The goal of a web site is to make it a positive experience for the visitor. Visitors want quick, accurate access to the information they are seeking. To achieve a good web site, the following best of breed characteristics need to be integrated into a web site. These characteristics are found in ALL effective web sites.
Pages are standard HTML
Search engines and knowledge management systems can catalog pages.
- Works with any size or configuration monitor.
- Slim pages - Pages are fast and small, pages download quickly.
- Supports browser compatibility - web pages have been tested and are viewable on Microsoft, Netscape, AOL, and Safari browsers.
- Multi-tier web site
- Flexible navigation path - let the visitor choose their path.
- Flat web site - visitors can access all pages within three clicks .
- No Bermuda triangles - areas visitors enter, never to return - don't let your visitors get lost.
- Random access of content - visitors are not required to follow a defined path through the information
- Site wide navigation - continual access to information necessary throughout the site e.g. home, FAQ, site map, and contact.
- Accessibility
- Web pages should be designed for blind readers.
- Web pages should not have fixed fonts - visitors should be able to define the size of the font in their browser. Older people and people with visual problems will not be able to read or access fonts that are fixed font or non-html (graphics).
- Web page layout and design (look and feel) is specified using CSS (cascading style sheets).
- CSS is the web standard method of defining the look and feel of a web page.
- CSS provides complete web look and feel of the web site.
- Page content and page layout is separate with CSS.
- Designers can change the look of a web page without touching the page.
- By pointing a browser to a different CSS, the same page can look completely different to different visitors.
