When I was first designing web sites, the web was new and all of the "pioneers" tried several design concepts and we all just tried to figure this whole "web design" thing out as we went. Under the "digitized web canvas" idea covered in Chapter One, I am going to make this chapter very brief, assuming you follow the concepts of realizing people have different screens and different accessibility challenges.

#1 - Top Left Home Image or Home Link

People expect you to have a "Home" image link or "Home" text link at the upper left position of the web browsing screen. Clicking on this image or text once should take you to the main welcome area of your web site.

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Many people may come to your web site from a search engine and will not land directly on your welcome page. If they click the "Back" button they will return to the search engine and not to you! By having a "Home" image or "Home" link in this spot, you'll make your site easier to get around and you'll keep your visitors on your site longer.

#2 - Text Navigation at the Bottom of Every Page

People expect there to be a series of text links at the bottom of every web page on your web site. One of the first links should be a "home" link, which serves the same function as the image or link at the top of the web page. Please note that this is text and not images. People expect it to be text, and this also helps search engines crawl through your web site with ease.

#3 - What's Between is Up to You

This is what makes your web site different. You get to create everything between your start image and your ending navigation text. The first two recommendations keep things in line with the visitor's expectations.

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website design guide home / 01 - designing digitized web / 02 - making your site accessible / 03 - fundamental web design layout / 04 - using images and video / 05 - bandwidth, transfer, and web hosting / 06 - basic web technology and web design software / 07 - finishing up: web design loose ends

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