Good web sites come in all sizes and shapes. They may have very different styles in the way of appearance and function, but all of the best sites have the same basic elements of good web design.

Content
Content is a popular topic on this site and others. “Content is King” is a phrase used often in sites discussing web design. Well…content is king or key or however you may phrase it. “Content” is the whole purpose of a web site. “Content” is why Internet users visit a site. Site visitors are looking for specific information or something to buy or even a game to play, but they are looking for something and it is important that a designer or developer give it to them. No amount of fluff is going to keep them there or bring them back. Only “Content” will do that.

Good content contains as much information as possible about the products or topics the site markets or addresses. It is arranged in a way that makes it easy to read and written in a manner that is easily understood. It is also free of spelling and grammatical errors. A good web site will have a definitive purpose and will contain only the information needed to fulfill that purpose. If a web site is selling gift baskets, there is absolutely no need to include information about the weather or stocks or anything that does not directly pertain to gift baskets. Are their exceptions to this rule? Not really. A large entertainment site may address many different topics but those topics should ultimately pertain to various forms of entertainment.

When beginning a web site you should ask yourself 4 main questions: 1) What is the overall goal or purpose of this site? 2) Who is my audience? 3) What does the consumer or user want to obtain from my site? And last - but definitely not unimportant - 4) How do I obtain the site’s objectives by meeting the needs of it’s visitors?

Once you have set your goals and gathered your information you will need next weeks topic on “Easy Navigation” to put it together in a sensible and logical manner.

The continuing saga of “The Basic Elements of Good Web Design” will include but is not limited to the topics of “Easy Navigation”, “Web Safe Colors”, “Designing for Different Browsers and Resolutions”, “Good Web Graphics” and “Search Engines are blanekty blank blank blanks!” I invite anyone who wishes to author these topics with me but I want all the credit! That was me being humorous or attempting to anyway so no flaming responses please!

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Marrianne Williams
Stu Reilly Design
StuReillyDesign.com

Linda

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Gil Harvey
"I keep hitting the 'escape' key - but I'm still here!!!"
Old Hippy Productions, Inc.
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