Design Considerations
for Web Pages at Carleton
Now that Carleton College, along with the rest of the world, has moved into the Internet age, we realize that there is a pressing feeling of need and urgency to getting web pages representing entities up in order to provide information and services to a wide variety of people. However, in many cases, the best method of getting these web pages up is not through just doing it yourself - Carleton has a variety of methods of getting your content up on the web (of which these builders pages are only a small part of). Here are some considerations:
- We've said it before and we'll say it again: Your computing support specialist is the one who can best help you decide which method of creating web pages is best for your department.
- Know your audience as who you are designing your web pages for has a profound impact on the best way to present your information.
- If at all possible, use the Carleton departmental templates to start your pages.
- Be aware of the "Do and Don't"s of web page design.
- Putting up web pages includes the responsibility to update those pages in a timely fashion.
What follows is a short list of dos and don'ts of producing web pages for Carleton departments. It assumes some knowledge of web design and programming (through GUI designers (Dreamweaver, HomePage, etc.) or with raw code).
Do
- Use the persistant navigation bar provided by Carleton - This bar is essential to maintaining a unified look-and-feel to Carleton's official web sites. Even if your pages are for internal use only, please consider using them. If the bars are giving you errors and you followed all the steps for installing them correctly, contact your web support person.
- Provide a source for comments on the page - Typically, this is done with a "last modified by" tag at the bottom of the page. The reason for this is that, if readers cannot easily find someone to contact about a page, they will probably contact the wrong person. As many comments are directed towards the content of the page, the person who knows the most about the content of the page should be the contact if there is only one contact. An alternative (showcased on this page) is to have two attributions: one for the content and one for the web designer. See the policy in this regard.
- Check browser compatability - Just because it looks good on your computer doesn't mean it looks good on others. Make sure your intended audience can at least view the information you are presenting. This typically includes looking at least one browser version ahead and behind the browser used by your intended audience as well as relevent standards. Check with your computing support specialist for more information and help.
Don't
- Use frames - Frames make is hard to read and understand pages as well as breaking scripts (even if you think you're not using scripts, you may be so don't use frames).
- Use excessive multimedia effects - We realize that many departments want to create an impressive web site but consider that there are costs to using multimedia effects (scripting, Flash, Shockwave, animation, etc.). A good rule of thumb is to see whether it is done in departments similar to yours or in another part of Carleton's site.
- Use extremely non-standard color/design schemes - Especially in the area of administrative web pages, it is important to put forward a unified front to the rest of the web. We encourage creativity on the part of web designers in order to promote the use of their site but please use your best judgement.
- Use the Carleton identity on personal web pages - Carleton encourages faculty and staff to be careful in their web page design and not associate any of the graphical elements that identify Carleton on their personal pages.
If you have any further questions about advanced web design or any of the tips above, contact your computing support specialist.
Last Modified: 9/12/01
Content by Brian Patterson
Web design by Brian Patterson
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