Until very recently, my web page was a very boring place indeed. There was basically a home page with links that lead to nothing. Graphic style hadn't yet made its way onto the pages of my site. I had ideas of how to create my site, but wasn't sure how to follow through with them effectively.
Using Jeffrey M. Glover's From
Sucky to Savvy style guide and Spiderpro's Style guide, I was
able to obtain helpful information. In the Spiderpro style guide,
it says, "Present the important issues of your text on the first page."
That was my first step. I included reasons for making my web site
as well as the main items that can be found on its pages. I added
a brief description of myself. There is also information on the three
essays that are on the site. These are the main ideas of my web site
that can now be found on the home page.
Glover includes many helpful
tips in his web site. "A solid background is always a good choice
for your web pages," he says. "It provides an easy reading surface
for your reader and it doesn't distract the user from the main focus of
your page: Your text!" This was an easy step for me to take.
Although I wanted my web site to be interesting, I also wanted the text
to be clear. Knowing this, I chose light, solid colors as backgrounds
for my pages. The result is a more attractive web site.
In Spiderpro's guide was another useful piece of advice. It says, "Navigation should be clear. Links like Back, Next, Previous, or clickable images of arrows, do point in an unclear direction. Because I want my site to be easily navigated by its readers, I made sure that my links were clearly marked as to where they headed.
By using the advice of these style guides I was able to create the site I had been planning. It is easily read, attractive and simple to navigate.