Faculty Development Institute: Year-round technology training
   
 
History: FDI Home : FDI 2006 Spring : Web Design: Building an Effective Web Site
   
 
Web Design: Building an Effective Web Site
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  Presented by
  Marc Zaldivar
   
  Workshop Description  
  Are you looking for ways to make your web site more attractive, load more quickly, or garner more "hits"? This short course will provide a survey overview of all of the key issues that are involved with web design. Server issues, aesthetics, visual identity, site organization, navigation, frames, site testing, web accessibility, and web development for instruction are among the topics to be discussed. Numerous "real-life" examples from the web will be shown to further explicate key issues, and Macromedia Dreamweaver will be used to show how these concepts can be practically applied. Hands-on activities will be an integral part of this session.

Workshop Assumptions:
1. Participants have a working knowledge of basic web development.
2. Participants have a basic working knowledge of how to use/navigate web browsers and computer/operating system of choice.
3. Participants would like to learn more about integrating web design/functionality and a user-centered web experience.

Workshop Objectives:
1. Show fundamental usability issues/problems and best practices/recommendations.
2. Show fundamental web design issues/problems and best practices/recommendations.
3. Show how to implement best practices/recommendations to create a highly effective and enjoyable user-experience for your audience/customers.

Instructional Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to create sitemaps for navigation, functionality and design/user experience.
2. Participants will be able to create more effective websites using recommendations.
3. Participants will recognize common mistakes in web page design.
 
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  Instructional Content and Learning Activities
  • Building Effective Websites Presentation
• Effective Web Design Handout & Activity Guide
   
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  Related Links
 
• Example Template
• Yale Style Guide
• Web Authoring Tools - These include an HTML validator and accessibility checker among others
• Web Pages That Suck

Dreamweaver Links

• Macromedia's Dreamweaver Web Site
• Free 30-day Trial Version of Dreamweaver MX (as well as other Macromedia products)
• Macromedia's Support Web Site for Dreamweaver
• EZwebdesign - A directory of Dreamweaver tutorials on a wide spectrum of topics.

Accessibility Links

• Web Accessibility Home Page at Virginia Tech
• Accessible Web Pages Guidelines
• WebAIM - Creating Web Accessible Multimedia
• On-line Courses on Web Accessibility
• Microsoft's Accessibility Web Site
• Bobby - This free service will allow you to test web pages and help expose and repair barriers to accessibility and encourage compliance with existing accessibility guidelines
 
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