Part 2

Saladin: Once we've decided what materials should be put on, there are a couple of basic principles to follow. One is that there should never be any dead ends, you should never reach a page which has no...

interviewer: Ah, which doesn't go anywhere?

saladin: ... Which has no links to take you back to somewhere else. So that's one principle. And the other principle is to try to limit the number of steps that have to be taken from the main home page to any other page. I would normally aim for a maximum of four steps.

interviewer: Do people give up if there are more than two or three links, they simply give up, is that a problem?

Saladin: Some people will give up. Others will just never find the information, there are too many diversions. Another principle is not to have too many links to scroll through on one page. If you have a page which has 150 links and you have to keep scrolling through them, people will give up ... they'll never find the links at the bottom.

interviewer: What about graphics, sound and animations, and all these multimedia features? What's your feeling about these?

saladin: Always ask why is it there? That's the first thing. And if it's there simply because it makes the page look nicer, think quite carefully about whether to put it there or not. The more of that sort of thing you have, the more time it will take to download the pages. Another factor to bear in mind is that there are still a lot of users with less sophisticated browsers than Netscape or Microsoft Explorer, and if you make the use of the page dependent on graphics and so on, you'll exclude these users.

INTERVIEWER: So no dead-ends, no more than four steps from home, and pictures have to serve a serious purpose.

Part 3

Saladin: Another aspect of designing pages is to break the information into relatively small sections.

interviewer: Is that just because of the size of the screen, what you can see at one time?

saladin: It's partly that, but it's also to do with download time and printing. People can find they're printing forty pages of a document, most of which they don't want.

interviewer: Is it a big temptation to add links to similar organizations? Is there strength in that, or is there a danger in that?

Saladin: In most cases it's a big strength. Browsers who come across your page, if they discover that your page is a very good gateway to all sorts of interesting sites, will bookmark your page because they know it's a good way to get to all the other sites. If they're coming back to it, they're exposed to your message every time. One final point: it is useful to have on the front page something brief which catches the reader, which says 'this is who we are'.

Task 6.In this interview Saladin describes what makes a good website. Read Part 1 of the interview and answer these questions.

1. Name two kinds of people who want websites.

2. Why is a website good for people with a lot of information to distribute?

3. What sort of clients is a website particularly useful for?

4. What does Saladin ask for first from a client?

5. What important point must be decided?

6. What must the client make a clear decision about?

Task 7. Read Part 2 of the interview and complete the five design principles mentioned.

1. There should never be __________.

2. A maximum of ______ from home page to other pages.

3. Don't have ________ on one page.

4. Don't use multimedia simply to make _________.

5. Remember there are still a lot of users with _________.

Task 8. Read Part 3 of the interview. Decide which of these statements Saladin would agree with.

1. Information on websites should be divided into small sections.

2. Long sections can be a problem for users who want to print from a website.

3. It's a bad idea to have a lot of links to other sites.

4. You want users to bookmark your site as a way to get to other sites.

5. Your website should start with a brief piece of information to attract the reader.

Task 9. Read the whole interview again. Put these pieces of advice about website design into two sets: A (things to do) and B (things not to do).

1. Include graphics only to make it look nice.

2. Divide information into small sections.

3. Have pages with dead-ends.

4. Have a lot of links to other sites.

5. Have a lot of links on one page.

6. Start with a brief piece of information to attract the reader.

7. Forget about readers with less sophisticated browsers.

8. Update your page regularly.

GRAMMAR: Modal Verbs (Indicating Importance)

Modal verbs and its equivalents
obligation	must, to have to, to be to, should
physical ability	can, could, to be able to ,
permission	may, might, to be allowed to

Task 10. Give advice about website design using has/have to or must/mustn’t. Use these answers to Task 9 to help you.

A: things to do B: things not to do

1. Divide information into small sections	1. Have a lot of links on one page
2. Have a lot of links to other sites	2. Include graphis only to make it look nice.
3. Start with a brief piece of information to attract the reader	3. Forget about readers with lee sophisticated browers.
4. Update your page regularly	4. Have pages with dead-ends

PROBLEM-SOLVING

Task 11. Write a set of points to advise someone thinking of designing a website. Advise them of things to do or not to do. Use the interview with Saladin and your own ideas.