Brainstorming For Your Design
Now that you know the basics of coding your web site, it's time to start strategizing the different aspects. This process can be viewed as involving different layers. First, you need to consider any content that is mandatory to include in the web site such as policies, disclaimers, or regulated information. If there is required information make a checklist with notes so you don't forget it. Second, you must consider the purpose of your web site, and the audience that is going to see it. Finally, you should consider how people are going to interact with this web site to achieve the purpose they are there for. There is no one perfect way to strategize for your website, and it is beneficial to try different tactics while understanding the core similarities. Here is another resources that will help you plan out your website: idesignstudios.com.
Covering the Bases
So, now that we have laid a solid foundation that would make Bob the Builder proud, let's get into some more specifics. So as stated before, make sure you have a list of required content for the web site, whether it be required by law or by request of the client, make sure it gets in there where appropriate. Next, we must fully understand the purpose of the web site, and fully understand the audience. This can be achieved by answering a few question. What is the purpose of the web site? To what end is its' existence? This will help you nail down the bottom-line of your product: what does it need to do, and how am I going to achieve that.
The audience goes hand-in-hand with the functionality as well as the content that would be included. For example, you wouldn't write the same for a community of physicists as you would for the Department of Motor Vehicles web site. Therefore, it is necessary to research your audience so you know how to structure your site for maximum efficiency. What ages are you dealing with? What is their education level, and how technical is the content you are providing? When trying to translate information of a financial nature to people who aren't familiar with financial jargon, it wouldn't be to your benefit to include that language. Instead, use layman's terms or metaphors that help the average user understand the information given.
Interaction
Now we must consider exactly how the user is going to be interacting with the web site. Are they going to need to sign in with a username? Do they need to navigate through a lot of information, or a little bit of information? Are they buying anything from the website? If so, what kind of products? The questions can go on forever, but the important thing is to nail down what they are doing to interact with this website. To use the shopping example, if the user is using this web site to shop for products then the goal should be ease of use and familiarity. It should be a simple matter for the user to add items to a virtual shopping cart and purchase their product without too many extra steps. This can be achieved by utilizing a similar design to other shopping web sites (i.e. having the shopping cart displayed at the top right of the page, and including similar searching tactics).
Examples
Here is an example of a well executed web site that considers its' audience, purpose, functionality, and ease of use: MSU Financial Aid. If you take notice of some of the website's elements, it is very concise and to the point. It is worded in a way that the common user can understand the information provided, which is critical for this web site's purpose. If the common user can't understand the web site, then they aren't getting any information from it and it has failed its' purpose. It is also incredibly easy to use and navigate. All of the links are clearly defined, and the information is laid out in a manner that anyone can easily avoid reading extraneous information to get to the information they are looking for. Finally, take notice of the navigation at the top left that stays static throughout the financial aid pages. This allows the user to easily navigate to any part of their web site regardless of where they ended up, thus allowing them to forego having to back through all the previous pages to do so.
