1         Introduction

This book introduces design methods for developing a usable and accessible content-based web site. It is aimed at the home-based small business person who needs to quickly create an effective web site. Complicated, dynamic web site techniques and graphics are avoided. Much can be achieved with static, text-oriented sites which should be sufficient for all but the most specialized developers.

Usability should determine design. One initiative that supports usability is the accessible web site design movement, which is being pushed by the leading web standards organisations and computer companies. The future of the web requires a move to accessible design. Accessible technologies like Cascading Style Sheets ( CSS ) are now stable enough for you to make this move easily and efficiently. CSS are well worth mastering because of the simplicity and clarity they bring to even the smallest web site.

The use of CSS makes it easy to separate content from presentation. A CSS oriented approach allows you to change the presentation of a web site by altering one file, instead of having to alter all web pages. The reasons for using CSS , and other accessible technologies, are covered in some detail in this book.

You need to adopt useful metaphors for designing web sites. How do you organise thousands of pages so that the structures and functions of a web site are transparent to the designer and the user? I explore an 'online book' metaphor in some detail and suggest that it is one of the better models for medium-to-large scale web-site design. It's the main metaphor I use on my web site http://www.321books.co.uk

A good metaphor helps provide a structure for your web site and web pages. But you need to think about the details of that structure before plunging into implementation. There are many questions to answer. How do you design structures that are easy on the user's memory and problem solving skills? The navigational structure must be easy to use and not distract from the content, how do you satisfy this and other techniques for exploring a web site?

Content is the most important part of a web site. And the most important content is web-based prose. Other parts of content, like graphics and sound, may be important for your specific needs, but I do not consider them in detail. Because of its central importance, prose style and configuration has a chapter devoted to it. If there is no other message that you take away from this book, it should be that the prose content is the most essential element for achieving success with your web site.

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