Purposing web design is often a complex, but essential ongoing activity for anything other than a simple site with an extremely limited content. Before creating and uploading the components of a website, it is important, as with most complex projects, to take the time to plan exactly what is needed on the website. Thoroughly considering the target or intended audience as well as defining the raison d’etre or purpose and deciding what content will be developed are extremely important factors.
Web Content Context
Web design is similar (in a very simplistic way) to conventional print publishing. Every website is an information display container, just as a book is a container; and every web page can be compared to a page in a book. However, modern web design uses a framework based on digital code and display technology to create and maintain an environment to distribute multiple form of information. Taken to its fullest potential, web design is viewed by some as the most sophisticated and increasingly complex method to support communication in today's world.
Web Design Purpose
It is essential to define what the purpose of the website is as one of the first steps in the planning procedure. A purpose statement should show focus based on what the website will accomplish and what the users will get from it. A clearly defined purpose will help the rest of the planning process as the web site audience is identified and the content of the site is developed. Setting short and long term goals for the website will help make the purpose clear and plan for the future when expansion, modification, and improvement will take place. The practice of goal setting practices and measurable objectives should be identified to track the progress of the site and determine success of the overall web development project.
Web Design Considerations: Audience
Defining the web site audience is a key step in the website planning procedure. The audience is the group of people who are expected to visit the website – the market being targeted. These people will be viewing the website for a unambiguous reason and it is important to know exactly what they are looking for when they visit the web site. A clearly distinct purpose or goal of the site as well as an appreciation of what visitors want to do or feel when they come to the web site that will help to identify the target audience. Upon taking into consideration who is most likely to need or use the content, a list of characteristics common to the users such as:
· Audience Characteristics
· Information Preferences
· Typical Computer Specifications
· Expected Web Experience
Taking into account the demographics and characteristics of the audience will allow an effective website to be created that will deliver the desired content to the target audience.
Web Design Considerations: Content
Content assessment and organization requires that the purpose of the website be clearly defined. Collecting a list of the indispensable content then organizing it according to the audience's needs is a key step in website planning. In the process of gathering the content being offered, any items that do not support the defined purpose or accomplish target audience objectives should be seperated. It is usually a good idea to test the content and purpose on a focus group and compare the offerings to the audience needs. The next step is to categorize the basic information structure by arranging the content and organizing it according to user needs. Each category should be named with a concise and descriptive title that will eventually become a hyperlink on the website. Planning for the site's content ensures that the immediate and future wants or needs of the target audience and the purpose of the site will be fulfilled.
Web Design Considerations: Compatibility and restrictions
Because of the market share of modern browsers (depending on your target market), the compatibility of your website with the viewers is restricted unless you spend a fortune on extra compliance for various quirks on different browswers. Even then your site won’t be guaranteed to display on everything. For instance, a website that is designed for the majority of we users will be inadequate to the use of valid XHTML 1.0 Strict or older, Cascading Style Sheets Level 1, and 1024x768 display resolution. This is because Internet Explorer is not a fully W3C standards compliant browser with the modularity of XHTML 1.1 and the majority of CSS beyond 1. A target market of more alternative browser (e.g. Firefox, Safari and Opera) users allow for more W3C compliance and thus a greater range of options for a web designer. However as the majority of users use Internet Explorer 7,6 and 8 in decending order (as of June 2009), you are a bit buggered.
Another restriction on webpage design revolves around graphics and is the use of different Image file formats. The majority of users can support GIF, JPEG, and PNG (with some restrictions). Again Internet Explorer is the major restriction here, not fully supporting PNG's advanced transparency features, resulting in the GIF format still being the most widely used graphic file format for transparent images.
Many website incompatibilities go unnoticed by the designer and unreported by the users. The only way to be certain a website will work on a particular browser / OS platform is to test it on that platform.
Web Design Considerations: Planning documentation
Planning documentation is used to visually plan the web site while taking into account the purpose, target audience and content, to design the web site structure, which content and which interactions that are most suitable for the website. Documentation may be considered as a prototype for the website – a model which allows the website layout to be reviewed, resulting in suggested changes, modifications, improvements and/or enhancements. This review process increases the likelihood of overall success of the website.The first step in the web design process may involve information architecture in which the content is categorized (normally hierarchical, but other ontological approaches are available) and the information schema or structure is formulated. The information structure is used to develop a document or visual diagram called a site map (not to be confused with google sitemaps which are a different matter). This creates a visual of how the web page content will be interconnected, and may help in deciding what content will be placed on what pages.
In addition to planning the structure during the web design, the layout and user interface of individual pages may be planned using a graphical storyboard. In the process of web design storyboarding, a record is made of the description, purpose and title of each page in the web site, and they are linked together according to the most effective and logical diagram type. Depending on the number of pages required for the website, documentation methodologies may include using pieces of paper and drawing lines to connect them, or creating the storyboard using specialist computer software.
Some or all of the individual pages that will be in the web site may be designed in greater detail as a website wireframe or grid, a mock up model or comprehensive layout of what the page will actually look like. This is often done in a graphic program such as photoshop, or layout design program. The wireframe has no working functionality, only planning, although it can be used for selling ideas to other web design companies.
| < Prev |
|---|
