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Organizing a Simple Site

Although single-page sites have their place, most companies and individuals serve their readers better by dividing their sites into short, quick-read pages with graphical navigation icons to move between the pages. That way, the entire site doesn't have to be downloaded by someone seeking specific information.

The goal of the home page in Figure 22.3, like the goal of many Web sites today, is simply to make the organization "visible" on the Internet. Many people today immediately turn to the World Wide Web when they want to find out about an organization, or find out whether a particular type of organization exists at all. A simple home page should state enough information so that someone can tell whether she wants to find out more. It should then provide both traditional address and telephone contact information and an electronic mail address, either directly on the home page or via a prominent link (like the About New Visions button in Figure 22.3).

Figure 22.3 This small-business home page uses distinctive graphics and no-nonsense text to quickly convey the intended mood and purpose.

One of the most common mistakes beginning Web site producers make is having each page on the site look different than the one before. Another equally serious mistake is using the same, publicly available "clip art" that thousands of other Web authors are also using. Remember that on the Internet, one click can take you around the world. The only way to make your pages memorable and recognizable as a cohesive site is to make all your pages adhere to a unique, unmistakable visual theme.

For example, when someone clicks the Computer Components link in Figure 22.3, he is taken to the page in Figure 22.4. The visual reiteration of the link as a title and the repetition of the background, logo, and link graphics all make it immediately obvious that this page is part of the same site as the previous page. (Reusing as many graphics from the home page as possible also speeds display since these images are already cached on the reader's computer.)

Figure 22.4 Clicking Computer Components in Figure 22.3 takes you here. The graphical theme makes it instantly clear that this is part of the same site.

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The page in Figure 22.4 avoids another common disease that beginning Web authors too often catch; I call it the "construction site" syndrome. If you've looked around the Internet very much, I'm sure you're as sick as I am of cute little road worker icons and dead-end pages that say nothing but "Under Construction." Please remember that when you put your pages on the Internet, you are publishing them just as surely as if a print shop were running off 10,000 copies. No publisher would ever annoy readers by printing a brochure, book, or newspaper with useless pages saying only "Under Construction." Don't annoy your readers, either: If a page isn't ready to go online, don't put it online until it is ready, and don't put any links to it on your other pages yet.

Even though the page in Figure 22.4 does let the reader know that the site will offer an online parts database in the future, it also makes it clear how to price and order components today.

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