Planning & Designing Web Pages

Before you begin actually creating your web pages, it is very important that you spend some time thinking about your web site and planning it. It may seem like a lot of trouble, and you may be anxious to get to work on your site, but please take some time to review and think about the things on this page before you jump in. Spending a little time planning now could save you lots of time later.

Note: These instructions pertain only to creating Faculty Professional Pages. All other SNC department/organization web sites are being maintained using Cascade Server, the College's content management system (CMS).

Purpose

The first step in planning any web site is to ask yourself what the purpose of the site is. Why are you creating the site? What do you hope to accomplish? (If you can't state a purpose for your site, then you probably don't need to create one!)

Audience

Closely related to the purpose of the site is the intended audience. Who are you creating the site for? Will it be directed at students, prospective students, colleagues, the general public, or perhaps an international audience? Thinking about who will use your site not only will help you determine the appropriate content, but will also make a difference in terms of how you will design your site.

Materials

• If you haven't already done so, now is the time to gather all of the materials that you will put on your web site.
  If you already have the documents in some electronic format, gather copies of those files together on your computer or network drive.
• If someone else has the files, contact them and get copies.
• If there are items you wish to use that only exist in paper format, gather those together as well.
  If there are things you'd like to use which are already on the web, collect the relevant URLs (web addresses) so that you can link to them.
• If you will be writing original content for your pages, make a list of those pages with rough titles and summaries.

Make a master list of all of these materials for your web site. List the titles of the pages, the formats the documents are currently in, the file names for the electronic documents, and the URLs of the web documents.

Organizing content

Now it's time to organize that master list of materials for your web site that you generated during the planning stage.

Start by categorizing the items on your list. For example: Vita, Publications, Course Materials, About Me. If you come up with more than 8 categories, you should probably combine some categories. Decide which category each item belongs in and mark them on your list in some way (you may wish to color-code the items, or just jot down the category in the margin next to each one).

What if you end up with some categories that seem to have too many items? You may want to divide those categories into subcategories, if there is a logical way to do so and you think it will help people to locate the information they need.

Once you have an idea about how your web pages should be arranged, sketch out at least a rough organizational chart or outline of the whole site to see if it makes sense. Remember that it is much easier to rearrange things now than it will be after you have put the site together.

Flexibility

Another thing to consider is flexibility, or the ability to easily change your pages. Why is flexibility important? Well, you may design the perfect site today, but tomorrow, or next month, or next year, you'll need to change it. When something changes, you'll be glad if you only have to change one or two things on your site, rather than having to edit every page of your site. A good starting point for building in flexibility is to think about what you might anticipate changing or being added to your site in the future.

Visual Design

Keeping in mind the purpose and audience of your web site, think about the look you want for your site. Will it be professional, lively, colorful, conservative, playful, serious, etc.? Is there a color scheme to which you would like to adhere? Are there any logos or other graphics associated with your department/program that you wish to use in the site?

Decide on a page layout for your pages. Don't worry if you don't think you can develop a fancy or professional-looking design. The most important thing is that your information is clear, well-organized, and readable.

Many beginning web designers make the mistake of adding graphics, backgrounds, and colors in an effort to decorate or liven up their pages. Don't fall into this trap! A little color goes a long way, and on the web especially, less is more.