Operation Manual

Web Site Design and Construction 41
If you don’t have a separate “Reply” or “Feedback” page, consider
placing a return hyperlink with your own e-mail address at the bottom
of each page. It’s not a bad idea to spell out the page’s URL as well,
once you’re sure what it is. That way, if a visitor saves a page as a text
file, or prints it out, they’ll have a record of where the page originated.
A copyright notice isn’t out of the question, either.
The above advice on top and bottom matter applies equally to your
Home page, sectional main pages, or any other pages. It will help you
build in a page-to-page consistency that respects the way people view
Web sites.
In general, consistency is good: if you choose a graphic theme, by all
means use it throughout your site. But too much of this good thing can
lead to blandness, and you should also work on differentiating the
various levels of your site from each other. In other words, the Home
page should appear unique, and sectional main pages should resemble
each other, while looking distinct from pages at other levels. Besides
adding interest, these variations also serve as navigational cues.
Default site property settings for Width and Height determine the
dimensions of master pages, and each master page in turn determines
the size of pages that use it. A default site property setting for
alignment (either Left or Centered) determines how page content lines
up in a browser. One of the first things you may want to do, when
creating a new site from scratch, is to decide if the default dimensions
are reasonable. If there’s a chance you’ll be including pages with a lot
of content, requiring users to scroll down, you can increase the height
value for the page to give yourself some extra room for the layout. You
don’t have to fill all the space (WebPlus will truncate automatically at
the bottom element when publishing), and it’s easier to change the
value at the outset than after you’ve developed the site.
One of the simplest things you can do to improve your site’s
appearance is to set rather wide left and right margins. Extra space on
both left and right helps to set off your content from the edge of the
browser window, and gives an uncluttered appearance just as it would
on a printed page. It’s also easier to view: studies show that at normal
reading distances, the eye’s span of view is only about 8 cm (3 inches)
wide; longer lines of text require extra effort. So spend some time
experimenting with different placements of the main frame on your
very first page, previewing each layout until you find your own
preferences. Then duplicate the first page to create the other pages, so
the layout will be consistent on the other pages in the site.