Managing Design and Coding

By Duane Taylor, International Institute for Sustainable Development

Once the conceptual design and content have been confirmed, the next steps are the visual design and coding conventions. Visual design and coding are important to an organization's success in dealing with the Internet and should be addressed seriously.

You should have a Web page/site that looks sharp and appealing, without compromising a user's ability to navigate easily through the information. Always remember that the delivery of sustainable development information is the purpose of the site, unlike many commercial sites that bombard users with visual incentives to spend money.

All the graphics that appear on the site should be easy to access and reproduce. The graphics should be created with a software program that is on site so future staff can carry on where someone else left off.

One of the biggest problems with Web pages is that they do not work in all browsers. With many sustainable development groups having target audiences in areas where Internet connectivity and computers are not optimal, this is of great concern. All code used should meet international standards (see World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)).

Many sites today go way beyond the basic HTML code for creative Web sites. These sites have included things such as listservs, java applets, databases, audio, video, flash, etc. Although these features can make a Web site very aesthetically pleasing and interactive, there are some drawbacks.

There are four main concerns when considering the use of one or many of these features:

1. Do you have the right staff to develop such features?
2. Will you have the staff needed to maintain them once they are created?
3. Does the feature improve the goals of the site or does it just make it look pretty?
4. How will it affect the size of your web site? Download times and accessibility have to be considered based on your target audience.

Many of these features can be very useful in transferring knowledge via the Internet, but caution must be taken to ensure it is done properly and the resources are available to carry out such practices.

Issues Index

• Cascading Style Sheets
• Editors
• HTML: Sticking to Standards
• Java vs. Javascript
• Layout: Managing by Yourself
• Web-to-E-mail
• Frames: Windows of Frustration
• Databases
• Flash
• Image Maps and Flow Charts
• Internet Video
• Validation
• CD-ROM Production