Design

A Home page should be eye catching, an invitation for the surfer to stop and explore.   All pages should have a uniform look; it will be easier to read and to navigate. Graphics, backgrounds, colors, and images can be included, but these should enhance not dominate your home page. A good rule of thumb is less is more.

Graphics    Text    Color    Layout

Graphics

• Don't use busy backgrounds
• Keep graphics to a minimum; all graphics should have a function on the page
• GIFs and JPEGs are the formats for web images; keep these as small as possible - the smaller the graphic, the faster it will load. Keep the size of graphics under 5K. A small file will load faster than larger ones.
• Be sure to upload the graphic files with your pages; create a graphics folder in your my documents folder. 

These sites offer free graphics for your home page.   Some free clip art sites ask that you identify the source of the clip art below the graphic.  Always adhere to copyright laws.

Discovery School Clip Art Collection
Clip Art from ALA
Graphics on the Web
Library Media and PR
About.com Clip Art
Clip Art Guide

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Text

• Keep fonts uniform; use Times New Roman or Ariel
• Use a font size of 12 or 14 for the text.  A larger font size will overwhelm your page while a smaller size will make it difficulty for some people to read
• Use bold or a color to emphasize key points
• Don't put everything in Capital Letters
• Leave white space on the page
• Always spell check your page

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Color

• Limit the number of colors that you use; four colors are more than enough
• Select neutral backgrounds.
• Don't use black backgrounds - users will have to adjust the page setup to get a page to print

Layout 

Tables

Tables allow you to organize your text in columns and rows. Tables are very easy to create; the format is quite similar to creating a table in a word processing program.  You can have a border around the table or you can make the lines invisible. Are the most commonly used way to organize a web page.

Visit Clifton High School Media Center to see a table format

Frames

Frames set side by side allow you to display two documents on one page. Frames make it easier to use a site without getting lost

Visit Haworth Elementary Library to see a frames format

Lists

An easy way to organize your home page is to use lists. Lists present information in a way that is easily viewable by most browsers.  

Visit Haddon Heights High School Library to see a list format

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