The Home Page

Don't forget to tell people who you are and what you do on the main page of the site. In other words ... don't make them guess.

Consider the width of the of the browser's window. This is one of the biggest problems facing Web page designers. The height of the browser's window has very little effect on how the page is displayed - one just sees more or less of it, sort of like a window shade. But as the width of the browser window changes, it can have a spectacular effect on how the page is displayed. This is because the browser will try to rearrange the web page to make maximum use of the available window size.

Two factors determine the width of the browser's window --- the width of the visitor's screen, which determines the maximum width for the browser, and the proportion of the screen that the browser has been set to.

The practical width of computer screens varies from about 640 to 1280 pixels. This is determined by hardware, software, and the display settings the user has chosen. The Web page should work properly with the browser window set anywhere within this range.

There may be a number of different elements on the page, but they fall into two groups: those items that can be adjusted in width and those that can't.

Items that can be adjusted in width are text, which can wrap, and tables and cells, which can be defined as a percentage of the window's width.

Items with a fixed width are images, text given a "NOWRAP" attribute, text within PRE tags, and tables or cells declared as fixed (pixel) width.

So, what happens when the page is viewed at other browser widths?

Let's start with a narrower window. If the page is designed with the right mix of fixed and variable elements, the page should still work. If fixed-width elements are used, the page may end up wider than the browser and a horizontal scroll bar will appear at the bottom of the window. The visitor will have to scroll left and right to see the page.

If the window is wider than the design, a number of things can happen. If an image was used as a background for the page, and it just fits the medium-sized window, it will repeat as the browser adds an additional copy to the right in order to fill out the increased width. Tables declared as variable width may be rendered with elements showing up in unexpected places.

In addition, the way a particular browser juggles the page to fit its width will vary greatly with different browsers and also with different versions of the same browser.

Tip: Keep the home/main page small so it loads quickly --- under 15 seconds is a worthy goal. This is especially important when the web slows down. This will hook the visitor. Think twice about putting that 90K GIF image on your home page. Remember that your site is only one of millions --- web surfers have short attention spans.

top of page

Having a presence on the World Wide Web does not have to be expensive. We will design and develop your website based on your ideas and specifications.

The way we do this is to set up a free initial consultation in order to determine your needs and requirements. Then we will give you an estimate in a couple of days.

You can start with a couple of pages in the beginning and then add more later, or you can do it all together ... the choice is yours.

• Why do you want a website?
• Is this an information site? Retail site? Portal?
• Who is your target audience?
• What do you want to accomplish?
• What do you want your audience to do once they arrive?
• How long is your design timetable?
• Who is responsible for gathering what?
• What do you or your clients do?