Presenters:

1. Use of a web-site

• contact (retrievable)
• presentation
• advertising
• interaction (applications, forums)

2. What is a good web site in an international environment

* is adapted to international use

• is translated in the languages needed for desired access
• offers clear contact points
• is accessible for lower-tech computers
• has pages dedicated to given functions

* attracts the right people

• is retrievable with the „right" key-words
• is listed in known collections of links
• has graphics attractive to the right type of audience
• writing style is adapted to the desired audience

* provides easy access to needed info

• prior research was made on who would need the info, on what would be needed
• the authors know clearly what they wish to communicate
• the information is well organised (retrievable, on pages that are of acceptable length)
• the information is readable (font, colour, size)

* is comprehensive

• the authors included all information that they wish to be known, or provided details on getting it
• contains some mantadory elements: address, list of staff, contact names, site maps or some navigational tools

* is easy to navigate

• pages do not „act alone"
• pages are neither too short, nor too long (unless articles or other material to be printed out)
• not too many „clicks" are needed in order to retrieve the information
• links are clear, visible
• links do not suddenly lead out of the site

* keeps the attention focused on the content provided

• pages are simple and clear, with short, readable texts (content)
• text starts with the important information
• page size is neither too long (tiring to read on the screen), nor too short (too many clicks)
• text is readable (aspect)
• pages do not contain tiring and distracting graphics, or elements inaccessible to most browsers
• text is not split with many links that need to be visited in order to understand it

* fosters the right message

• the content describes clearly the organisation
• the writing style is adequate
• there are no mistakes in the page, no sloppiness
• it is translated in all needed languages

* is updated

• links are leading where they promise to
• the information is updated
• the site contains clear updating dates

* contains no mistakes

• text has no spelling mistakes
• info provided is accurate
• symbols used have no unwanted secondary meanings
• update dates are as stated (sometimes, updating date may mean just an addition made on that date, not a site update)
• translations in other languages are correct

* loads quickly

• contains no long-to-load graphics
• if containing images, text loads quickly, so the visitor may read until picture loads
• the server is of good quality
• the code is „clean" (without excessive commands)

* can be easily found

• is registered with the main search engines
• is retrieved with the right keywods
• is listed in well-known collections of links

* is protected

• cannot be easily hacked
• does not contain many „infectable" elements

3. What is NOT a good web-site?

• is not translated in a wide-access language
• contains incomplete information
• is similar to a maze
• lacks any contact information
• is not updated
• looks sloppy
• is superficially updated
• is only advertising (serious education organisations are not shops)
• is not findable (funny http address, funny name, not within link collections, not registered with search engines)
• is not clear about aims, background
• is too high-tech
• has hard-to-read text (or non-printable long text)
• is never finished (same „page under development" for months)

4. Creation of a good web-site

Having in mind the DOs and DON’Ts listed above, we will describe the steps needed to create a good site. If the approach is systematic, the chances of achieving quality in the creation of the site increase, as with any other computer programming activity.

4.1 building the team that will produce the site

(may be a one-person team)

expertise needed:

• knowledge of the organisation
• knowledge of web-page creation activities in order to plan work
• skills in organising information
• writing skills
• graphics design skills
• web-page programming skills
• general Internet-related skills („literacy")
• rule: access to the site for creation and update restricted to one person

4.2 planning the work

• meetings in order to decide what is expected from the web-site (presentation, interactiveness, etc.) and what information should be provided in this respect
• define the audience of the site, the purpose of the site, outline the general info to be contained by the site
• collection of info and graphics (send to departments questionnaires based on the decision on what the site should provide; collect reports, leaflets, board materials, descriptions of the institution, descriptive materials from departments, forms)
• organisation of info (decide on categories and sub-categories; think of the correspondence page / category and and on how to navigate between pages – several very different approaches may be attempted)
• find out about available servers and their performances; decide on server to host the page
• decide on http address (easily retrievable, correct domain name)
• decide on info to be contained per page, and decide what other elements should each page contain (links, navigation bar)
• decide on the structure of pages, and on the level of technical advancement to be used
• get ideas for the graphics design: different graphics, and different aproaches – professional designer, programmer)
• create a draft site on your computer
• test draft site on server; validate draft site
• collect feed-back on the draft site
• improve draft site
• submit draft site for clearance (head of department, PR officer)
• insert retrieval meta-tags and titles in the site
• submit site to search engines
• very important: plan from the very beginning the responsibilities and scheduling of site maintenance; site must be completely revamped after about two years

• list all
  

departments
functions
points of interactivity with the public
other elements of info you wish to publish on the web

• collect written materials from all departments
• site must contain addresses and contact names for each department, each function – request
• define general inquiry address for the site (to address if unclear info)
• define distribution of data (probably no simple distribution is possible – at least departments and functions will be on a first level, plus the general description of the institutions, announcements, etc.)
• examples of how this structure is solved:

http://www.yale.edu/

http://www.harvard.edu/

http://www.unige.ch/

http://www.unil.ch/

http://www.eaie.nl/

http://www.lexiaintl.org/

• after deciding on the structure (how pages inter-relate, what must each page contain), the text must be written; never use printed documents as such - rewrite and concentrate
• best if one person unifies writing of all texts, or at least checks texts - site must be consistent
• page - not too long, not too short - too long are not read completely; too short are tiring and need too much clicking around (half A4 to two A4, except for full-length articles), font size not too small, not too large (10-12); you may use downloadable documents if many pages
• start text with the essentials
• remember: lists of links are one of the most useful elements of your site

4.4 graphics design

• create a corporate image - even if there is diversity on one site, have a unifying element (not always graphical)
• readable text
• consistent, careful text formatting all over the site
• avoid bad taste
• avoid excessive complexity, or too "arty" sites
• avoid animation and routine clip-art
• check that graphics appeal to the right people
• graphics loads slowly - provide text for the visitor to read in the meantime
• do not abuse usage of graphics, unless meaningful
• provide text description of graphics for users who switch this function off
• many small graphics files slow loading much, even if they are simple
• complex graphics loads slowly
• check access logs and make quickly loadable pages that are most frequently accessed
• remember: the minimum screen size in common use today (640 by 480 pixels), and the width of paper used to print Web pages limit the size of graphics
• commented examples:

http://www.oecd.org/,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/, (/cin)

http://www.osi.hu/iep,

http://www.usia.gov,

http://www.manutd.com/ ,

http://www.wired.com/, helpful comments in the source

http://www.iie.org/,

http://www.lehigh.edu/,

http://www.aacrao.com/,

http://www.med-net.nl/ - frames

http://www.ciee.org/,

http://www.amazon.com/,

http://www.adbs.fr/

http://www.nga.gov/

http://www.metmuseum.org/

http://www.discovery.com/

4.5 programming and testing

• get a basic book describing the Internet
• get a "serious" book on creating and maintaining a website (keep for reference)
• there is a wealth of info freely available on the web
• HTML: the lingua franca of the web - specifies the form and function of hyper-text documents

http://www.w3.org/

(model site also in terms of efficiency, readability, solving of complexity)

• find out about existing programming tools; select tool (you may need to test them before - try producing the welcome page with different tools)

examples of programming tools:

        code-writing:

                        HomeSite - http://www.allaire.com/

                        DreamWeaver - http://www.macromedia.com/

                        NetObjects - http://www.netobjects.com/

                        FrontPage - http://www.microsoft.com/

(free HTML editors are also available)

• scripts: small programmes that the server executes at the browser's request - used for local search engines, database search, form submission - programming tools usually include script-producing elements - attention: poorly written server scripts may be major security holes for www web-sites => have small scripts, well-tested, reduced to a minimum
• do not forget comments in the page source - they help you organise the code and modify the page
• implement designed site
• check for efficient code generation
• test code (use syntax checkers) - viewing in a browser is not enough, as browsers tolerate different types of errors

http://tucows.euroweb.hu/htmlval95.html

http://validator.w3.org/

• test page loading from remote site
• make long documents downloadable - possibly use mirror sites if crowded server
• sites providing advice and information on producing a web-site:

http://www.webdeveloper.com; Q&A, list of links; advice

http://ews.simplenet.com/resources/index.html; web-site tools

http://www.tucows.com; free web software

http://www.hwg.org; advice, tutorials

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/; advice

http://apollo.gmu.edu/~jmilam/sair.html; advice; useful links

http://www.msg.net/tutorial/; Netscape tutorial

http://www.microsoft.com/sitebuilder/; Microsoft tutorial

http://www.sni.be/en/internet/intweb.htm#links; Siemens: list of links

http://www.msg.net/tutorial/java/; some links for Java

http://werbach.com/barebones/barebone.txt; HTML guide

http://www.w3.org/Security/; web security

http://www.gemini8.dircon.co.uk/links.htm; links to search engines

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~tilt/cgh/; "Good HTML" tutorial

http://www.cern.ch/; this is where the WWW started!

http://www.deionassociates.com/hplist/internet.htm; list of links

http://info.med.yale.edu/caim/manual/contents.html; web-site design tutorial

http://www.killersites.com/8-links/index.html; links

http://browserwatch.internet.com/; browser links

4.6 register with search engines

• place meaningful keywords in meta-tags - but beware, not all search engines use meta-tags in their search -some will penalize the use of too many such tags
• submit separately important pages in your site
• provide a meaningful title for the pages you submit to the search engine - make your title descriptive
• place most important text at the top of your page
• go to search machine sites and find the "register" or "submit" or "add" button, and fill in the forms provided
• useful tips for registering with search engines:

http://submitit.linkexchange.com/resources.htm

http://www.searchenginewatch.com/

http://siteowner.linkexchange.com/

http://www.siteinspector.com/

http://www.linkexchange.com/

4.7 maintenance

• as important as page creation
• plan ahead
• visit site daily if possible, if not, at least weekly
• polish, improve, upgrade
• update at least monthly - when updating part, check entire site
• check visits

counter
register complaints or question from visitors

4.8 get ready to start all over again!