• What is your objective?
  Will the on-line course notes to be used in class as paper copy, or projected on a screen
• Visualize your readers.
  Tech savvy, never seen a computer, have access to new browsers,
• What's the most important element?
  Text, images, external links, calendar, contact information
• What do you want them to see first?
  Navigation links, page description, next action
• What action do you hope they'll take?
  Will page be interactive, or passive. Immediately send them to a schedule page, lecture page, pre-enrolment quiz.

• Grid, Evenly lay out each page using tables.
  

• Style of Art, A simple graphic can make a big impact. Warning: this is and external link, Please use 'Back' button to return to this site.
  

• Color,
  • Blue is calming, trustworthy.
  • Pink, rose, pastels are more attractive to women.
  • Red is stimulating. It is harder for older people to read red type or any color. type on red backgrounds.
  • Metallic signifies rich, affluent.
  • For more, see Introduction to web Graphics -Color. Warning: this is and external link, Please use back button to return to this site.

• Typography, See other page on this site.
  

• Graphic Elements, Sidebar, horizontal lines, white space, and bullets.
  

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~ Anything located in the upper left quadrant (the primary optical area) of a layout is more heavily weighted than anything located anywhere else.

• The NWSCC seal is confirming the Website location. For course sites, use a departmental logo, or school emblem.
  

~ Large items are noticed more, seen for a longer time, and remembered better than are small items.

• Navigation bars are in smaller type so they will not distract from the main text area.
• Titles of the page are larger than the body text.
  

~ Elements that are dark carry more optical weight than elements that are light.

• Subject headings are in bold type.
• PSU-FIPSE logo uses light colors so it will not clash with the rest of the page.
  

~ Color conveys more optical weight than black and white.

• Colored backgrounds can distract the view form the content.
• The heading of this pages uses a colored background to immediately grab the readers attention.
  

White space serves to draw readers' attention to whatever is in the "non-empty" space.

• Leave some whit space on the contact page to allow the reader to quickly find the links.
• Use the white space to direct the eye attention. The subtitle 'Balance' has lots of white space around it, so the eye can skim to different topic headers quickly.
  

Rectangles are usual shapes. Everything else conveys optical weight. This means squares, triangles; ovals, circles, elliptical shapes, cubes, and others all convey optical weight.

• The FIPSE logo has a colored square oval as the background shape.
  
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