Web站点设计的12项决策

单击此处编辑母版标题样式,单击此处编辑母版文本样式,第二级,第三级,第四级,第五级,*,Web,站点设计的,12,by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson,1,Overview,Objectives:,YOURE A BUSINESS OWNER or organization director trying to design a system of Web pages.,Youll also have a set of,design decisions,to guide your own HTML adventures or to give to your local webpage designer.,2,Overview,12 decisions:,Purpose,Index Page and Site Organization,Site and Domain Names,Main Graphic to Highlight Your Site,Background Color or Texture,Basic Page Elements,Finishing Touches,Photos and Graphics,Forms to Get Customer Response,Uploading and Testing Your Pages,Registering and Advertising Your Site,Maintaining Your Site,3,1. Purpose: Why Do You Want to Do This?,Why are you doing this? What do you hope to achieve? What is your purpose?,The World Wide Web is hot. Everybody is getting a Web presence.,Id better do it, too, or be left behind,. This may represent your thinking, but you need more focus.,We want potential customers to learn about our company, and,gain a favorable impression of us,.,We want to,develop a,qualified list of prospects,for our goods and services.,We want to,sell products directly,from our Web pages.,Other, specifically.,4,2. Index Page and Site Organization,Home page vs. storefront on the ; an index to the set of pages which describe your business or organization. At least several main sections:,About Your Organization,. This section includes,a vision,or,mission,statement,history,of your business, a,philosophy,of how you do business, why customers should do business with you rather than with your competitor.,Product Lines,. With photos and text describe the,benefits,to your customers of your goods and services. You can also show,features, applications, or examples,. Use a major branch for each major product line. You can also use your Web pages as a catalog, which you can update easily, inexpensively, and often.,Technical Support,. Some businesses find it useful to provide,technical information,specifications,FAQs, parts lists and diagrams,troubleshooting,decision trees, etc.,5,2. Index Page and Site Organization,Home page vs. storefront on the ; an index to the set of pages which describe your business or organization. At least several main sections:,How to order,. This will include,a form,which e-mails your customers information to you.,Service Section,. This is,free information,of interest to your potential customers thatll keep them coming back to your site for updates. It might be,news of your industry, of a related field, or something unique or interesting. Give some thought to what service your Web pages will provide to,draw customers to your storefront,again and again.,Whats New,section is where you put updates or new copies of a,newsletter,.,6,3. Site and Domain Name,Steps:,Look for a name that is descriptive, unique, short, and memorable.,Find out which names are still available by trying your proposed domain name at Network Solutions ().,Currently, the fee your ISP pays for a new domain name is $70 to cover the first two years, and then $35 per year thereafter.,Another advantage of selecting a unique domain name for your organization is that,you arent so dependent upon your ISP,. Suppose your ISP raises prices too high, or goes out of business?,7,4. Main Graphic to Highlight Your Site,Graphics,No graphic,. Just use headline text. This is the,easiest,way to go, but,dull,. Dont end here.,Clip art graphic,. Perhaps you have access to black-and-white or color clip art from a program such as Corel Draw, or Word for Windows, or Microsoft Publisher. Make sure your image is,copyright free,; you dont want your company to be sued. Check first! Then convert it to a GIF image.,Scanned-in graphic,. You may already have a,company logo,or an artists drawing. You can scan this in and convert to a GIF image.,Customized Type Fonts,can be developed from programs such as Paint Shop Pro, or PhotoShop to save as a GIF or JPEG image.,8,4. Main Graphic to Highlight Your Site,Graphics(Conti.),Scanned in photograph with type superimposed,. You can find some,great sky collections,on the Internet, for example. Download one of these and,superimpose your companys name over it,. You can do this using of Paint Shop Pro or Adobe PhotoShop. Or you can let your Web designer do it for you.,Customized computer art by a computer artist,. This may cost you a,few bucks, but the right graphic sets the tone for your site.,Image map combined with customized computer art,. The customer clicks on the subject in the graphic which interests him or her.,Image maps are cool, but start to get expensive, since they take more programming skill, and require a special interface with your host computer. Your best bet is to leave this one to a professional webpage designer.,9,4. Main Graphic to Highlight Your Site,More Pointers:,images size 40K, or your customer may lose interest.,Not all your viewers have 256-color capability, but only 16 colors. What does your graphic look like with 16 colors? Test!,Using interlaced GIF images helps keep your customers interest as the graphic gradually displays over four “passes”. The total time is about the same for interlaced or non-interlaced images.,The best combination is a single sparkling graphic combined with text.,The overall look of your “home” page needs to be graphically balanced, pleasing, informative.,Your “index” or “home” page functions as your storefront. It needs to entice the customer in the door to look at the rest of what you have to offer. This is where a professional writer can help, too.,10,5. Background Color or Texture,Set your website off from all the rest. One way is with a well-designed graphic. The other is with a background texture and/or color.,Plain gray,. Entry-level color scheme. All browsers can display it. The novice HTML writer can do this without even trying. Choose something brighter - gray is ugly (IMHO).,Colored background and lettering,. If you know the right codes, you can easily change the background color. Make the letters a contrasting color.,Textured and colored backgrounds,are proliferating on the Web. This is really pretty easy, like the tiled wallpaper used in your Windows desktop. Dont let the background overwhelm the text, but subtly complement it.,11,6. Basic Page Elements,Long or short page,Long pages,. These are good if you expect people to print out or download your pages for future reference. You can index these to internal bookmarks to help your customers find their way to needed information. The drawback is that long pages of 40K or more may be more than you customers will want to wait for.,Multiple shorter pages,. Here your index links jump to many shorter pages that treat just one subject each. It doesnt take as long to view, but if you think people will want to download or print out 10 different pages, think again.,12,6. Basic Page Elements,Elements,Page title,which displays at the top line of your Web browser is very important because it often shows up in search engines such as WebCrawler, Infoseek, and AltaVista. Make this descriptive, using key words that people might use to find your page.,Top-of-page graphic,. A small graphic at the top of each of your pages helps unify your Web pages. You can use a smaller version of your main “index page” graphic. Or perhaps a band at the top of the page with your,company name and a small logo,. Do you want this top graphic: centered, upper left, or upper right?,Page background,. Textured and colored backgrounds unify your pages. Alternatively, you can specify an RGB color for the background. Many Web sites today use a simple white background for readability by many Web browser and monitor configurations.,Headline Type,. Decide what size to use on these “sub-pages” and use it consistently.,13,6. Basic Page Elements,Elements,Text,. Go very sparingly on the headline typefaces. Use the normal typeface instead.,Last update,. If your site features up-to-date information, an update date is helpful. But if you dont do much updating, leave the date off or the site will look untended.,URL address,. You dont have to include this, but consider including a line like “The URL of this document is ” or some such. That way theyll know from the printed page how to get back to your website.,Jump lines,. If you have a complex site, you may want to have one or two- word designations which will allow your customer to jump to another section of your website. Most common is a “home” or “top of page” jump, sometimes using “clickable images” or “buttons”.,14,6. Basic Page Elements,Elements,Links,. The power of the Web is its ability to link to any other page in the world. But be very careful. Youve just got the customer in your store. Dont quickly send him away. Resist your impulse to show off your knowledge of cool sites until youve got your customers name, address, and hopefully his order. This is business.,Signature,. Sign your pages so the author is apparent (e.g. Designed by Ralph F. Wilson). Alternatively, you may want to include an,E-mail address, which when clicked takes your customer to a “mail to” form which allows him or her to send you e-mail, such as “E-mail feedback to ”,15,7. Finishing Touches,Horizontal Rules,. These dont take any extra time to download. They can be varied in length and width if you know the codes.,Colored Lines,take a few seconds, but can spice up your page, especially if they are coordinated with the color scheme you have designed. Dont overdo it.,Bullets,are available as an HTML option to set off lists.,Colored balls, arrows, and pointers,are also available. But be careful. A little color goes a long way. Dont just add these to show off.,Colorful “New” or “Updated” markers,draw your customers attention to items you may have added recently. How about “Sale” or “Special”? Again, dont overdo it: only one or two per page. More than that defeats the purpose.,16,8. Photos and Graphics,Black- and-White,. These may be a bit less expensive, and are within the range of most hand scanners using gray-scale. Black-and-white images can easily be tinted slightly blue or brown to give an antique flavor.,Color Images,. Color grabs people. Tell your story through a few pictures. Obtain professional-quality photos of your products locally. Then send your Web designer the photos. You can also obtain stock photography from inexpensive CD-ROMs from Expert and Softkey, or professional stock photograph on-line from PhotoDisc (),Clickable thumbnail images,are one compromise. You show the picture in a thumbnail size image. If the customer is interested he or she can click on it to display the larger photo. You can also give the image size, such as 57K, so the customer has an idea of whether or not he ought to choose this option.,17,9. Forms to Get Orders or Customer Response,Guestbooks,. You can entice potential customers to sign your guestbook and perhaps receive a free gift. Their answers to key questions help you qualify them as a prospect to pursue by telephone or direct mail (or e-mail, for that matter).,Requests for Information,. Have a place for name, address, phone number, etc., as well as check boxes to request information on certain products or services.,Order Forms,. Ideally, you take the order right on-line. Since people are still concerned with security of their credit card information on the Internet, consider using a combination of an order form and an 800 number. Former customers could order on the basis of credit information they have previously given you. Or you might have a page which contains an order form your customer can print out, fill out manually, and mail in with a check.,18,9. Forms to Get Orders or Customer Response,Shopping Cart Program,. If you are selling a number products directly over the Internet, you probably ought to invest in “shopping cart” software, so people can put multiple items in their “cart” from any number of product pages. Upon “checkout”, they have a total of their items, as well as tax (if any) and shipping charges included. Take a look at my article “How Does a Shopping Cart Program Work” ().,Secure Server,. If youre serious about selling directly on the Internet, invest in the extra cost of putting your pages on a SSL-secure server, which encrypts the information quite well. Perception is the real issue, not stealing of information. The padlock icon is worth the extra money youll pay.,19,10. Uploading and Testing Your Pages,Upload the pages yourself,. Youll need to do this repeatedly as you test and adjust your pages. An helpful tool is WS_FTP, available in both Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 versions. You can use this shareware to upload files to your website.,Send the pages to your ISP,on a diskette to upload for you. He may do this for you once or twice. But when you find the need for repeated changes to correct errors, he wont be happy.,Have your Web designer upload and test the pages for you,. If he is worth is salt (or her salt, as the case may be), he will ask for your approval at key stages so you are fully satisfied with the final product. You know: “Delight the customer”.,20,11. Registering and Advertising Your Site,Signature,.,Subscribe to mailing lists and news groups likely to include potential customers. Actively involve yourself in the discussions, but dont overtly “push” your product. Let the signature at the end of your e-mail message do that for you. Use something like:,SUCCESS UNLIMITED, INC. Joe Schamole, Owner,Your choice for Advertising Specialties,Pens - Mugs - Flyswatters - Refrigerator Magnets,SUCCESS UNLIMITED for free samples,Participation takes some time and work, but its worth it, since you are targeting your marketing efforts on those most likely to purchase your product. This is your job, though your Web designer can help you find the right mailing lists and news groups.,21,11. Registering and Advertising Your Site,Signature,.,Web search engines,. There are half a dozen important Web search engines for the Internet: Yahoo!, Lycos, WebCrawler, AltaVista, HotBot, Excite, and Infoseek. Register your “index” page with each of these. Or have your Web designer do it for you.,Links from Related Pages,. You may find some people in a,complementary business,who will agree to reciprocal links with your page. Or one-way links for a modest fee. You know your industry better than your Web designer. You need to explore the Internet for yourself.,22,11. Registering and Advertising Your Site,Signature,.,Links from Industry Index pages,. There may be an “advertising” page which links all related pages at no cost. Tell them about yours. Again, this is your job.,Send brief “press release” announcements,to services which announce “whats new” on the Internet. You just might hit it lucky and have hundreds of people see the announcement and flock to your site-if youre selected for the weekly “scout report”. You can send these announcements, or have your Web designer do it for you.,Print your website address or URL,on all your display ads, literature, stationery, and business cards. This will attract customers to your site to learn more about your business and your products.,23,12. Maintaining Your Site,Contents need maintain,Price changes,Product changes,Adding pages to describe other parts of your business,Updating links which have become obsolete,Updating images,Re-doing the “look” of your pages when your spouse grows tired of it.,24,12. Maintaining Your Site,Do it yourself,. If you have developed your pages thus far by yourself, itll be a snap.,Have your Web designer train you or a staff member,how to update files. You might want to write this ahead of time into your agreement with your Web designer, especially if you have some computer talent within your company. With this option, youll need to use the Web designer in the future only for major changes.,Keep your Web designer on a retainer,to maintain your pages monthly or as needed. This saves you or your people from having to become experts on HTML. Your Web designer becomes part of your team without being on your payroll; hire him or her as an outside contractor.,25,