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In a series of articles within the next few months, I will be exploring some fundamentals of basic Web site design and how to get your site off the ground. When creating a Web site, you can never overplan or overorganize. Regardless if you are developing and creating the site yourself or hire a professional, you will most likely be involved in planning, organizing and preparing material for the site.

This month we are focusing on how to prepare to create a web site that is clear, concise and easy-to-use, following these four steps:

1) Define the purpose;
2) Select your Target Audience;
3) Plan and Organize; and,
4) Review and Question.

Your first step is to define the purpose of your site. Decide what the purpose of your site will be. You need to know what you plan to do, before you can do it. Is the site just for fun or do you have a specific goal in mind? If for fun, what do you want to put on the site? List your ideas, then write them down.

If your site is to meet a specific goal, write down the purpose, then break down what you think you need in order to achieve this purpose. Here’s an example for a company site:

The main purpose is to have an Internet presence with information about the company.

1. Mission statement or main focus of the company
2. Information about the company such as history, owners, etc.
3. Images and graphics to help explain visually about the company
4. Contact Information
5. "More Info" form
6. Descriptions of services or products offered

Next, define your target audience. Your site has the potential to be viewed by many: family and friends, customers, suppliers, potential customers, employees, loan officers, your competition, etc. Identify your MOST important audience and focus your message and design on them.
Once you have defined your purpose and selected your audience, you are ready to plan and organize:

a) list your contents;
b) create a flow chart;
c) determine the navigation;
d) organize content; and,
e) design.

Begin by listing your content. Create an outline and make a list of what you want your site to contain. Then create a flow chart showing how this information will be organized and laid out. Decide what the main pages will be, such as Home Page, About Us, Contact Us, Products/Service, etc. Next, what are the sub-pages within the main pages going to be? For instance, under products, you may have a page for each category of product.

Once your flow chart is complete, it’s time to work on the navigation. Navigation consists of the buttons and links that move one from page to page and back again. How will the user get to the content and how can they get back? DON’T LOSE THE USER. Create the main primary navigation with relating sub-navigation to each page. GENERAL RULE: the main navigation links should be on every page, specific sub-navigation should only be on the page it relates to.

Now you are ready to organize your content. Get your content together and organize it in folders. These folders can be directories on the computer and/or regular file folders to place physical content. Divide your folders into pages, images and any other main group you may need. Within these folders may be subfolders. As an example, you may have a folder called images with sub-folders called headings and buttons.

Finally, design the look and feel of the site. Simplicity COUNTS! Just because it can be done, does not mean you should do it. White space is good. Limit the use of animation and flashing text. If you have animation, it should run once and stop. Throughout the process, you should always review and question by asking yourself:

• Can visitors find information easily?
• Is the navigation clear and consistent throughout?
• Do the pages load quickly (no more than10/20 seconds)?
• For a business site, is your contact information easily found and your phone on each page?
• Are the MOST important elements of your site visible (screen size 800x600, visible area 780x580).
• Does the site look good and work in both Netscape and Internet Explorer.

For e-Commerce Sites:

• Can you tell quickly what you are selling?
• Are products and description easily found?
• Is it clear to the user HOW to place an order?

Remember, plan and organize, so when you build your pages, you will have everything you need.