Web Site Wonders

What makes a great web site? Simply put, it's not boring and it's easy to use. Let's explore in detail how to accomplish that!

Content

Content is truly the "meat and potatoes" of your presentation. If you have materials that folks need or want, you're already half way there. But how can you hold the visitor's attention so that he looks beyond your home page?

• Tone

  Your voice tells more than the printed words. If you have something important to say, tell it to your audience as if they are your best friend. Your tone should be friendly, off the cuff and not preachy. How long does a "textbook" tone grab your attention? But if someone unravels an interesting story right before your eyes you are more apt to stay for the ending. Little children don't watch TV, they watch commercials. The internet has become one huge commercial endlessly grasping for an audience. However, your content should contain substance, not just slogans!

• Flow

  Every story has a beginning, a middle, and an end... except on the internet! Links allow visitors to hop all over the "story". Therefore, it is in your best interest to strategically present links after important information is unveiled. For example: If you are offering free clip art but you want a link to your site in return for a right to copy (meaning you have conditions for free use of the clipart), present your copyright statement before you offer the graphics!

• Believability

  Are you on the web, just to be on the web? What's the purpose of your page? Perhaps, this is the most important statement of all. Make sure what you say is worthwhile and that you have an audience of more than one! (Church sites have it made! Content is supreme and visitors are people not customers.)

• Accessibility

  Accessibility is the counterpart of flow. Just as you don't want to introduce a link prematurely, you do want to make all elements of the presentation accessible. One can do this quite easily if first you outline or story board your presentation. This outline structure should be evident in your design.

Text

• Spell check

  Read what you wrote. Take the time to read through the text for improper usage of grammar. Use a spell checker to catch spelling errors. You may be viewed as lazy and sloppy if you don't!

• Font

  Font, as in the chosen HTML font tag (code) within your presentation, not to be confused with your browser font option. Webmasters may choose a font to highlight or design a page style. Note: Good design uses more no than 3-4 fonts per page, with consistent usage.

  • Color

    To be safe choose opposites. If the background is dark, select a bright or light colored text. Link colors should be readable as well.

  • Type

    Be careful! Fonts that are available on your computer are not necessarily available on others. If the person viewing the page doesn't have that particular font on their computer, the browser font will default. If the default font isn't appealing, be sure to offer alternative fonts separated by commas!

  • Size

    Too small? Too large? Either can be annoying to the visitor. Rule out heading size 6 (HTML tag) completely. If a heading is long, rule out heading size 1 to avoid overbearing headlines. Consider others' opinions and screen resolution when using font tags.

• Background

  Select appropriate backgrounds for your content. A poor example would be to choose a "golf turf" background image for your church worship page. If the weekly service isn't being held at the golf course this week, it's inappropriate! Avoid noisy or neon backgrounds. They hurt your eyes and actually take away from the content. Once again, select a contrasting text color to compliment the background image.

• Layout

  A simple layout helps the visitor absorb the content much easier. Avoid using more than two frames unless the frames are part of the function. We'll talk more about frames in the HTML section.

Ease of Use

• Platform friendly

  Not the shoe! Computer platform. Many types of computers access the internet: PC's, Mac's, Unix and more. Computer types handle HTML and a browser in their own way. That causes a webmaster headache! On top of all that, there's resolution. (Resolution is your varied screen size display options offered to you by your operating system ie: Windows 95) A LYNX browser (text only) can't display images, Java, and more. So what do you do? Offer the basics to all, and with the fancy presentations include user notification messages. An example is the "text-only" area of the WELS site. Our "meat and potatoes" are offered there as well as on the graphic version. Our more enhanced features are presented only on the graphic version of the WELS site.

• Navigation ease

  So you just figured out the rules, and then they (browsers and the W3 Consortium) changed them in mid-stream. Frustrating right? That's what you have to avoid in your web presentation. Be consistent on how to navigate through your pages. This makes the visitor feel at home quite quickly and avoids intimidating them with each click.

• Download time

  It's great to be on a T1 line (that's techie talk for direct access to the internet without a modem). Most visitors are accessing the internet on a 28.8 modem. Your page download time can invite or scare away visitors. All the excitement is gone when you have to wait... and wait.... and wait for a page to appear. Keep images small and break long text into sections.

• Continuity

  Be consistent and to the point. Don't spread two topics across one page. Present materials in a timely and orderly fashion. New topic... new page. Long topic...divide it into sections. Create pages with purpose that flow throughout your presentation.

Presentation

• Style fits with Content

  Flying saucer buttons to present materials on marriage? You get the point. Be creative but not "clown faced".

• Appeal... avoid boring

  Don't have to pay for color! Color is costly in the print world. That makes most print designers quite conservative. What wonderful news: color is free on the web! But, for a cost! Huh? One must not overdo the "hue thing" otherwise the content message is lost! Your visitors will be admiring the colors not the content.

Element of Surprise

• Freshness

  Ever visited a page in August and they're presenting a Valentine's theme? Unfortunately most web designers are only that...designers. Webmasters assume responsibility of their web site and keep it up-to-date. Visitors are easily lost when returning to your site weeks, or months later to find nothing's changed. Surprise your viewers with a new item or feature even if your content is of a static nature.

• Beauty

  Blooms, babies, sunsets and nature. Beauty can enhance the visual quality of your presentation when used appropriately. What season is it? Do you feature "A quote for the day" or another regular item? Include images with text to beautify a regular feature.

• Humor

  Even the most static content allows for a subtle remark. For example: the topic may be "how to write a research paper". The text goes on and on with valuable pointers... but has the tendency to put the reader to sleep. "Ahhhh! (YAWN)" May just wake up the reader. Even an animated image of a person yawning can do the trick. Most people are easily amused. So they laugh, and then they read on (because they need the materials) but they read on with earnest hoping you'll amuse them once again.

• Thought provoking

  Make me think! Highlight major points of your text that pull me into the story. Create images or slogans that ask questions. Most of us are curious by nature. Give them questions...they'll look for answers in your presentation!

Interactive features

• HTML

  Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) offers links to add interactive play. Sometimes it can be clumsy to link lengthy materials using html, but you can overcome the clumsiness with creativity. The advantage is that any browser can display it! Before the newer Java scripts WELS site used html for Bible study quizes. Take a look at the Bible study on Father Abraham and how it uses HTML links for interactive effects in the quiz section.

• CGI forms

  Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripts allow a user not only to select items but to enter text. An example of this is the guestbook on the WELS site. The elements of this language work along with an additional language such as Perl or C (The WELS guestbook is a combination of CGI and Perl). Most web hosting providers offer CGI scripts that are compatible with the web server or you can download scripts and edit them for your site.

• Java scripts

  Java, a programming language named after an island, offers an unlimited variety of applications. That means, the Java programmer can create just about anything within the limitations of the language. You don't have to be a Java programmer to incorporate these scripts into your web presentation. Most are available for free, downloadable on the web. Simply follow the programmer's directions of "cut and paste" and personalize the script for your use. Most offer bulletin board help areas on their site.
  
  An example of a Java application is on the WELS Bible studies page. After the scripture lesson, there is a quiz with answers coded in Java. Or try out the crossword puzzle area for a totally different Java application. Java has one huge drawback! Sun and Microsoft don't agree on language rules. Thus a Sun Java script will not work on Internet Explorer and visa versa. So if you use a particular Java version, make sure you post a user notification message as to which browser won't work.

• Plug-ins

  Ok so you really want to do something cool on your web site. That's okay. But remember, the average user has no clue what a "plug-in" is, or how to download it. Still want to? Another item to consider is that one plug-in doesn't necessarily work on all platforms! So either find alternative plug-ins for those platforms or notify users what won't work for which platform. Did I scare you away yet? Actually plug-ins are cool but I feel that the browser should be smart enough to do all of that! Chalk one up for Microsoft this time, in-line video "way cool". Netscape is more widely used. Many plug-ins are worth while like Real Audio. Some like Shockwave or Macromedia offer 3D and motion. Best bet is to test your page on a "computer illiterate" user. If he can figure it out...go for it!

• Leading edge technology

  So where are we going from here? Your guess is as good as mine! Just be slow to introduce new technologies since you are narrowing the scope of your audience otherwise. Perhaps new technologies deserve a chance in a well announced section including "do's and don'ts" and "how-to's".

Publicity

• Search engine identity

  Yahoo, Excite, Infoseek and more! In order for your pages to be viewed by others, they need to know your web site URL (address). Internet users enter a keyword at a search engine site to find links to web sites matching the keyword topic. If there are two hundred sites with the same topic, most people choose a site from the top 20 listed.
  
  There are various publications and companies that claim to move your site to the top of a search engine list. This type of service is in demand and can become quite costly as well as incapable of succeeding since more and more people want to be in the top position of the listing.
  
  Submit your address to the popular search engines out on the internet. Most ask for information such as:
  

  • Web site address
  • Title
  • Description
  • Search keywords
  • Contact name
  • E-mail
  • Type of organization

• Promotional materials

  Include your URL on business cards, stationery, publications, bumper stickers and anything else you can think of.

• On-line directory listing

  Many state/city sites offer a yellow pages listing. They basically include your organization name and address. For a small fee and sometimes free, you can include your web address.

• Banners and E-mail servers

  Banners: Ever visit a web page on one topic with a box or banner that continually flashes messages to "click here"? Banners are advertisements or links to other web pages. You can pay to have your banner space on someone else's web page. This too can range greatly in price. A word of caution. Know your marketer...you may end up on a web page with controversial materials!
  
  E-mail servers: Junk mail is to snail mail as server lists are to e-mail. Companies can purchase a list of e-mail addresses that target certain areas of interest. The idea is to provide web site links within these e-mail messages so your web site has more visitors. If a recipient no longer cares for delivery he may unsubscribe by replying to the message.

• Event announcements/demos/workshops

  Take advantage of bulletin boards, meetings, seminars, and workshops to demo your site. Have a new visitor in the building? Give them a tour of your web site as well!

Feedback

• E-mail

  Offer a way for visitors to tell you how wonderful your site is...AND how frustrated they are! Many offer new ideas and improvements that you were way too busy to think about especially from their perspective. Sometimes the webmaster has the tendency to "please everyone" which isn't too wise either. For example :?), A complaint may be on the size of font you have used... and yet you've tested the page on several platforms and it looked fine. Remember, the font on the browser side can be fooling you or the visitor. Make sure your browser options are not overriding the page coding. Look before you leap!

• Q & A

  Question and Answer sections are wonderful. They serve both the visitor and the webmaster. Visitors with common questions get immediate answers and the volume of e-mail questions decrease for the webmaster.

• Help info

  A common mistake (speaking from experience) is to offer a new activity on a web page but never give directions on how to do this new cool thing. Frustration always wins out. The visitor leaves your page never to return! Offer a link to a help page for first time visitors. If they know how it works... they'll be back!