Operation Manual

Web Design from Scratch 81
We’ll assume that by now, you’ve worked through the Wizard-based
examples in the preceding chapters and have a preliminary knowledge
of WebPlus tools and techniques—although probably not too much
hands-on experience. You’ve seen that there are lots of ways to
customize the Wizard-based publications, and that approach may suit
your needs perfectly.
But don’t forget that besides offering a variety of Web Wizards,
WebPlus gives you the option of starting from scratch and composing
each page just as you want it. You may decide to take a hybrid
approach: study the Wizard layouts, learn from them, and then apply
what you’ve learned to a brand-new site of your own design.
If you’d like to start from scratch, here are the steps:
 From the Startup Wizard, select the Start from Scratch option.
(From within the program, choose New... from the File menu or
click the
New button on the top toolbar to access the Startup
Wizard.) The new publication will open with a blank page.
 Choose Page Setup... from the File menu to change the page size.
You can select either Standard or Wide, or define a custom size by
entering new values for Width and/or Height.
Obviously, there’s no single formula for coming up with a successful
Web site. It may help to have a plan of attack, however, so the
following sections provide a brief outline of the process, along with
some suggestions to guide your efforts.
Pre-planning
The advice in this chapter comes from some of the gurus who have set
up Web sites to disseminate their particular design credos, as well as
from first-hand experience developing user-friendly online
environments. Almost all agree that good design begins not with the
designer but with the user. Know the user; put yourself in their place.
Learn from your own experience as a consumer of online information.
When you’re starting out, it’s worthwhile trying to conceptualize your
site as if it were a more traditional form. Is it a “billboard in the sky”?
Is it basically a greeting card, a photo album? An Open Letter or
editorial? An electronic business card? People’s past experience with
print and pictures shapes their expectations for new forms, and a
familiar concept or metaphor can help to draw users into your web, as it
were.