Step 2. Design and Plan the Website Basics

• Standards - While there are few "official" standards, the average internet surfer, by now,  has quite a bit of experience with other websites before visiting yours.  Consequently, he or she will have expectations about many functions and features.  Adhering to at least the basic commonly accepted standards will result in users that are able to navigate your site better and are more likely to return. Click here for a list of the defacto standards.
   
• Look and feel - how do you want to lay out the pages? Style? Colors? Buttons? For tutorials about how to design a website and lay it out, click here.
   
• Other topics to consider:
  • Navigation - How will visitors find their way from one page to the next?
  • Organization - How will the pages be grouped? By topic? What are the topics and hierarchy?
  • Files - Will their be any files (documents, pdf's, music, pictures, video, etc. ) to download?