Choose a theme that is clean, simple and appropriate to what you write about. Think about what you need your site to do for you when choosing a theme. Do you need a lot of pictures? Do you need multiple columns? Do you need video?
Easy access to your work Ownership of your work Shows you’re Web savvy Let’s you publish unpublished materials.
Stay away from white text on a black background and other hard to read color schemes. It might be OK for short blurbs, but after awhile it’s hard on the eyes, especially to an older reader. EXCEPTION: White on black tends to work well for video and photo.
Just because fonts and colors are there doesn’t mean you have to use them. Would you want to read a whole story written like this? Remember KISS: Keep it simple, stupid.
We use Times New Roman in print. This is a serif font. Online we want to use a san-serif font for our body. Serif fonts are acceptable for headlines.
Make sure all your pages look the same (same color, same style, same navigation, etc.) It’s confusing when a user finds himself suddenly on a page that looks different. He might wonder if he’s on the same site or not.
Have a style for everything you do. All cutlines should look the same, all headlines should look the same, all links should look the same, etc.
Always be sure to set your links to open in a new window. If someone opens a link and from there another and from there another they’ll eventually lose your page. If you set your links to a new window then your page is still up when they finish exploring other sites.
Never set your videos to play automatically. People surfing the web at work or during class will get annoyed that you’ve let everyone know they’re not paying attention. If your site has more than one video starting on a page that leads to slow loading times and a lot of confusion.
Photos that are not part of your portfolio (your picture, pictures to help illustrate stories) should always face into the text, not off the page. NO! Photos also shouldn’t box in words.
Choose these carefully They can add too much busyness to your page. Be sure that they’re appropriate to what you’re writing about. (Don’t put a sports scores widget on a page about gourmet cooking).
Make sure you get as many keywords as possible (within reason), into your titles and decks. This will help google find your work which helps others find your work.
Show your finished product to lots of different people. Shoot for different ages and professions. Ask your readers to proofread and to also point out any parts of the website that are difficult to use or confusing.
Call the help desk at (303) 735-HELP, or look on the IT website Request a shell account on Rintintin for a student webpage.
words journalist portfolios words journalist portfolios This one looks nice but has some design flaws that could easily be fixed. This one This one is a bilingual TV journalist. She has a really cool way of presenting her clips and resume. This one
Web pages that suck 2010 awards Web pages that suck 2010 awards