A web page consisting of only text can look boring, and potential viewers may be put off. So it’s important that pages be broken up to make them look interesting at first sight and persuade the viewer to read more.

It’s important to have a headline. This should be large, bold, brief and indicate in as few words as possible what the subject of the page is. As your story unfolds, so subheaders can be used to help things along. These also help to break up a page. Some viewers don’t read all of your material but use subheaders to get the general gist or to find a snippet of information they need. Subheaders should stand out because of color, bold type or size.

I don’t advocate long web pages but sometimes the subject makes them  necessary. In this case a menu can be placed just under the headline with links to the subheaders. This would be a good idea for those ridiculously long salespages. I usually read the first paragraph then zip down to find out the price. Subheaders to key sales points would invite me to investigate further.

It may not be obvious, but adverts can add interest to a web page. In particular Google Adsense panels can add to a page whilst hopefully raising income. Experiment with the various sizes and try them in different positions on the page.

Colourful banners also have their place but use animated banners with discretion as file sizes can be large and affect loading time for the page. Check file sizes before using. Larger graphics are best put lower down on the page to give them more time to load before the viewer scrolls down.

So many factors affect the look and feel of a web page. The aim is to produce a clean, uncluttered page that puts your message over and offers a good experience to the viewer. Only you can decide whether your page layout does what you want it to. If you have time, hold the page for a day and review it before uploading. Pay particular attention to the part of the page that’s seen first ‘above the fold’, as if this captures your viewer’s attention the remainder of the page is more likely to be investigated

There are no set rules for web page layout and design. The above ideas work for me; maybe you will have different aims or ideas. Whatever you do it’s important to know when to stop. With any artistic endeavour perfection cannot be achieved. Authors, artists, architects, film makers and so on all have to say “Enough is enough; now’s the time to publish”

Just as important as the ‘Look and Feel’ of a website is the speed at which it loads into the viewer’s browser. A website might be well designed and easy on the eye, but if it takes an age to load that won’t matter. The potential viewer would have gone!

Unfortunately I find more and more websites taking an age to load. Some, like that of my ISP, I have to put up with to get to information I need. The home page is full of animated banners, flashing notices and everchanging graphics. Probably OK for the designer who undoubtedly has a high-speed cable connection and a cutting edge computer, but not so good for me.

Designing a page template.

Unless a website is to consist of only one page the first consideration will be designing a template. This is the framework around which all (or most) of the website pages will be built. It will usually have a graphic as the header and graphics can be very costly in loading time. Then there will usually be a sidebar for navigation, again possibly with graphics (navigation buttons). If these are rollover graphics (change colour or form when the mouse passes over) then this is also an extra load.

But the saving grace as far as templates are concerned is that  browsers store graphics for a time. So once the first page has loaded, any graphics that are repeated on other pages such as headers and navigation buttons will load very quickly. Even so care must be taken with template graphics or the viewer may not even see your first page.
Unwise use of graphics is a major cause of slow loading but dealing with graphics will be left to a later date.

Above the fold

This is an old newspaper expression and is used to describe the first part of a webpage that the viewer sees without scrolling. This needs to spark the viewer’s interest and make her want to scroll down to see the rest of the page.

So the webpage above the fold needs to load quickly. Any large graphics should be placed below the fold so that they can be loading whilst the viewer is still above the fold.

Text is fast-loading, so   there should be some interesting introductory text. It can be broken up with small graphics or Google Adsense ads if you use them.

Finally

It is difficult to check speed of loading on your own computer as browsers ‘cache’ pages for future reference. If you return to a page often it will seem to load very quickly. In fact it’s only displaying the page it has cached. This means that you may not be seeing the latest version of the page and need to refresh the page to see the current version.

Some browsers allow you to clear the cache, but in doing so you may lose pages you need. It’s your choice.

The look and feel of a website is what makes viewers want to stay or leave, so it’s of paramount importance.

The look  of a website is how it appears to the viewer and encompasses layout and color. We all have preconceptions about what to expect from different types of web site. When you access a website accidentally you can often see what it’s about even before you start reading. Subconsciously the sober colors and formal layout tell you it’s maybe a Government site: or if it’s full of flashing banners in reds and orange and moving text it could be a news site.

Too many websites have a dark background with dark lettering. The webmaster may think it looks sophisticated but really it’s a pain in the butt for most viewers. Unless the visitor has a compelling reason to stay, they won’t.

One of the worst websites I’ve seen for this lately is

http://tweetdeck.com/beta

I know it’s much used and very useful but I would say it’s only tolerated by its users because they need it.

I like to see a web page that’s uncluttered, with plenty of white space, and I prefer black text on a white background. Even so I don’t use it all the time.

 Note;   White space is the space allowed around text, images etc. to prevent the page looking cluttered. It isn’t always white.

The feel of a website is how easy it is to use. Is it obvious how to navigate around the site? Is there sufficient explanation? Again, problems like this will drive viewers away in frustration and it’s often difficult to find good solutions. Many professional sites I use suffer from this and many and varied are the methods used to try to improve things.

Sometimes, instead of a text link, a thumbnail picture is used that describes a function when the mouse is hovered over it.

A constant frustration for me is that when I’ve sussed out a website and can find my way about easily, the techies bring out a new version that moves the links around. WordPress is a case in point. Most versions have similar functions but links are regrouped under different headings. But I still love WordPress.

At one time building a website was only for the few who understood coding. Then programs like Dreamweaver appeared to cut out the drudgery of coding. But the learning curve of Dreamweaver and other such sophisticated programs are steep.

But now there are simple, affordable, programs that take all the technical stuff out of building a website. One such program is Really Easy Website Builder. It takes care of all the technical stuff, but you still need to apply Look & Feel to your website if you want to make a website with “stickability”.

 When WordPress is first installed it’s appearance leaves much to be desired, but the whole look can be changed at any time by the use of “Themes”.

The WordPress program consists of a number of modules and folders. One of the folders ‘wp-content’ contains two folders ‘plugins’ and ‘themes’ As downloaded there are two themes in the latter; ‘classic’ and ‘default’. But there are a multitude of themes available; some free, some you pay for. Having selected a theme you upload it to the Themes folder, where it can be used to change the whole look and feel of your site.

This can be done at any time without losing any content. How neat is that?

There are many ways to configure your site. It is all explained in the WordPress website, but to find information is like looking for the proverbial needle. There’s so much information it’s overwhelming.

But there’s a simple solution. There is a set of excellent Camtasia videos that takes you through the whole process, from installing WordPress using Fantastico, choosing themes, configuring WordPress; even shows you how to make money from your blog if you so wish.

These videos are short and to the point; no fluff. I used them like this. First off I looked at the whole 13 videos. Then as I needed information I put up a video in one Window and opened WordPress in another Window. Then I could toggle between the two on the taskbar at the bottom of the screen.  Picking up a bit of information I  paused the video. Clicking on the WordPress page I used that information. Then back to the video.

WordPress Unleashed

Camtasia videos can be moved on or back by dragging the indicator, so it’s easy to review the same piece of information as often as you wish. I’m  not a great fan of instruction videos, but I found this set remarkably well presented.

To find out more about WordPress Unleashed

One thing;  I found some of the illustrations not quite the same as on my screen. Although the video set is quite recent, things change quickly.  But by taking note of the headings to click on I had no problems.

I’m still using them and will be for some time.  Intended to be sold at $47 they’re a steal at $7 only.  Unless you enjoy ploughing through the WordPress support file, tutorials and forums.

This website is all about building websites and, over time, will cover as many facets of this fascinating subject as I can think of.

It is built using WordPress. WordPress is well known as a blogging platform and many people simply use it to publish their thoughts and opinions to the world. But it can be used as a conventional website with a little knowhow.

WordPress is an open-source program which means that it is open to development by vast numbers of volunteers, many of whom are brilliant programmers who enjoy the challenge. It also means that it’s free.  You can download it here, but read on before you decide to do so.

WordPress is programmed mainly in PHP, a language that needs a PHP processor to run it. Fortunately most web hosts offer this facility. After downloading WordPress and unzipping it, one module has to be modified before you upload the whole program  to your server. The modifications are details of the database you have to initiate on your host’s server. There’s information here on installing WordPress including the “famous 5 minute install”

If you are fortunate enough to have a web hosting company that uses Cpanel, you’re on easy street. Using Fantastico you don’t need to download WordPress at all. Just click on the Fantastico logo, select WordPress and fill in a simple form. Then Fantastico does it all, including making the database. When it’s done, by filling in your email address, Fantastico even mails you details, including database name, user name and password. It’s magic.

I made this site using Fantastico. And it’s the latest version. If there’s a new version I can just go back into Fantastico, click the mouse and bingo!;  it’s upgraded. I’ve just used this facility on my Forge-Ahead blog.

The hosting company I use and recommend is Hostgator. I’ve
used them for several years now and they’ve served me well

Click the logo to find out more.