Layout

Web Sites for most are incredibly visual tools that require careful consideration to the location of text on a page.

Upshot:

Appropriately less White-Space is better for Scanablilty
Text bookmarks are useful tools in directing readers to their desires

Following are ideas that you may want to keep in mind when developing your layout. Note how the white space allows your eye to move around the page and snap to the point of greatest interest.

Bookmarks

Scope

Advertising

Text Density can be calculated by dividing the total number of words on a page by the length of the printed page in inches. Text Density is inversely related to the amount of White-Space on a page and Text Density is directly related to the Usability of a site.

One should also note that the shaded areas at the top and to the left are not immediately considered when a viewer is scanning a page's content. This helps designers keep a reader's interest on a certain body of text.

It is also a good idea to only have horizontal lines with some specific divisional purpose. If used too often, they can be distracting and may interfere the intended flow of the site. Unlike the fold of a newspaper, people will often fail to scroll down below lines because they think it is the end.

Bookmarks help in finding targets quickly, which is paramount to a users enjoyment of the site. The longer it takes for them to reach their goal, the more frustrating it can become. Having text links are a big help to moving a viewer through your pages that contain a lot of text. This way they are not reading paragraphs of unwanted material. When using FrontPage, simply highlight the text that reader will skip to and from the tool bar, Insert a Bookmark. Then at the top of the page have a hyperlink to a bookmark instead of a url.

Scope of content is very hard to define because it relies on several factors, one being a site has the intention to communicate short bits of information on a regular basis like articles or game schedules. Another could be a site that has the intention to communicate much larger quantities of information like a learning web site. Do not go in too deep of a topic like I have here, but also do not have too many topics that the viewer looses focus on the core intention of the site.

Advertising strategies are key to the enjoyment and usability of a web site. Do not allow the same advertisers from the Department of Transportation to put moving advertisements on your web site, such as the right column of www.washingtonpost.com. The motion of this advertisement is so distracting that I almost don't want to drive in the HOV lanes.