Basic Principles of Web Page Design

Include Essential Elements on Each Page.

Any web page may be accessed directly from another website. Therefore each web page needs to contain essential information, which allows it to act as an independent document. This essential information is usually placed into one of three main parts of the web page

• header
• body
• footer

The header is used to bring continuity to the various pages of the website, as well as indicate the main topic of the particular web page. Therefore, the header usually contains a banner graphic, which ties the various web pages of the site together, the title of the document, and navigational aids which link to other pages within the Web site.

The body contains the main textual content of the document, as well as hypertext links to other web pages and related Websites.

The footer is used to verify the origin and authorship of the web page. Therefore, the footer should contain a minimum of the company contact details and a statement of copyright. Other useful information might include navigational links to other pages within the web site and the date of last revision.

Use Appropriate Navigational Aids.

Good navigational aids are essential to good web page design. By including the navigational links at the end of the page, the user is not forced to return to the beginning of the Web page after browsing it in order to access another page. Another method used to increase navigability is to provide a site map.

Keep Page Lengths Short.

It is usually recommended that Web page lengths not exceed two or three screens worth of information. A major disadvantage of long web pages is that the user needs to depend on the vertical scroll bar to navigate within the page, a process that can be disorienting to the viewer. In order to keep Web pages short, longer topics can be subdivided into logical chunks of information on separate web pages. Individual web pages should include only relevant, yet complete, information on a single topic.

Use Appropriate Text Fonts and Styles.

Different web page browsers may display special non-standard text fonts in various ways. For this reason, web page designers should use standard text fonts in designing web pages.

Use Colour Appropriately.

Colour should be used sparingly and only to highlight key elements of the page or to indicate specific functions. Just because you can view a particular colour with a particular browser does not mean that others will be able to view it on their monitor with their browser. Therefore it is important to use browser-safe colours, which are also know as web-save colours.

Black is traditionally used on Web pages for the main body of text because of its legibility on a light background. Some colours are traditionally used to convey a particular meaning. Red, for example, is often used to signify danger or warning, and thus should be used sparingly to convey such meaning. Blue is traditionally used to indicate hypertext links to other Web pages, and a shade of purple to indicate links that have already been accessed by the current user.

Keep Graphics Small.

Graphics can effectively be used to add interest to a web page, but the amount and size of graphics should be kept to a minimum. Too many graphics, or a single large graphic, can take a long time to download. Usually, using several smaller graphics, as opposed to one large one, can create a better impression for

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