Cliches to Remember While You Work on Your Web Page

1. Home is where the heart is.
Your home page must capture the heart of your visitors. Make it simple, useful, and elegant. Pick at least one bold element that gets to the essence of your excellence or your message (compelling photo? brief musical selection? fascinating historical tidbit?). For everything else, provide clear, easy-to-use links to other pages.

2. Don't ignore the obvious.
Be sure to identify and promote Centre on your home page, and make sure you include easy-to-find contact information.

3. If you can only afford a Honda, don't buy the Jaguar.
We're talking time, not money. Build the kind of Web pages that you have enough time to maintain. Decide how often you can do updates and plan accordingly.

(And if you are thinking of anything less than serious annual updates, think again. Web users are in love with information—new, up-to date, accurate information). And while we're on Hondas vs. Jaguars, remember that there are limits to your server space and limits to the amount of time a visitor will wait while your page loads. Too many bells and whistles on your website will eat up your server space and make the site slow to load.

4. Ambitious travelers hate dead-end streets.
Provide the links and navigation aids essential to your users. Don't leave them stranded on the last page of your website with no easy return to your home page or the Centre site.

5. Help is on the way.
The Centre website contains a lot of information that can become part of your site with a simple link here and there. At your fingertips: faculty biographical sketches, catalog course listings, news releases, and more. Communications Office staffers who can consult on website design and help you get started are as close as the phone or your email.


Contacts

Contact Tom Sturgeon for more information.

Click here for a technology training calendar and additional resources.

Back to the Communications Office Page