Style

Don't worry, we're not going to tell you what your site should look like -- that's up to you to decide. Sometimes you'll want your page to mimic the look you use in traditional media, and other times you'll want to create a fresh style. The style you choose will have a lot to do with your site's target audience. (You probably won't want to use silly geometric figures with robot legs.)

Developing a Consistent Look

Your visitors will feel more comfortable if you establish a consistent motif that is carried from one page to the next. This includes a standard system of navigation and the consistent use of graphics, as well as similar page designs.

This does not mean you should make every page look the same! Do something to help your visitors distinguish between one section and the next; you may want to have different graphical headers, different background colors or patterns, etc. Such contrast between sections will generally make your visitor more receptive to the actual content of each page, as well as aiding their navigation.

HTML Guidelines

As you're planning your site, you should decide the HTML entities, font size, and colors that you'll be using on your pages. For example, this tutorial has a <basefont size=4> element on each page, the major headings ("HTML Guidelines" for example) are inside the <H1> element, and subheadings are normal size but bold.


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