Web concept and design the comprehensive guide to creating effective Web pages
by Crystal Waters
Step one: determine your sites goal
Before you fill your head with virtual sugar plums, plans of the little search engine that could, and how you're going to be "Cool Site of the day" for eight days in a row because your graphics are as amazing as the Sunrise (not that I think you're that grandiose), let's actually do some ground floor planning. It's time to ask yourself: "what results do I want from creating my WebSite?"
There are a number of reasons to create a WebSite. Look through this list, grab a piece of paper or a stack of index cards, and make a list of your own. Feel free to add reasons if you come up with more. Take as many as you like for now. Some topics may sound a bit silly, weird, or irrelevant, but no one else needs see your list but you and Mr. Hicks. We'll worry about organizing the list of ideas or whether or not they can actually be implemented later.
There's no need to get to specific about topics right now just tried to brainstorm a bit.
Ready? Recites after me:
I want to create a site in order to...
Promote a product
Promote a service
Sell products
Sell a service
Sell advertising space
Raise money/donations
Tell customers about my company
Enhance my company's image
Change my company's image
Create a community
Tell a story
Receive feedback from customers
Post calendars or schedules
Show off my HTML skills
Show off my Web design skills
Learn HTML skills
Fulfill a class assignment
Complete to a work assignment
Promote my resume
Promote my writing/portfolio
Teach people a skill
Create an alternate way for people to learn about me
Create an alternate way for people to learn about my company
Give employees internal information
Post job opportunities
Give product support (i.e. FAQs about product)
Entertain my audience
Research a subject
Publish views on a subject
Receive e-mail from potential pen tells
Support an existing publication
Support an organization, store, TV show, etc.
Provide contemporary information to our media
Provide shareware or demos of products
Provide a unique resource on a topic
Push technology's envelope (i.e. experimentation with Web technologies such as VRML and Java)
Enter the 20th-century (i.e. I need/my company needs a Web page because everyone else has one)
Meet people
Get rich
Get famous
Step two: Who needs it? Who wants it?
Now that you have a general idea of what you want to get out there, just who is it that you want to come view the thing? For example, if you're creating a site with the goal of promoting your graphic design/illustration skills and get freelance gigs, just who do you want to come see your work? Here's a sample list:
Your friends
Galleries
Book publishers
Magazine editors
Your parents
Part directors
Advertising firms
Web designers
People who do the hiring
Companies with big budgets
People with fast access to the Web so that images load faster
People with high-res monitors (able to view true color)
People who use the latest browser versions (for special effects)
In your case, the age and sex of the audience is irrelevant, unless you have a very particular style or prefer to work for certain organizations or genre of publications, such as senior citizen gardening guides or children's comic books.
But if you're goal is to support an existing publication about electric guitars, for example, your target audience member may have some or all of the following characteristics:
Goes to concerts
Buys lots of CDs
Collects guitars
Has an interest in guitars
Plays the guitar
May want to subscribe
Loves Jimi Hendrix
Is age 12 to 50 with a median age of 19
Is more likely male than female
Is part of a band
Wants to be in a band
Still has a day job (not a high tax bracketed one)
Monitor only supports 256 colors
28.8 or slower dial in access
Accesses the Web via online services (AOL/CompuServe/Prodigy)
So let's get out another index card or two,and make another list profiling the people you want to bring to your site. Even if you think the category is irrelevant, try giving it an answer. If you've done market research or surveys already now the time to break out the data. But remember, you want to write down who we you want to bring to the site, not just people who think may be slightly interested.
Age range
Sex
Sexual orientation
Marital status
Family status (do they have children? How many?)
Ethnic group
Religion or lack thereof
Political affiliation
Salary level
Budgets/spending level
Level of education (high school, college, doctorate)
Type of education (medical, technical, artistic)
Level of computer experience
Level of Internet experience
Type of job experience
Current job
Access the Web from home
Access the Web from work
Type/speed of connection (i.e. T1, ISDN, 28.8 modem, 14.4 modem, 56 modem)
Amount of time they spend online
Time of day/night they access the Web
Type of computer (low-end/high-end)
Type of monitor resolution (256 colors; millions of colors)
Computer platform (Windows, Macintosh, Amiga, Newton)
Web browser they used to access the Web (Netscape navigator? AOL? I.E.?)
Hobbies
Interests
Past times
Organizations they belong to
Publications they read
Television shows they watch
Music they listen to
Movies they see
Food they eat (gourmet? Budget? Vegetarian?)
Restaurants they frequent
Country in which they live
Area of the country in which they live
Type of clothing their where
Credit standing
Preferred way of shopping (mail-order? Shopping malls?)
Level of spending control (i.e. buyer of goods and services for a large corporation or teenager with an allowance)
Type of living environments (country, city, suburb, apartment, house, condo)
Whether or not they have to call long distance to access the Web (no local dial in No.)
Again, there are probably a few profile categories that you'll come up with that I missed. Write those on your list. They will count as extra credit.
WHERE DO YOU FIND MARKETING INFORMATION?
If you don't already have access to the set of marketing survey results, and take a look at some sights that provide results from basic consumer online information surveys. For example,GVU WWW users survey home page.
HTTP://WWW.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/user_surveys/
The Georgia Institute of technology graphic, visualization, and usability centers World Wide Web users survey is endorsed by the WWW Consortium (W3C), theNCSA's software development group (S. D. G.-the mosaic developers), and INRIA (the acting European host for the W3C and collaboration with CERN). According to its site inflow, over 23,000 unique responses were collected comment and results cover such categories as general demographics, browser usage, consumer attitudes, and preferences.
Third step: what do you do with all this stuff?
Ah ha, the clincher. After you determine a general description of the type of person you'd like to visit your site, you can then use the information to help determine a number of design aspects for your site. Let's take a look at some of the user attributes, and show what those attributes can mean to your design.
AGE RANGE: could determine color scheme (write crazy colors for kids; large text for older viewers); language usage (some may not be legal or prefer oval for a younger audience).
FAMILY STATUS: could determine how much time they spend on the Web. Kids could use it to study, the family may also spend more time doing things other than browse the Web during the summer.
BUDGET/SPENDING LEVEL: may determine amount of time spent on the Web (most people have to pay for access, some hourly); will definitely determine how much they buy (if you're trying to sell products).
LEVEL OF COMPUTER EXPERIENCE: heavily influences how much the viewer needs to be guided through different activities on a site (how to download a file, how to add a plug-in or help application).
HOW THEY ACCESS THE WEB: accesses the Web from home/accesses the Web from work/whether or not they have to call long distance to access the Web (no local dial in numbers)/type/speed of connection (i.e. T1, ISDN, 28.8 modem, 14.4 modem): all of these will help determine how much time a person has to spend on the Web (if at work, or slow connection, either a box may be looking over their shoulder, or they have to spend more time/money accessing). Also help determine how large graphics can be to be tolerable; will help determine length of pages.
TYPE OF MONITOR RESOLUTION/COMPUTER PLATFORM/WEB BROWSER: each of the use will influence what resolution graphics are preferable; what tags will be best avoided were taken advantage of (there's no use in creating shock wave files if most of your viewers can use them).
HOBBIES/INTERESTS/PAST TIMES: if your site isn't the hobbies/interests/pastime of your viewers comment it may at least be able to include links (or perhaps a searchable database to various sites or the resources of interest within the hobbies/interests/past times they enjoy.
COUNTRY/AREA IN WHICH THEY LIVE: could determine what content is legally resemble or what software can be posted for download. If you're planning to sell products over the Web, these factors will also determine what kind of tax, shipping costs, shipping limitations comment and other information must be provided.
PREFERRED WAY OF SHIPPING: will help to assess whether you should provide an area for online ordering (if your viewers are used to shopping via credit card and mail-order, they probably will be more comfortable shopping through the Web), and help to determine what level of security you will offer customers.