Contents:
(the pages on this site)
Home <--
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Page C
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Understanding Site Design:
Repeating Patterns Organize Information
One of the keys to understanding site design is
realizing your site is a collection of pages, like a
book, but they aren't bound together like a book, so people
can wander into your site without coming through the front door.
So it is vital to see how a
consistent layout (i.e. it is repeated on pages all over the
site) organizes information, and so lets the reader know where
things are, where they are, and even lets them predict where
things will be -- key to successful navigation. Not
to mention the credibility that good organization affords a site.
Navigation Aids: Helping the Reader Know "Where" They Are
The Standard: Left-Hand Scan/Link Column
Take a look to the left, at the way the links to the various pages
in this website "work". Pop back and forth between the Home page
and pages A, B and C. Notice that whatever page you are "on" on
the site is 1) no longer a link, 2) becomes bold, and 3) has an
arrow emphasizing too, and all of these
things work together to let the reader know "where" they are.
Another Common Scheme: The "Navbar"
Another common way of helping the reader literally see just
where they are on your site is often called a navbar. The
example navbar for this site is under the main header. Like the
system set up with the contents column on the left, the navbar
highlights where you are, making visible where you are and where
you can go.
Tables, Print-like Page Layouts, On-line vs. Print Use
It's easy to see that the models that are usually applied to
page layout and design owe a great deal to traditional page design
for books and other print media. You can easily think about how
different sorts of sites would be used in ways that are and are not
like book pages. If you can predict your users are not going to
print aspects of your site, then you don't necessarily need to
follow print design recommendations. But consistency and clear
navigation are still vital. You can think of other unifying principles
like color schemes and repeating graphics.
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