Client Guide for Web Design : Layout (Page 6 of 10)

Composition

The arrangement of material on the page is referred to as composition. It is crucial in page layout design. Pages require "white space" to allow the viewer to effortlessly mentally navigate and process the information on the page. What is not on the page is as important as what is on the page.

Avoiding "page overload" helps reduce download time (aiming to keep it below 10 seconds for at least most of the page material to appear in the browser window). We take care to compress all .jpg (photographic) images while not placing more than 2 or 3 large photo images on any one page. Thumbnails are small versions of photo images which prove useful for visitor browsing and navigation within online galleries.

We have the common practice of designing short pages or pages with "anchor" links so as to not only increase download speed but also to "reduce the need for scrolling in a situation where a single click does the trick".

Frames / Borders / SSI

All of these structural elements allow layout with provision for quick and easy site updates as well as clear, simple and always-accessible whole site navigation.

Example of frames:  Bundaberg Fishing Charters

This site uses a shell home page into which all pages are placed in an inline frame (or document window). To update or alter the navigation of all pages only one page has to be changed. This saves me time and such a design saves you money for updates, while allowing for incredibly fast and seemingly extensive site-wide changes.

Shared borders allow us to update or alter the navigation of all pages by changing only one, two or three pages. This saves time and it saves you money for updates, while allowing for incredibly fast and seemingly extensive site-wide changes.

Example of shared borders: www.bundynet.com

SSI stands for server-side includes which provide coding to the server so as to insert material that often changes into a Web page. This serves much the same purpose as frames and shared borders.

All of these technologies prove helpful as a means of quickly and conveniently inserting and replacing material that is likely to change frequently across several pages or in all pages of a Website.

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