Table 2.
Characteristics of Effectively Designed Webpages
| Clear and Consistent Page Organization |
| • Hierarchy of importance for items on the page, with more important things higher on page |
| • Logical groupings, with visual cues to help organize groups |
| • Headings and navigation labels reflecting a single theme (e.g., topic, function, or sequence) |
| • Consistent format from page to page |
| Wise Use of Space |
| • Division of page into grid of defined areas |
| • Alignment of all screen elements horizontally and vertically using grid |
| • Limited unused space (webpages require less white space than paper) |
| • Few distractions (e.g., unnecessary color, graphics, or animation) |
| Concise Text that Facilitates “Scanning” |
| (Web users “scan” rather than read from top to bottom and page design should optimize this.) |
| • Clear headings |
| • Short phrases and bulleted outlines |
| • Limited length of sentences (20 words) and paragraphs (5 sentences) |
| • Limited page length (single screen for homepage, scrolling limited to 3 screens for other pages) |
| • Topic summarized before presenting details |
| Clear and Consistent Navigation |
| • Site name/logo on every page with consistent position and appearance |
| • Navigation bar on every page with consistent position, appearance, and content including: |
| • Link to homepage |
| • Links to sections/categories |
| • Search function |
| • Utilities (help, additional information, contact information, etc.) |
| • Navigation bar on right |
| Clear and Consistent Hyperlinks |
| • Clearly identified hyperlinks |
| • Descriptive and unambiguous hyperlink labels |
| • No use of graphics as hyperlinks |
| • Repetition of important hyperlinks elsewhere on the page (as needed) |
| • Minimum number of “clicks” to access a given point (“flat” site architecture) |
| • Consistent hyperlink format on all pages |