Easy Website Construction

by: Gene DeFazzio

Website construction

Gather together all of the elements that make up your website design: web pages, scripts, graphics, forms, etc. and place them in a directory folder dedicated only to your site. This directory folder should be organized on your hard drive just as you intend it to be organized on the internet.

Examples of organizing your website assembly can be found here, develop website (website file organization), and here, upload organization (creating directories). When you have organized your website directory folder in this manner you will have at your disposal all of the building blocks that make up your site. This will provide for easy maintenance and manipulation of your website in the future.

Steps to constructing your website

Now that your data is organized use the following checklist to be sure that you construct your website correctly. The main steps are as follows;

• The first (index/homepage) page should fit, on screen, in an area 640 - 740 pixels wide by 460 - 520 pixels high. - This ensures that nearly every visitor to your introductory page will see its important information.
  
  

• Short text lines in all links - Be as descriptive as possible in your text links but keep them short. (i.e. 40-60 characters).
  
  

• Short paragraphs - Visitors scan web pages and only read the information that they are looking for. Long paragraphs are difficult to read on a computer screen. Keep them brief. (i.e. 4-8 Lines).
  
  

• "Alt" labels on all graphics - Search engines and web surfers who are without graphics capabilities cannot see images. The "alt" tag is a way to describe the missing image.
  
  

• Index or site map for large website - All web sites should have a site map. It is the backbone of your navigation system and provides access to all of the pages in your site at a glance.
  
  

• Color coordination - Use only two or three basic colors for your website and stick to that color scheme throughout your site. This provides continuity. Also, be sure to reflect this in your text link colors.
  
  

• Quick download time - People do not like to wait while a web page is being downloaded. Optimize your index/homepage to download in less than 30 seconds, the quicker the better.
  
  

• Use of browser-safe color palette - If you want your graphics and text to display uniformly for all of your visitors use browser-safe colors only.
  
  

• All pages, other than your index/homepage, should be designed for a width of 640 - 740 pixels; the length can be whatever is appropriate for the content.
  
  

• Clear, easy to follow navigation - Website navigation is the single most important factor in providing a pleasant experience for your visitor. Simple is better when designing your navigation system.
  
  

• Consistency from page to page - visitors will know they are still on the same website regardless of which page they are viewing. Use common headers and footers throughout your website.
  
  

• Organization of the information and of the website - Simplicity and order must be the rule when you set-up your website. This is as important to you as it is to your visitors, now and in the future, as your site begins to grow.
  
  

• White space or negative space - This is how to direct your visitors eye around a web page. Make good use of borders, line breaks and spaces.
  
  

• Contrast of text and background for easy reading - Remember, reading on a computer screen is hard on the eyes. By providing high contrast and low key backgrounds on your web pages eye fatigue will be reduced.
  
  

• Good object/text alignment - A balanced web page layout is imperative for a professional appearance. Pick an alignment style and stick with it. This also helps your visitors comprehension when they read the content of your website.
  
  Note:
  
  Always try to keeps things 740 pixels wide or less, simply because you want to design for the lowest common denominator or screen resolutions which by most standards is 800x600. Some people have less, going as low as 640x480, but to design for that just doesn't leave enough space to accomplish anything worth doing.

Organization is the key to easy website construction

Its easy to get caught up in the day to day mechanics of designing and maintaining a website and poor organization just makes the job harder. Too much of this type of busy work will stifle your creativity and you can grow stale.