Website Design and Planning

Use this as a checklist to develop your site, page or any part of your web presence

• Define the purpose - this is most important
  • Think about what you want the site/page to do and how to achieve it
• Define the audience
  • Increase promotion effectiveness - who is going to visit your site?
• Plan the content
  • Typography choices, video, pictures, not too much text, etc.
• Plan the navigation, 3 clicks or less
  • Create a clear, concise path to the information
• Plan the pages, what is needed and what is not
  • Don't be too text heavy, measure effectiveness through analytics and make adjustments
  • Users typically scan the page in an 'F' shape, going left to right across the top and down the left side
  • Most users will only scan for specific terms as they hunt around your content
• Plan the experience
  • Know your department's goals
  • Structure to increase overall ROI
  • Use appropriate templates to best represent information

Resources

• Accessibility resources
• SEO - Search Engine Optimization
• Canto (UW's Photo Database)
• Speed Test - Test the download speed of your website
• Broken Links
• Test your site on mobile devices
  • Responsinator.com - https://www.responsinator.com/
  • Responsive Design Simulator