CIS86 2007 Design Considerations
Some Things to Consider When Designing Your Site
- Why are you building the site? What's the purpose?
- Who is your audience? What kinds of tasks will they perform on your site? What experience level do they need? What is their typical viewing platform?
- What kind of look do you want? What kinds of colors, fonts, visual devices? Navigation style?
- What is the intended (emotional) feel of the site? Prestigious, Friendly, Fun, Elegant, Corporate, Forward-thinking, Innovative,
Cutting Edge, Classic, Familiar, Sophisticated, Elegant, Casual, Serene, Subdued, Edgy, Flashy, Formal, Powerful, Romantic, Sensual, Clean, Professional, High-tech. Here is another list of adjectives.
- Design/Development emphasis is a personal decision. Look, style, functionality, breadth vs depth -- these are your decisions, and there are no wrong answers.
Conceptual Elements of Web Pages
- Look & Feel: colors, layout (width; fixed vs fluid), fonts, images.
- Identity / Branding: headers and footers. Common look-and-feel across entire site. Common graphic elements.
- Navigation. Menus / tabs / Buttons / Words / imagemaps. Home page can be different from rest of site.
- Functionality: How can you integrate stuff you find on the Web? What are some good examples of free code sites?