The most important web rule...

I find as I wander through the creation of my web site that web design is very similar to paper design. As I said in the previous blog, there are many things in common.

For me, as a new web design person, I believe the most important web rule is a mixture of ideas- the primary one to to pay attention to your audience. Quoting from the Web Style Guide,

"THE DESIGN OF THE SITE will determine its organizational framework. At this
stage you will make the tactical design decisions about what your audience wants
from you, what you wish to say, and how to arrange the content to best meet your
audience's needs. Although people will notice the graphic design of your Web
pages right away, the overall organization of the site will have the greatest
impact on their experience"

Since my web site is still an act in process, I am somewhat unsure of my audience. I hope to eventually use my site for something; it will be for the horses and the rescue efforts I make. So, I have created the pages for the farm as well as for some of the horses. I also think that I will make a page for family, as it seems like that will be useful.

Luckily for me, my audience is not going to be web savvy! It will be much more gathering information. Therefore, I will be using this bit of info (again from Web design)

Efficient Web site design is largely a matter of balancing the relation of
menu, or home, pages with individual content pages. The goal is to build a
hierarchy of menus and pages that feels natural to users and doesn't mislead them or interfere with their use of the site.

Since I will know my audience pretty well once I get to make this site a bit more personal, I think I know how to present the information on my page to entice people to look a bit further. Horse people want horse things...they want to know the sweet and special stories about the animals. This I can provide!

What my goal is now is to create this site so it meets the guidelines, and then keep going with it. I think each of the groups of animals deserves their own page, as well as the dogs. Hunter, our lab, is dying as I write this blog, so, he will get his page, too.

Who whould have thought that I would EVER continue making changes to my web page? What a concept!