Your
own Domain Name
Make
it easy for your customers to find you on the Internet
with your own unique domain name (also known as an Internet
address or URL) for example www.yourname.co.uk. Having
your own domain name also makes your email address consistent
and meaningful, eg Joe@yourname.co.uk and it means that
you don't have to change it when you change ISP
Thousands
of domains are being registered every day so we strongly
recommend that you register your domain name now, otherwise
you may find your company name already taken. You can
register for your domain name by selecting the 'Extra
Services' button from within your FileStore in ZyWeb.
Appearance
of your Website:
Above
all else you must ensure that your website looks professional
to give a good 'first impression'. ZyWeb's unique inbuilt
graphics enable you do create a professional, good looking
site easily.
Navigation
- Many visitors will arrive at your home page; make sure
that your visitors can get a general idea of what's on
your site and can easily access the different pages. You
can do this with the use of navigation buttons.
However,
keep in mind that not all of your visitors arrive at your
home page first. For this reason, it's a good idea to
make it easy to return to your home page from other pages
in your site, by including a link to the home page. Your
material should be organised so that your visitors understand
it.
You
will need to lead your visitor through your site so that
their eye flows from one element to the next. Don't put
pictures next to unrelated text. You might know what you
mean, but your visitors sure won't.
Positioning
- A few more tips for positioning words and pictures on
your new site. Most of us are used to reading English
and other European languages from left to right and top
to bottom. Our eyes are used to going to the top left
corner of a page - so place the information that you want
people to see first up there and arrange other elements
to flow across and down the page in decreasing order of
importance. Don't put too many distracting links to other
pages or topics all over the place.
Graphics
& photos - Don't get carried away with graphics, photos
or typefaces. You should be conscious of the download
time as you don't want your visitors to go off as your
page takes too long to view. ZyWeb produces optimised
graphics and photos which are a high quality resolution,
whilst be small in size and hence quick to download.
Style
- Try to keep a similar style throughout your pages. Colour
will make your page look great. Colours will make it distinctive
and memorable and colours also have strong psychological
effects that can set moods or convey feelings. Most web
sites are set in a theme colour throughout. A small vivid
splash on the graphics will have a great effect to highlight
something but vivid splashes everywhere will be overwhelming.
You should, ideally, use only 2 colours with shades of
those colours.
Colours
- Legibility is vital - your page needs to be read! So
adequate contrast is the answer; light type, dark background,
dark type, light background. Obviously black and white
give the maximum contrast, but that's boring. Colour contrast
creates powerful effects. Cool colours, greens, blues,
tend to calm, while warm colours, reds, yellows tend to
excite. Dark colours can convey heavy and oppressive feelings
while light colours promote open airy feelings.
Here
are a few sure-fire colour combinations. Stick to light
coloured backgrounds, white or light grey, tan, light
blue, light green or pale yellow. Use black or dark coloured
text on these backgrounds. Avoid bright text colours on
light backgrounds. Large, bold text can be coloured in
strong colours - try bright red, orange or blue, but don't
overdo it. Use light type on dark backgrounds in small
areas where you want to attract attention
Interactive
- Make the site interactive to retain the concentration
of the visitor for the maximum amount of time. Ideally,
build interactivity into the opening home page screen
with the use of clickable navigational buttons. The wording
of the label on the link should prompt the visitor to
take action. Highlight buttons to take visitors to special
areas and always put the more important ones at the top.
Remember to lead the visitor through your site.
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