Point the way

"As a Web designer and HTML builder, one of the first places I visit on a Web site is the site map. The site map shows an entire overview of the structure of the site, and more importantly, indicates how much effort was put into usability testing during the site's construction.

Learn how to chart a better site map
By Jim Kukral -Builder.com

According to Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox Usability Study on Site Maps

"27 percent of users turn to site maps when asked to learn about a site's structure. If your site map is poorly designed, you may lose 27 percent of your Web visitors. That could translate into millions of dollars of missed sales for an e-commerce site, or a massive amount of missed leads for a service company."

Labels: Internet, Layout, Search, Tips

Make it easy

"Accessibility, the design of HTML documents for accessibility by people with disabilities, is such an important aspect of the Internet today that the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C) has adopted a set of guidelines for designing accessible Web sites. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) closely follow Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act.

For some Web sites, adherence to the WCAG is not optional; it is a necessity. Expression Web/FrontPage 2003 has tools for evaluating the accessibility of an entire Web site, identifying elements that violate the guidelines, and finding ways to correct the violations. The accessibility checker provides all of this functionality in a single dialog box.

To access the accessibility checker on the Tools menu click Accessibility (Accessibility Reports). You can use the accessibility checker to check a single page or an entire Web site. The accessibility checker checks for varying levels of accessibility and specifically for adherence to Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act. You can check for errors or warnings, and you can add a manual checklist."

MSDN:
Adding Rules to the Accessibility checker

University of Toronto:
Adaptive Technology Resource Center (ATRC)

Labels: General, Layout, Tips

Before or after

"The stub-ends left when paragraphs end on the first line of a page are called widows. They have a past but not a future, and they look foreshortened and forlorn."

The only paging properties supported by Internet Explorer 7, Safari 3 and Firefox 2 are page-break-before and page-break-after.
The page-break-before and page-break-after properties enable you to say that a page break should occur before or after the specified element. The following example starts a new page every time an h1 heading is encountered and after every .section block.

h1 {
   page-break-before:always }
.section {
   page-break-after:always}

Labels: CSS, HTML, Layout

Cascading Style Sheets

Labels: CSS, Expression, HTML, Layout

Need a look?

"Want a great new look for your website? Free Layouts.com offers you just that - select from our huge database of complete "look and feel" designs. Professional, sports, technical and others - they are all here. Free Web Templates are available for you to download now.

Look around and download your favorite page layouts - for free. Also, submit templates of your own and increase traffic to your website greatly. Currently over 500 free HTML templates and 50 Flash templates for you to download!"

Labels: Layout, Templates

The other side of the wheel

One of the givens of Web design, the holiest of holy truths, is the sanctity of the 216 websafe color palette. It's a rite of initiation for every Web designer or developer: Use only these colors, we are told, and don't question why.

Labels: Color, Layout

Be seen by all

Books on web design warn against using the colors red and green.

One out of twenty people have problems with some form of color blindness.

Here is a site that will let you check your web pages. You will be able to see the page as it appears to someone with one of the three main types of color deficit.

Vischeck

Normal



Deuteranope color blindness





Colorblind Web Page Filter


How do things look to Color Blind People


Web Colors


Consider the Color Blind



See all Topics

internet

Labels: Layout