User Guide

• Anticipate your target audience’s perception of your color choices. Colors
can have psychological and cultural meanings; for instance, white can
symbolize purity in Western cultures, but in Japan, white typically is asso-
ciated with death. Colors can also have physical implications. If a
significant portion of your target audience has a vision deficiency—such
as poor vision or color blindness—you should consider increasing font
sizes and/or avoid using greens and reds (associated with the most com-
mon forms of color blindness).
For more on adding accessibility to your webs, visit W3.org: http://
www.w3.org/WAI/.
• Don’t use color: “After all this, you’re telling me not to use color?” Yes
and no. Not using color, or rather staying with black and white, is in fact
a color decision. Again, let your site’s target audience help you decide.
• Consider the possibility of using appropriate metaphors in your design.
For instance, if your site’s purpose is to tell prospective students about
your college, using a classroom-like setting as a design motif is
applicable. Metaphors can sometimes be tricky, though—especially if your
site is intended to be internationally accepted.
For more on usability, visit Jacob Nielsen’s UseIt.com: http://www.
useit.com/.
Example: To see some good examples of web design, launch your Web browser and
explore the following sites:
• http://www.web100.com/
• http://www.thewebawards.com/
• http://www.projectcool.com/sightings/
Non-
Example:
To see some examples or poorly done sites, you can explore these sites:
• http://www.worstoftheweb.com/
• http://www.forkinthehead.com/
• http://www.ecotide.com/
Graphical design decisions can be affected by a visitor’s monitor settings; the
choices you make may not appear as you intended. To avoid “surprises,” you
should preview your webs on several operating systems, at different resolu-
tions, using different Web browsers to ensure the best possible results.
LESSON 1
FrontPage 2002 – Level 1 6
Reference Material
Please Do Not Copy