Guidelines for Web Page Development

1. Use of color: It's generally a good idea to have a lot of contrast between the background color(s) (whether you use a solid color or a background graphic) and the text, in order to make the text easy to read.
   • Insufficiently contrasting colors for text and background are hard to read. For example:

     Although the background and text colors are not identical in this box, they don't provide enough contrast for the text to be easily read.

   • Light text on a dark background,

     as in this box, is easier to read than that of the previous example. However, it's not a good combination from the standpoint of printing: since often  a page's background isn't printed, and the text is printed in a gray shade corresponding to the darkness of the text on the screen. In the extreme example, this would result in printing white text on white paper, which can't be read.

   • Therefore, it's usually best to display dark text on a significantly lighter background, for best reading and printing. This page, except for the boxes above, is an example.
2. Use graphics as they are useful, but use them in moderation.
   • Graphics that are large or complex may take a great deal of memory. Thus, a page that has too many graphics may load so slowly that a reader will lose patience and not read the page.
   • A page on which the graphics are densely distributed may be difficult to read, as the graphics may distract from the text.
3. More generally, the fact that you know how to create an effect on a web site does not make the effect effective. Use a special effect to enhance your site, not just to show off that you can create the effect.
4. Proofread and correct. Look how speling erors, badly chose words, etc., can jump off the page and distract a reader from the information your page is designed to display. Remember that your page advertises. Many people, including potential clients for your business or potential students for your university, may use the quality of your page as a first impression of the quality of your product/education/service.
5. More links explaining the Web and how to develop Web sites:
   • From Dave
   • From Case-Western Reserve
   • From NCSA - the National Center for Supercomputer Applications
   • HTML Tutorial page
   • PageResource.com