
