Site Design
Home Page
- Site design should be simple, with few distractions, clear
information architecture, and matching navigation tools.
- No Home button on home page.
- The home page should answer the question:
- Where am I?
- What does this site do?
- Home page could have news and special promotions.
- Home page should have a search engine.
- Do not design for any standard width, rather design so that
your home page will work across a range of window sizes.
- Do not have a splash screen with an Enter button.
Home Page vs Interior Pages
- Prominent design element the name of the site or the logo.
- Logo maybe repeated on all interior pages.
- Link to home page from all interior pages.
- Do not force the user to enter only through the home page.
- Use the meta tag on all interior pages so that search engines
will be able to find them.
Metaphor
- Use metaphors in your design with caution.
- Use only well known and accepted metaphors if you need to. The
shopping cart is an example of a well known metaphor. Use the
metaphor in its accepted way.
- Do not use new metaphors in your design! There is a design
principle that states - Do not make me think.
Navigation
You need to answer the following questions:
- Where am I?
- Where have I been?
- Where can I go?
User Controls Navigation
- Let the user control the navigation
- Use conventions that are commonly accepted
Search Capabilities
- Have a search engine on the home page as well as on other pages.
- Add meta tags to each of your pages so that they can be picked
up by search engines.
User-Contributed Content
- Use user feedback form.
- Filter the comments that get posted.