1. WEB DESIGN SOLUTIONS

2. 2 Presentation by JAVANET SYSTEMS 1st Floor, ROFRA House, Suite 4, Kansanga, Gaba Road P.O Box 31586, Kampala, Uganda Tel: +256(0)312-294732, +256(0)712-386730 Fax: +256(0)902970998 Mail:info@javanetsystems.com

3. 3 Principle #1 Just because you can do it, doesn’t mean you should do it.

4. 4 Principle #2 Know your audience and have a clear goal for your Web site.

5. 5 Steps to a well designed Web site l Have a goal l Target your audience l Create a plan l Select a Web service provider l Try it out l Maintain it

6. 6 Have a goal for your web site l What are you or your organization out to accomplish? –review your mission statement l Do you want your web site to accomplish all or some of those things? –the more goals, the more difficult the task becomes l What information do you need or want to provide?

7. 7 We Identify your target audience l Who is the information for? –Do you have more than one audience? –Can you serve them all with one Web site? l What are the information needs of your audience? l What are their habits, characteristics, culture, technical capabilities, etc. –Are they likely to start with the Web or another information source?

8. 8 We Plan it out l Identify information you already provide your audience. l Identify information that you haven’t, but would like to provide your audience. l Identify the sources of information you want to provide through your Web site. –Prepare that information for the web by collecting it and converting it.

9. 9 We Plan it out l Develop a vision for your Web site and storyboard it before construction begins. l Share your vision and storyboard with your colleagues and your bosses. l Estimate initial times and costs for construction. –Decide on the software/hardware tools necessary to construct your site.

10. 10 Select a Web service provider l We coordinate the method for publishing and updating your Web pages. –email files –FTP files l Know your root address (domain name). l Will you have a need for scripting and database interaction?

11. 11 We Try it out: Optimize it for your audience l Test it in-house. l Test it on a sample audience. l Test it on as many different computers and monitors and browsers as possible. l Test it using various Internet connections. –Modems –Direct connections

12. 12 We Maintain it l Dates need to be correct l Services need to be up-to-date l Hours must be correct l People’s names, email addresses & phone numbers need to be correct l Prices need to be correct l Explore new technologies & encourage innovation

13. 13 Characteristics of a good web site l Well-organized l Easy to navigate l Attractive l Useful l Up-to-date

14. 14 Few graphics makes it more accessible to everyone.

15. 15 We Make your site well- organized l Decide how you want to organize your information based on your users and what you know about them l Ways to organize your site: –by department or organizational chart –by audience type »marketing –by subject

16. 16 We Make your site easy to navigate l A well-organized site generally drives the ease of navigation. l Keep scrolling down to a minimum by keeping individual Web pages short. l Always have links back to your home or major sections. l Use color to identify for users where they are in your site.

17. 17 We Make your site attractive l Choose simple colors that compliment each other & work on most web browsers. l Keep graphics less than 20,000 Bytes (20 kilobytes) to make them download reasonably on a home modem. l Keep animated gifs to a minimum. l Use graphics that compliment your image.

18. 18 We Make your site useful l If you are unique, you’re already useful! l If you are not unique, how do you differ from similar Web sites? –Is your content unique? –Is your approach unique? –Is your audience unique? –Are you more up to date? –Are you better organized? –Are you more comprehensive?

19. 19 General Things We Remember & Consider l Emulate a site you like. l Keep things simple. l Sensible navigation Navigation elements should clearly show surfers where they are and how to accomplish their goal. l Provide a search function if required.

20. 20 General Things We Remember & Consider l Avoid requiring users to fill out a form to gain access to your site. l Don’t link to something that is going to exist in the future. l Built in sales process If you're selling something, every page should be one click away from the sale l Search Engine Optimization All sites should include basic search engine optimization

21. 21 General Things We Remember & Consider l Website Usability Website usability is critical to converting surfers to customers. Usability is a measure of how easily a surfer can "work" your site. The easier your site works, the more likely you'll make a sale l Don’t advertise other products or companies unless it meets your goal, generates revenue or helps your audience.

22. 22 We Clearly and Consistently Identify your site through: l Banner graphics l Signature icons l Links to local home pages

23. 23 Our Suggested Page Elements l Organization’s logo or seal l Author’s e-mail address l Mailing address, phone l Document’s URL (helpful when printing) l Links to related local pages l Navigational aids: button/text bars