Introduction
This document exemplifies the standards, which were used while developing the NHSRC site pages by developers at NJCMR. We expect that in future all NHSRC publishing should also conform to the standards mentioned in this document.
Page Design for Web Documents:
Page layout guidelines are recommendations for you to consider. Standards are required and to be followed throughout the site.
Place the most important content at the top: Very few people scroll below the information displayed on the page’s initial screen so you must place what you really want them to see at the top of the page. Important links should also be at the top of the page.
E.g.:
INVESTIGATORSNHSRC investigators are based primarily in the consortium universities. In cases where unique resources are needed and do not exist within the consortium outside investigators participate. The following are a listing of schools and programs that have or are currently being performed:
Universities / ProjectTheme
NJIT / ThermalProperties
Rutgers / Characterization
Stevens Institute / In- Situ Remediation and Removal
MIT / Novel Remediation methods Ex-situ
Tufts / Training
UMDNJ / Community Outreach
Princeton
SUNY at Buffalo
Rowan
University of Utah
Minority University Program
University of Oklahoma
The above example shows and sticks to those standards. The Sentences which follows the title of the page clearly mentions what this page is all about and the following links link to other part of the page. The user by reading the first few sentences can know everything about this page and if he/she finds it to be of his interest will continue to read this page or will go on to the other pages.
Include standard page elements: Each page should contain these standard elements.
· Title of page on the page: The title of the page should go on the top of the page. This gives user to know what this page is all about at one glance. The title should be bold and easily readable. The colors used must be soothing and the combination of background and text used must be easily readable. These all things were kept in mind while making the NHSRC site. The background color used for the main title was dark green with white text on it. The font size used was 5 and font style as Arial. The text is all in capital .
E.g.:
NHSRC ADVISORY COMMITTEES· Links for the page: The page should contain links to all other pages. It will ease user to switch through and select the topic he wants to view anywhere from the site. This does not irritate the user. If the links are particularly on any one page the user has to return on that page again and again which discomforts the user.
E.g.:
· Link to home: Every page must have link back to Home page if the user wants to go back to home page.
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· Link to email for Webmaster & copyright: Every page must have link to email for Webmaster for their comments and suggestions. At the end of the page it must have the copyright information.
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· Keep the home page to one screen: Display the important part of your home page on one browser screen, without scrolling, at 800 x 600 resolution.
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· Use a grid: Use a grid to design each type of page on your site so that similar types of pages have a similar look and feel. Creating grids for page types during the planning phase of your project saves your development time and helps ensure consistency throughout the site.
· Consider using tables: Tables are the best way available in HTML to control page display. We can align objects and text, create vertical and horizontal space, and control the placement of images. Most browsers now support tables. The tables can be used to group similar objects. Table makes the page looks formatted.
E.g.:
Page Layout
· Keep images and related text close to each other: Keep the images and the related text close to each other. This helps user to easily relate the text and the image.
· Make the use of bullets or Numbered list: Bullets in online documents are very useful. Bullets and numbers help to mark the important points. Bullets or numbers are used to mark the lists.
E.g.:
· Use of bold text: Bold text is used for important headings, title, and subtitle of the page.
· Use of italics: It is used for name of the universities and Institutions only.
· Use of Underlines: Underlines are not used in the document to highlight any text. The underline text shows the links.
· Use of proper fonts style and size: The following are the font style and font size used for different sections of a document.
The title or heading of the page throughout the site is Arial,bold and font size of 5.
The subtitle is bulleted and is Arial,bold and font size of 3.
The simple text used is Arial and font size of 3.
· Use of Proper background color: The background color used through the document is light green (#effcf2). This color is comfortable for eyes and all the text is easily readable. The text used for the heading of the page is dark green (#003333) with white text on it. The subheadings are on green background (#009c9c) with black bold text on it.
E.g.: