Chapter 5 - Web Design

Copyright © Terry Felke-Morris
WEB DEVELOPMENT &
DESIGN FOUNDATIONS WITH
HTML5
Chapter 5
Key Concepts
1Copyright © Terry Felke-Morris

LEARNING
OUTCOMES
In this chapter, you will learn how to ...
 Describe the most common types of website
organization
 Describe principles of visual design
 Design for your target audience
 Create clear, easy-to-use navigation
 Improve the readability of the text on your web pages
 Use graphics appropriately on web pages
 Apply the concept of universal design to web pages
 Describe web page layout design techniques
 Apply best practices of web design
2

OVERALL DESIGN IS RELATED
TO THE SITE PURPOSE
3
Consider the
target audience
of these sites.

WEBSITE ORGANIZATION
Hierarchical
Linear
Random
(sometimes called Web Organization)
4

HIERARCHICAL
ORGANIZATION
A clearly defined home page
Navigation links to major site sections
Often used for commercial and corporate
websites
5

HIERARCHICAL & SHALLOW
 Be careful that the organization is not too shallow.
 Too many choices  a confusing and less usable web site
 Information Chunking
 Research by Nelson Cowan: adults typically can keep about four items or chunks of
items in short-term memory
 Be aware of the number of major navigation links
 Try group navigation links visually into groups with no more than about four links.
6

HIERARCHICAL & DEEP
 Be careful that the organization
is not too deep.
◦ This results in many “clicks” needed
to drill down to the needed page.
◦ User Interface “Three Click Rule”
 A web page visitor should be able to get
from any page on your site to any other
page on your site with a maximum of
three hyperlinks.
7

LINEAR ORGANIZATION
A series of pages that provide a
tutorial, tour, or presentation.
Sequential viewing
8

RANDOM ORGANIZATION
 Sometimes called “Web”
Organization
 Usually there is no clear path
through the site
 May be used with artistic or concept
sites
 Not typically used for commercial
sites.
9

DESIGN PRINCIPLES
Repetition
 Repeat visual elements throughout design
Contrast
 Add visual excitement and draw attention
Proximity
 Group related items
Alignment
 Align elements to create
visual unity
10

DESIGN TO PROVIDE FOR
ACCESSIBILITY
“The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by
everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.” –
Tim Berners-Lee
 Who benefits from increased accessibility?
 A person with a physical disability
 A person using a slow Internet connection
 A person using an old, out-dated computer
 A person using a mobile phone
Legal Requirement: Section 508
Standards: WCAG 2.0
11

DESIGN FOR ACCESSIBILITY
 Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0
WCAG 2.0
◦ http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/Overview
◦ http://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/quickref
Based on Four Principles (POUR)
1. Perceivable
Content must be Perceivable
2. Operable
Interface components in the content must be Operable
3. Understandable
Content and controls must be Understandable
4. Robust.
Content should be Robust enough to work with current
and future user agents, including assistive technologies
12

WRITING FOR THE WEB
Avoid long blocks of text
Use bullet points
Use headings and subheadings
Use short paragraphs
13

DESIGN “EASY TO READ” TEXT
Use common fonts:
 Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, Times New Roman
Use appropriate text size:
 medium, 1em, 100%
Use strong contrast between text & background
Use columns instead of wide areas of horizontal text
14

MORE TEXT DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
 Carefully choose text in hyperlinks
 Avoid “click here”
 Hyperlink key words or phrases, not entire sentences
 Chek yur spellin (Check your spelling)
15

MAKING COLOR CHOICES
How to choose a color scheme?
 Monochromatic
 http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/color-blend
 Choose from a photograph or other image
 http://www.colr.org
 Begin with a favorite color
 Use one of the sites below to choose other colors
 http://www.colorschemedesigner.com
 http://www. colorjack.com
 http://www.colorsontheweb.com/colorwizard.asp

USE OF
COLOR
Appealing to Kids & Preteens
17
Appealing to Young Adults
Appealing to Everyone
Appealing to Older Adults

CHECKPOINT
1. List the four basic principles of design.
View the home page of your school and describe
how each principle is applied.
2. View http://www.walmart.com,
http://www.mugglenet.com, and
http://www. sesamestreet.org/muppet
Describe the target audience for each site.
How do their designs differ?
Do the sites meet the needs of their target
audiences?
18

USE OF GRAPHICS & MULTIMEDIA
 File size and dimension matter
 Provide for robust navigation
 Antialiased/aliased text considerations
 Provide alternate text
 Use only necessary multimedia
19

GRAPHIC DESIGN BEST
PRACTICES(1)
 Be careful with large graphics!
◦ Remember 60K recommendation
 Use the alt attribute to supply descriptive alternate
text
 Be sure your message gets across even if images
are not displayed.
◦ If using images for navigation provide plain text links at the bottom
of the page.
 Use animation only if it makes the page more
effective and provide a text description.
20

GRAPHIC DESIGN BEST
PRACTICES(2)
 Choose colors on the web palette if consistency across
older Windows/Mac platforms is needed
 Use anti-aliased text in images
 Use only necessary images
 Reuse images
 Goal: image file size should be as small as possible
21
Do you really
need to see a
photo of my
dog right now?

NAVIGATION DESIGN
Make your site easy to navigate
 Provide clearly labeled navigation in the same location
on each page
 Most common – across top or down left side
Consider:
 Navigation Bars
 Breadcrumb Navigation
 Using Graphics for Navigation
 Dynamic Navigation
 Site Map
 Site Search Feature
 “Skip to Content” Hyperlink
22

WIREFRAME
A sketch of blueprint of a web page
Shows the structure of the basic page
elements, including:
 Logo
 Navigation
 Content
 Footer

WEB PAGE DESIGN PAGE LAYOUT
 Place the most important information "above the fold"
 Use adequate "white" or blank space
 Use an interesting page layout
24
This is usable, but
a little boring. See
the next slide for
improvements in
page layout.

WEB PAGE DESIGN PAGE
LAYOUT(2)
Better
25
Best
Columns make the
page more interesting
and it’s easier to read
this way.
Columns of different widths
interspersed with graphics and
headings create the most
interesting, easy to read page.

PAGE LAYOUT DESIGN TECHNIQUES
 Ice Design
◦ AKA rigid or fixed design
◦ Fixed-width, usually at left margin
 Jello Design
◦ Page content typically centered
◦ Often configured with a fixed or percentage width such as
80%
 Liquid Design
◦ Page expands to fill the browser at all resolutions.
26

DESIGN FOR THE MOBILE WEB
 Design Considerations:
 Small screen size
 Low bandwidth
 Font, color, and media issues
 Awkward controls,
limited processor and memory
 Functionality
27

WEB PAGE DESIGN LOAD TIME
 Watch the load time of your pages
 Try to limit web page document and associated media
to under 60K on the home page
28

WEB PAGE DESIGN
SCREEN RESOLUTION
 Test at various screen resolutions
◦ Most widely used: 1024x768, 1280x800, and
1366x768
 Design to look good at various screen
resolutions
◦ Centered page content
◦ Set to either a fixed or percentage width
29

WEB PAGE DESIGN
BROWSER COMPATIBILITY
 Web pages do NOT look the same in all the major
browsers
 Test with current and recent versions of:
◦ Internet Explorer
◦ Firefox
◦ Chrome, Safari, Opera
◦
 Design to look OK in commonly used browsers (like Internet
Explorer) and implement new technologies (like CSS3) in
modern browsers (like Safari & Firefox) – Progressive
Enhancement
30

WEB DESIGN BEST PRACTICES
CHECKLIST
http://terrymorris.net/bestpractices
31
•Page Layout
•Browser Compatibility
•Navigation
•Color and Graphics
•Multimedia
•Content Presentation
•Functionality
•Accessibility

CHECKPOINT
1. View the home page of your school. Use the Best Practices Checklist
(Table 5.1) to evaluate the page. Describe the results.
2. View your favorite web site (or a URL provided by your instructor).
 Maximize and resize the browser window.
 Decide whether the site uses ice, jello, or liquid design.
 Adjust the screen resolution on your monitor
(Start > Control Panel > Display > Settings) to a different
resolution than you normally use.
 Does the site look similar or very different?
 List two recommendations for improving the design of the site
.
3. List three best practices of using graphics on web pages. View the
home page of your school. Describe the use of graphic design best
practices on this page.
32

SUMMARY
This chapter introduced you to best
practices of web design.
 The choices you make in the use of
color, graphics, and text should be based
on your particular target audience.
.
33

Chapter 5 - Web Design

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