Structure, Content and Design
As we move forward with our web design project, it is important that we take a look at the three main elements of a web site. They are structure, content, and design. All three of these elements are equally important and will be the foundation for the remainder of this project.
Structure
Web site structure is the hierarchy of pages within your site. Once you have outlined what content will be included in the site, you can begin the process of building a structure for this content. A good visual tool for laying out the site structure is the storyboard. A storyboard is a small sketch that represents every page in the Web site. The storyboard shows the relationship of each page in the web site to all of the other pages. The example below shows the storyboard for this site.
Example:
You will notice that the home page (default.asp) sits at the top of the hierarchy with all of the main pages sitting on the level below. The homepage is also called the parent page and the pages below it are known as child pages.
Content
The second element of a web site is content. Content is the entire collection of information included on your site. Content can be text, images, charts, graphs, surveys, news etc.
There is a saying in the web design community “Content Is King” and it couldn't be more true. Without good content on your web site, what’s the point? If your content is not useful no one will use it. Site visitors might come once, but they will not return. While putting together your content in the next few days be sure and keep this in mind.
Design
The third element of a web site, design, is the way we choose to present the content we have collected. While planning your design consider the following elements of design:
- Color Scheme (Good Contrast, Readable)
- Font’s (Serif vs. San Serif)
- Graphics and Imagery (Meaningful, Non-distracting, Consistent)
- Layout ( Positioning of Elements on the Page)
