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When I wrote my first guide to web design back in 1997, I started out by having you think about what your site will be about, and who your target audience (your typical visitor) is.

I hope that over the course of this guide you helped fill in ideas for your "digitized web canvas," realizing as you went what you want to design a site ABOUT and who you want to design a site FOR. I left this guide rather open-ended for your part, exposing you to the technologies you have available and some basic considerations in getting it all started.

I wrote this course so if a friend asks me about getting into web design, I can just point them to this guide.

(Tell your friend about this guide with this quick form.)

There are courses all across the web covering pretty much any web technology topic you can think of. There are probably even guides about writing guides about web design. [ Hey, we can dream, right? ] Search engines should become your best friend at this point. Interested in a technology? Google it. Wikipedia it. If there's nothing written on it, write a site about it!

Here's a Google search box: Type in a phrase and get started!

Random Loose Ends

While writing this guide, I had a few random notes that are probably more useful to me than you, but are little things to think about as you start your initial design.

• Consider a search box and a site-map. Google can provide you with a search box if your site has been indexed.
• Think about a feedback or contact form. Don't use a mailto: embedded in HTML, that will cause you spam and is fairly useless with webmail
• Consider using CSS styles instead of images to enhance your web site. A lot can be accomplished with margins, padding, and borders, and background colors.
• Don't forget an "about" page. People are often curious as to who you are, or what your company is (and a little history)
• White space is your friend. It's good to have spots on your web site with nothing on it to help calm the active eye.
• Don't be afraid to link out. The web is the web because stuff is connected. It's good to help people find what they need.

About the Author

Dave Kristula has been involved in web development and web-based advertising since June 1996. His original HTML guide, "HTML: An Interactive Tutorial for Beginners" is still a widely used web reference. Dave completed his bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Digital Media at Albright College, Reading, PA in 2004.

Learn more about Dave at his personal web site: http://dave.kristula.com/

To help Dave's random late-night meal excursions, visit the humorous "Sponsor A Hungry Webmaster in Reading, PA" page.

http://dave.kristula.com/sponsorfood/

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

tell a friend about this website design tutorial

other website design sections: learn html with our html tutorial and guide, learn css with our css tutorial and guide

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