it's important to understand the Qualities of a Good Website can make or break the effectiveness of your online investment. An unattractive or poorly built site will do more to hurt your business than to help it. In this article, we look at the five general components involved in making a website successful.
1- The freedom enjoyed by users roaming where they wish, gathering content, comes at a price that you,
the provider, have to tell your users where they are within the web and the site, and to help them find their way around all the other pages; helping the users to operate in a screen-based interactive environment.
2- Give users the tools to find their way around the sections.
3- The first thing you must offer is consistency. You may want to offer a rich mix and variety of content,
but if you want users to find it you must give them clear and consistent guidance around your site
structure. Remember, not all your visitors will come through the front door. Some may be delivered to a single page, deep within your site. by a link from elsewhere. So each page should be able to stand alone editorially with a clear identity and provenance.
4- Each of your pages should contain your site identity, usually a consistent logo or heading.
5- Each of your pages should state who created the content on it.
6- Also inform the readers when it was created or revised.
7- Provide an informative title for the content.
8- Indicate which area of the site the user is currently in.
9- Provide a link to the home page.
10- Provide a link to an index or site map.
11- Provide a search facility;
12- Provide a way for the users to return to previous pages.
13- Provide a linkable summary of where else on the site they can go; and
14- Link them to web content anywhere that is specifically related to that page.
15- Don’t put ambiguous labels on content categories
16- Standard features that can support navigation
There are certain standard features that can support navigation, such as links being underlined and the
cursor arrow turning into a hand when over an interactive area. In theory, your browser window can help with backtracking by offering 'Forward', 'Back' and 'History' buttons, although these do not help users who have parachuted in from another site to navigate yours. The 'Back' button will only return them to the previous site they were visiting. So you've still got a bit to do.
17- Do not put search facilities at the bottom of the page and, so, usually off- screen unless the user
scrolls.
18- A page must have a visual balance. The size of graphics and images should be in relation to others.
19- Do not forget the white space:
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