HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
The only thing that limits what you can publish on the Web is your own imagination. If
what you want to do with it isn't in this list or seems especially wild or half-baked, that's
an excellent reason to try it. The most interesting web pages are the ones that stretch the
boundaries of what the Web is supposed to be capable of.
You might also find inspiration in looking at other websites similar to the one you have
in mind. If you're building a corporate site, look at the sites belonging to your competi-
tors and see what they have to offer. If you're working on a personal site, visit sites that
you admire and see whether you can find inspiration for building your own site. Decide
what you like about those sites and you want to emulate, and where you can improve on
those sites when you build your own.
If you really have no idea of what to put up on the Web, don't feel that you have to stop
here; put this topic away, and come up with something before continuing. Maybe by
reading through this topic, you'll get some ideas. (And this topic will be useful even if
you don't have ideas.) I've personally found that the best way to come up with ideas is to
spend an afternoon browsing on the Web and exploring what other people have done.
What do you want people to accomplish on your website? Are your visitors looking for
specific information on how to do something? Are they going to read through each page
in turn, going on only when they're done with the page they're reading? Are they just
going to start at your home page and wander aimlessly around, exploring your world
until they get bored and go somewhere else?
Suppose that you're creating a website that describes the company where you work.
Some people visiting that website might want to know about job openings. Others might
want to know where the company actually is located. Still others might have heard that
your company makes technical whitepapers available over the Net, and they want to
download the most recent version of a particular paper. Each of these goals is valid, so
you should list each one.
For a shopping catalog website, you might have only a few goals: to enable your visitors
to browse the items you have for sale by name or price, and to order specific items after
they finish browsing.
For a personal or special-interest website, you might have only a single goal: to enable
your visitors to browse and explore the information you provide.
