The Nuts and Bolts of Web Pages

Elements of a Web Page

Web pages have a lot of components. Graphics, text and fancy animations all come together to create what you see here. However, they are generally described in two parts. The Template and The Content.

• The Template: This is everything you see except the body of the page. That is, the navigation menus, the search box and the logo. Basically all the things that don't change with each page are referred to collectively as the template. Creating templates is not very easy. Modifying them is also quite technical. This is usually what the Webmaster or original desiger spends a lot of time creating.
• The Content: You're looking at it right now. This is the plain-old text and occasional picture that fills up the template. This is not very technical to create. While I write this, it feels just like Word or Wordperfect.
• The Layout: Usually, the first step in creating a Web page, from a Web-site designer's standpoint, is graphic design. As you may know, programmers do not always make great graphic designers, so be sure your Web site design firm is qualified in both technical and artistic capacities. People make a lot of mistakes when deciding on layouts. Here are a few rules of the road:
  • Main Navigation should be either on the top or on the left-hand side of the page.
  • Your logo should appear on every page in the site (e.g. it should be part of the template)
  • Contact information or a link to it should be on every page.
  • Colors should cooperate. This is where you should listen to your graphic artist and trust their recommendations. Some colors work together and some don't. Others provoke specific emotions that may be undesirable. So be careful when you insist on that "yellow, blue and red" web site.
  • Fonts should be consistent. Things get confusing and continuity is lost when different fonts are combined. It gets worse when different classes of fonts are used. Doesn't this look a little out of place?
• The Navigation: Navigation is a generic term for the technologies, tools or methods used to provide a user interface for your Web site. How do people get from one place to the next? On this site, we've chosen the menu at the top as a navigation utility. User interface is another entire area of research so try not to invent your own. The most important part of user interface design is making sure it is intuitive to you and your target audience. Test it out on a few people and watch their initial reaction. No one should need instruction on how to move around your site, so take care in creating your buttons and menus.
• Navigation Part Deux: Be sure that you can get from anywhere to anywhere in 3 clicks or less. This is not as easy as it sounds. We've tried our best to do that in this Web site. You should do this as well. The primary reason is that people have as much patience on the Web as they do when sitting in front of their television. Therefore, providing the quickest path to what they want is important, lest they change the channel!

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