Your Client Is Interested In How You Will Structure The Web
Your Client Is Interested In How You Will Structure The Website Befor
Your client is interested in how you will structure the website. Before you begin to write the HTML for your pages, it’s a good practice to create a storyboard that outlines your ideas for colors, font sizes, placement of images, hyperlinks, and sections on each page. Your storyboard and file structure should outline your homepage, inside pages, navigational scheme, and where you plan to add your form. This is a high-level design that you will be adjusting and changing throughout the quarter. You do not need to write this in HTML!
In fact, it will save you time if you develop your storyboard in Word, PowerPoint, or Visio first, so you can make adjustments based on feedback. Here are some online resources to help you think through the process: Why Website Storyboarding Is Important. How to Use PowerPoint to Create a Website Storyboard. Example Storyboard [PDF].
Paper For Above instruction
Developing a well-structured website begins with thorough planning, which involves creating a comprehensive storyboard to visualize the overall design and layout before coding begins. This process helps ensure that all elements such as colors, fonts, images, links, and page sections are thoughtfully organized to enhance user experience and ensure consistency throughout the site. Additionally, establishing a clear file structure for all website files facilitates efficient development, maintenance, and scalability.
The importance of storyboarding in web development cannot be overstated. By sketching out the visual and functional aspects of each page ahead of time, developers and designers can identify potential issues early and make necessary adjustments. Typically, storyboards are created using tools like Word, PowerPoint, or Visio, which allow for easy modifications based on feedback from stakeholders or team members. These tools provide flexibility to experiment with layouts, color schemes, typography, and placement of visual elements without the constraints of coding at this stage.
Design Considerations in the Storyboard
The storyboard should illustrate the color palette, font sizes, and styles to be used across the website to ensure visual consistency. It should also delineate the placement of images, navigation elements, and key sections such as headers, footers, sidebars, and content areas. For example, a typical homepage layout might feature a prominent banner, a navigation bar at the top, a main content section for featured products or news, and footer links for contact information and social media profiles. Inside pages, such as product pages or contact forms, should follow a similar design language to maintain coherence.
Hyperlink placement is crucial, as it guides users intuitively through the website's hierarchy and content flow. The storyboard should depict where internal links connect to related pages and external links to other resources. Special attention should be given to form placement—whether it appears in a sidebar, a dedicated contact page, or as a pop-up—so that it is accessible yet unobtrusive.
File Structure Planning
Once the visual layout is mapped out, the next step involves creating an organized file structure. This structure ensures that all HTML files, images, stylesheets, scripts, and other assets are systematically stored for easy access and management. For instance, a common practice is to create separate folders for different sections of the website, such as home, about, products, contact, and subfolders for images or scripts within each section. This hierarchical organization improves maintainability and clarity during development.
For example, a clothing retail site might have a main root folder named clothing-site, with subfolders like index.html for the homepage, men, women, and children for respective categories, and inside each, HTML pages like product1.html. Similarly, an assets folder could contain images, stylesheets, and JavaScript files. Maintaining this structured approach from the beginning simplifies future updates and expansions.
Conclusion
Meticulous planning through storyboarding and clear file organization sets a solid foundation for website development. This preparatory work minimizes confusion, streamlines coding, and ensures a consistent user experience. As projects evolve, iterative adjustments based on feedback can be efficiently implemented, thanks to the thoughtful initial design and systematic file management.
References
- Krug, S. (2014). Don't Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability. New Riders.
- Rosenfeld, L., & Morville, P. (2006). Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-Scale Web Sites. O'Reilly Media.
- Trenholm, P. (2017). Web Design with HTML, CSS, JavaScript and jQuery Set. Pearson.
- Garrett, J. J. (2010). The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web and Beyond. New Riders.
- Marcotte, E. (2014). Responsive Web Design. A Book Apart.
- Beaird, J., & George, J. (2014). The Principles of Beautiful Web Design. SitePoint.
- W3Schools. (2023). HTML File Structure. https://www.w3schools.com/html/html_structure.asp
- O'Reilly Media. (2011). Designing Web Navigation. https://oreilly.com
- Cooper, A., Reimann, R., Cronin, D., & Noessel, C. (2014). About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design. Wiley.
- Wodtke, C., & Govella, A. (2016). Radical Focus: Achieving Your Most Important Goals with Objectives and Key Results. Boxes and Arrows.