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The following list gives a description of essential web design tools essay

This paper consists of two parts. The first part describes the ideal practices for site navigation using relevant examples and the other concerns with those web designing tools that are essential for our project.

Navigation is an integral part of any website and functions to create user accessibility to the website. The importance of navigation to a website cannot be underestimated especially when the website is significantly tied to the success of a business model. For instance, one could ask the question whether Google would have been so successful if its site: www. google. com was to be extremely cumbersome to navigate? Of course the answer is: no; in fact the simplicity and feasibility of use is one of the key aspects of Google’s success.

The best practices for site navigation serve as a general guideline for any website regardless of the nature. Whether the website is geared towards providing knowledge and information like Wikipedia or its intent is to serve an online business like eBay, navigation is essential for component to create appeal as well as enhancing user experience. A website offers multiple access points as well as several navigation paths. The primary page of a website, the homepage is the primary access point for most websites.

However, access to other pages of a website is also possible and is made feasible through search engines when a user finds the content he/she is looking for on a secondary page of the website. In such a case the user is directed straight to the secondary page by passing the homepage of the website. Other significant factor that should be taken into account in designing site navigation is having knowledge of the user base. Internet users belong to different cultural backgrounds; have varying levels of Internet competency and have different sets of navigation preferences. For instance, some users might prefer logging directly to a website, some would make use of a search engine, and some might like to browse wherein one is looking at a catalogue or lists. In such as case a navigation design should be dependable and efficient to cater to all types of user preferentiality. One of the most fundamental principles to consider when designing site navigation is to have standard navigation information on all pages.

This standard information includes things such as: having a link that redirects the user back to the homepage, a site map that allows the user to navigate much more easily, a search bar embedded within the website for searching the content of the website and finally basic contact information which is essential if a user lands on a secondary page of the website. A site map and an embedded search bar become extremely important for large content websites such as a college or university website. Moreover, every page should be designed in a way that gives the user information regarding the context of the page he/she is on i. e. the page should have information that links the webpage the user is on to that particular section of the website as well as the general website as well.

In this regard page titles serve the purpose of allowing the user to know which section of the website he/she is using. In relation to this, if a website has pages that include chronological structures such as steps to sign up for subscription or creating a user profile, then the website should be designed in a way that gives the user indication of where the next link would take them. This should be supplemented by information of the page they will see or whether it would direct them to a section of the website or a different website altogether.

The aforementioned principles allow for the user having significant information. However, this is only one aspect of designing site navigation. Another goal that navigation design should seek is enhancing user experience. Here feasibility of navigation is extremely important.

In this regards, navigation terminology in relation to titles and description of pages should be as descriptive and straightforward as possible. Use of metaphorical language or odd designations should be avoided for they are more likely to confuse and hence frustrate the user rather than facilitate site navigation experience. In addition to this the website should have a consistent format.

For instance, if a website uses symbols instead of titles for navigating to the next page then the page one gets to should have a symbol instead of a title to get on the subsequent page. Likewise, the navigation should use shortest possible routes to provide access to information. Excessive use of menus and links might give the impression of giving more access to the user, but in reality are redundant and counterproductive. Information that is relevant to a particular section should be provided on the same page rather than having several links to relate that information. All these achieve the fundamental goal of having a website that is easy and simple to use.

The example of Google’s website reinforces this concept. It is simple and is easy to use that accommodates all kinds of users regardless of their cultural background or their level of internet competency. All this should be achieved by having a stable navigation structure. A stable navigation structure makes it easier for the website designer to manage future additions to the website. Adding a new page to the website should follow the navigation system of the general website.

Links that open in new windows or “ pop-up windows” can be extremely distressing to users of assistive technology. Users may or may not know that a new window has opened, causing links to appear “ dead” — e. g., nothing appears to happen when the link is activated because a new window opens without notice. The following example of a hair restoration website called “ ROGAINE” illustrates some of the above guidelines. Please see attachments.

The following list gives a description of essential web design tools: 1.      HTML – Hyper Text Mark Up Language: HTML is the code behind a webpage that serves as the framework to design a website using sets and tags. It determines what is displayed at what position of a website. HTML is in the form of text only and can only be saved as text. 2.

Navigation Menu Tools: This includes Java (Slide bar, Java Menu Creator etc.) as well as Flash navigation tools (Flash Menu, Flash Tool tip etc.) that allow the creation of different styles of navigations for the website. For instance, the above example uses horizontal (top of page) and vertical (left hand side of page) menus respectively. 3.

Color Match: A website tool that allows for creating matching color schemes for the website. 4.      CSS- Cascading Style Sheets tool: Cascading style sheets allows control of the layout of a page. Once can control the font size of a page, enhance text and maintain and update several pages at once. 5.      Photo Galleries and Graphic Design Tools: A program like Paint Shop pro tubes allows for the user to imbed pictures along with other graphics on the website. 6.

Triple Background Generator: Increases the overall appearance of the website by having more than one background with matching color schemes 7.      Position Analyzer: Gives the rank of the webpage in search engines that would allow for Search Engine Optimization 8.      Copyright Generator: Creates a custom JavaScript that with copyright information of the website

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