Designing web sites for community groups
A community or non-profit organisation's web site should be
informative for new visitors as well as a useful resource for those
familiar with the organisation. A front / welcome / contents / index
page should contain the main navigation for the whole site in a format
that is easy to locate and understand. This is also a good location
for new or urgent announcements of interest to new and returning
visitors alike.
The size and complexity of a web site will grow or decrease as the
needs of the group vary. Initially, it may be sufficient to construct
a one-page introduction using the content of the group's brochures or
promotional material, if such exist.
Large amounts of information should be spread between separate pages,
for example:
-
A front / index page providing pointers to all the main sections of
the site
-
Background information on the group
-
Calendar of events
-
Reports from recent activities or events
-
Copies of newsletters, press releases and other material that may
have been distributed through other media
-
Separate sections for particular projects or sub-groups
-
Bibliographies, reference lists and links to related web sites
All of the above sections may be further sub-divided if they become
too large. Navigation aids should be provided on every page, linking
at least to all of the principal (top-level) sections of the site
hierarchy. It may also be useful to provide a detailed "site map"
listing every element in the entire site.
Design elements such as logos and fonts should be consistent with the
group's logos and print publications. The use of cascading style
sheets, server-side includes and/or PHP facilitates the maintenance of
consistent navigational and visual elements.
It is essential that visitors can locate contact information (such as
email addresses) for at least one person responsible for maintaining
the site, and that this person be responsive to comments, questions
and suggestions about the content and design of the site.
The site should make information available to all people with an
internet connection, regardless of software or hardware used. Such
considerations are trivial if they are implemented from the beginning.
(A major resource on web accessibility is at the Any Browser campaign.
For Australian Government policy on this issue, see the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission's report.)
In practice, this means:
-
Avoiding proprietary and resource-hungry technologies, such as
JavaScript and Flash, that are not accessible to all browsers and
may slow down or crash low-memory computers
-
Avoiding gratuitous use of images, and providing text descriptions
for those images that are necessary
-
Publishing documents in formats that follow open standards, such as
ASCII text and HTML, rather than proprietary formats such as
Microsoft Word
It is desirable to provide key documents in relevant languages other
than English where this is possible
Widely accepted procedures exist for publications that include
information from other sources, whether these publications are
academic papers, technical reports, pamphlets or web sites.
Essential guidelines include:
-
Respect the original author's or publisher's copyright or content
license. Do not break copyright laws that apply in the
jurisdictions of the community group, the group's individual
members, the web host or the publisher of information being cited
-
Attribute the original author and provide a full citation to the
original material
-
If the cited material is available on the web, provide a link to its
original location
Author: Claudine Chionh
<claudine@chionh.org>
Date: 2006/07/26 22:21:28