What makes a good web site?

"Good" web sites are ones that meet - at least - certain basic technical and design criteria, and that serve their audience well. Before setting out to design your site, consider the following questions:

• What do you like to see in a site?
• What don't you like to see in a site?
• How does the use of hypermedia documents differ from that of printed documents?

It is often useful to visit and "critique" a selection of web sites as a group as a basis for developing a set of criteria for your own site. As your site takes shape, remember to refer to these criteria. While this may seem obvious, it's surprising how people incorporate features in their own sites which they dislike in others.

What is the aim of your site? Who is the intended audience?

A useful web site will generally have a clearly defined purpose - although this purpose may evolve with time. Understanding the purpose of the web site will help you determine what content it should contain. The aim of a web site will also be linked to the intended audience. Consider the following:

• Who is your audience?
  Who do you expect the main users of your site to be? Who else might use the site?

• What information and resources do they need? What would they find useful?

• What type and level of technical access will the primary target audience have?
  For example, are they likely to be using the latest browsers, or will they be older version? Is restricted bandwidth a problem? Users at South African universities and technikons have slow Internet connections and use older browsers.

• What can they contribute to your site?
  Are you developing a resource which would benefit from the contributions of users?

• What would be appropriate criteria for the evaluation of your site?
  Draw up a checklist, and bear the points it contains in mind when you develop your site.

What - in broad outline - will your site contain?

After you have thought about what the general aim of the web site is, and who the target audience is likely to be, think about what content - in broad outline - should be included in the site.

• What information could it contain?
• What sections could be included?
• Is the contents likely to be static, or would it be updated frequently?