Web Site Design Tips for SCS Webmasters

Design

The design of your web site is very important. It should have a professional appearance. It should be clean and orderly and free of unneeded items. Follow the guidelines for accessibility as you develop your design. Some design elements need to be avoided in order to make your web site accessible. Basic items to avoid are animated graphics, certain colors and combinations of colors, tables used incorrectly, and font sizes and types that cannot be overridden by assistive technologies. Make certain to review accessibility guidelines prior to developing your design. It will save hours of repair work later.

What do you want your web pages to look like? Strive for a consistent design across your site. You can get many ideas from surfing the Internet. Use your favorite search engine and use search items like "web site design award" or something similar. You can find hotlists to hundreds of award winning web sites. You can get great ideas for your site's design by seeing what professional web site designers are placing on the Web.

WARNING - Do not get bogged down in this step. You could spend hundreds of hours here and would never get the content on the page. Remember, the content is the most important aspect of the site. It IS the reason your visitors have loaded your web page. Design is the icing on the cake. If your site structure is strong and leaves room to grow, you can always go back and modify the overall design of the web site with minimal effort on your part. Modification of design is especially simple if your web page development software allows for use of templates.

An important element of your web site design is an easy to follow navigation system.