State University Learning Technologies Service Elements of Good Design for the Web Introduction Good and effective page design is an essential concern for the delivery of information on the Web. Of course, this applies to programs and other offerings here at the university as well. However, aesthetics only represent one aspect of making a course or any site well designed. We will see that site structure, information flow, navigation, page layout, and graphics, as well as the delivery issues of file sizes and download times, are essential aspects of Web page design. Audience One should acknowledge some basic constraints of delivering information on the Web.
Limitations come in the form of both hardware and software.
With a 28.8 modem, our recommended minimum expectation, a 1MB size file will take approximately 30 minutes to download. Determining which browser and which version of this browser we expect our audience to have is an example of a software constaint. Currently our minimum browser requirements are Netscape 3.0 and Internet Explorer 3.0. Both of these, as well as their upgraded versions, can be downloaded free via the Web. When you point Web Site Garage to your site, it will run several diagnostics on your pages, including a browser compatibility check, a load time check, a dead link check, a check for links to your site, a spell check, and a design check.