The Essentials of Effective Web Site Development and Design

Last update: 7-aug-08

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Debbie Berg

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The Essentials of Effective Web Site Development and Design

Debbie offers hands-on, one-on-one Web design training
Contact Debbie for details

CHAPTER 1: MARKETING & PUBLISHING ON THE WEB

Determine your target audience
Marketing 101
-Online Surveys
-Behaviour Usage
-Usability Testing

PROVIDE ONLINE SURVEYS
-Make the survey or feedback form noticable
-Provide users with an incentive to fill out the survey

IDENTIFY CUSTOMERS THROUGH YOUR SITE
-Build customer profiles online
-E-Mail
-Gather information at the point-of-sale
-Gather information upon entrance

-Hallmark
-Microsoft
-Toys R Us

DETECT BEHAVIOR USAGE
-Use a site analysis tool
-LOG ANALYZER
-Tracks visitor's behavior

INSIGHT
-Tracks wait time
-Detects where the visitor came from
-Tracks how successful a visitor was in downloading a page
-www.accrue.com

NetAnalysis
-Detects and tracks visitors from other countries
-Tracks visitors who click on banner ads
-www.netgen.com

thecounter
-Who
-What
-Where
www.thecounter.com

WebTrends
-Traffic analysis
-Link analysis
-Quality control
-Measure ad clicks
-www.webtrends.com

FOCUS GROUPS
-Create a discussion guide
-Create materials for respondents to react to

USABILITY TESTING
-Don't guide users in testing
-Identify natural usage patterns
-www.anybrowser.com

GRAB YOUR VISITOR'S ATTENTION!
-Use bright colors and graphics
-Use a splash page

USE POWERFUL WORDS
THE 6 MOST POWERFUL WORDS
-You
-Free
-Money
-New
-Easy
-Proven

Bonus Words
-Discount
-Rewards
-% off
-Save
-Guarantee

Use Calls to Action
-LEARN about...
-CHECK OUT...
-TRY OUT...
-GO...

INCLUDE A GIMMICK
(to keep their interest and to keep them coming back for more!)
http://www.coolsig.com
http://www.thefreesite.com

MARKET RESEARHERS
Greenfield Consulting Group
http://greenfieldgroup.com

Internet Security: What You Don't Know CAN Hurt You!

Secure Sockets Layer
-SSL
-The internet security standard that encrypts the information flow from one computer to another

SSL Security Levels
-140 bit encryption
-128 bit encryption

Prevent Copyright Infringement
-Use a fake keyword in a <META> tag to prevent visitors from stealing your Web site content
-Hide the HTML code
-Password-protect your pages
-Include a watermark on your images

Include a Privacy Policy
http://www.thedma.org/policy.html

Use the TRUSTE logo
-Protects visitors
http://www.truste.com

CHAPTER 2: CLEAR OBJECTIVES, SOLID PLANS

When to tackle Web Development Yourself
-You can effectively perform market reearch
-You understand basic HTML
-You understand basic Web Design

Identify What You Want to Accomplish
Ask the Right Questions:
-Who will host our site?

The Ultimate Web ISP List!
http://www.webisplist.com

Ask the RIGHT questions:
-What kind of server will my pages reside on?
-Unix, Windows NT

Ask the RIGHT questions:
-Do I need to save my files in any special way? (htm vs. html)
-ex: Do I need to name the home page index.htm?

Ask the RIGHT questions:
-Do you support Front Page-created Web sites?
-Tell the hosting service ALL of the tools that you will be using for your Web site

Ask the RIGHT questions:
-When and how often will we update?
-When does the site need to be up?

Establish a Domain Name
-A unique and permanent address for your Web site
-microsoft.com
-natsem.com

Top-Level Domains
.com: Commercial Organization
.edu: Educational Web Site
.gov: Government Agency
.net: Network
.org: Organization

Establish A Domain Name
-$70 for the first two years
-$35 every year thereafter

Check to verify that YOU own your domain name
http://www.networksolutions.com/cgi-bin/whois/whois

Use the NETGUARD Service
http://www.namprotect.com/ng/0357/fq8o092/index.html

Know the Differences Between Web Design & Print Design
-The Viewer is the Author
-Paper is portrait view; the Web is landscape view

Make Navigation Easy
-Divide your page into functional zones
-Place functional zones "above the fold" (first 4 inches of the screen=288 pixels)

-Main navigation
-Local context links
-Main text and graphics area

Main Navigation
-No more than 10 choices
-Placement trend=graphical navigation at the top of the page
-Visitors perceive objects and shapes first

Local Context Links
-Scannable area of the page
-Right or left vertical side of the page
-Links are relevant to the content on the page

Main text and Graphics Area
-Attention grabbing content
-No more than 10 words per line

Build A Map
Organize Your Material
-Build a mockup or a storyboard of your Web site
-Use INDEX CARDS

Build A Map
-Determine the number of pages
-Determine the naming structure
-Determine the content on each page

Organize Yourself NOW
-Save all files in a main folder
-Save graphics and HTML files separately
-Create a consistent file naming structure

Basics to Review to See if Your Site is on Target
-Have you defind your audience
-Have you mapped out your site?
-Are you being consistent?
-Have you validated your pages?

CSE Validator
http://www.htmlvalidator.com

CHAPTER 3: DESIGN FEATURES, FUNCTIONS & CONSIDERATIONS

Color Do's and Dont's
-Use a consistent color scheme
-Use high contrast colors
-Use subtle background images

Increase the Transfer Rate
Use a<LOWSRC> image
-2 versions of your graphic (one is the full color image, the other
image is a reduced-color, or reduced-size image)

When is Animation A Good Idea?
-For Banner Advertising
-For Logo Prominence
-For Splash Pages
-To draw attention

When is Animation A Good Idea?
-Don't overuse animation!
-No more than 2 animated objects per page
-Animated GIF's can be very large in file size
-Don't interlace animated GIFs
-You can now apply lossy compression to GIFs!!!!

Using Video on Your Site
-File size is usually very large
-State file size next to video
-Place a warning message next to video
-Provide a link for the plug-in

Using Video on Your Site
-VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language)
-QuickTime Virtual Reality (QTVR)

Use the Necessary Tools for Video
-Camera
-Tripod
-3d Graphics Software
-Panorama usually requires 12 to 20 exposures
-Keep virtual files 500 x 300 pixels or smaller

Use the Necessary Tools for Video
-QuickTime VR Authoring Studio
-Bryce 3D
-Spin Panorama 2.0

Choosing the Right Video Format
http://www.hotwired.com/webmonkey/html/96/44/index2a.html?tw=multimedia

Virtual Reality FAQ & Tools
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/authoring/vrfaq.html

When to use Audio
-Don't force the user to listen to sound
-Give the user a choice

Audio Formats
-au
-aiff
-wav
-midi
-mpeg
-Real Audio

CHAPTER 4: THE BASICS OF WEB MECHANICS

The JavaScript Source
http://javascript.internet.com

Webmonkey: JavaScript Tutorial
http://www.hotwired.com/webmonkey/98/03/index0a.html

Uploading Your Web Pages
- Use an uploader (FTP Program)
- Gain authorized access to server
- Gather information from your provider:
- Host name
- Remote folder (where Web files are stored)
- Username and Password
- ASCII or Binary Transfer

CHAPTER 5: HOW TO MAKE YOUR SITE VISITOR-FRIENDLY

Create for ALL Browsers
Web TV
-544 pixels wide
-Default font: Helvetica @ 18 points
-Avoid small text (keep text over 16 points)
-Avoid using a white background
-Use a 90% white background (gray)
-Avoid using reds and yellows
-No Java support

Web TV Design Guide
http://developer.webtv.net/

Proofreading and Editing Tips
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/proofedittips.pdf

An AOL Guide For Webmasters
http://www.webmaster.info.aol.com

CHAPTER 6: IF YOU BUILD IT THEY WILL COME--BUT ONLY IF YOU MAKE IT EASY TO FIND!

The Major Search Engines
-Alta Vista
-Excite
-Magellan
-InfoSeek
-HotBot
-Lycos

Keyword Usage Tips
-Use keyword phrases
-Include misspelled keywords
-Add the letter "s" to every keyword (use the plural and singular version of a general keyword)
-Use keywords in your page's TITLE
-Link to to other Web sites (Alta Vista, Excite, Go, Google)
-Put <META> tags in a comment line
-Some search engines are case-sensitive (Alta Vista, Go)
-Use LONG domain names
-Beware of tables and long JavaScripts

Did You Know?
-Lycos does NOT use <META> tags
-Excite does NOT use <ALT> tags
-Avoid registering pages that use small text sizes (below 10 points)

Alta Vista
-Accepts 2 submissions max. per site each day
-Case sensitive
-NO invisible text
-NO <META REFRESH> tag
-Deep crawl
-Link to other Web sites
-Learns frequency
-Frequently changed pages are ranked highly

Yahoo!
-No deep crawl
-Indexed ONLY the HOME page
-Submit to 2 categories max.
-Commercial sites MUST be placed in the "Business and Economy" category
-Indexes your company name and your description info. that you fill out in the "Suggest A Site" form
-200 words max. in the description

A Webmaster's Guide to Search Engines
http://www.searchenginewatch.com

WebPosition Gold
http://www.webposition.com

Source: These lessons were developed especially for YOU by Debbie Berg :-)

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