Planning the page layout

You should know how your content will be organized before you create a page. You can do this by sketching out the way the page will be organized.

For example, the pieces of content you have may be:

• One main article
• Three related links
• A photo
• Contact information

Take a blank piece of paper and sketch out where each of these pieces of content would look the best.

The main article could go on the left.

The picture, contact information, and related links could go on the right in a certain order.

With this information, you will be able to create and organize the page much more easily.

Wireframe selection

The first step to create a page is to select a wireframe. The wireframe is the way the page will be organized.

• View or print a PDF of all available wireframes. If you print this PDF, you can use it to sketch out your page organization right on the wireframe.

The wireframe can be changed later. Feel free to select any of the wireframes you think might work, using the sketch you created earlier.

Title

The title is what will appear on the top bar of the browser when the page is viewed. It is also important to how search engines find and index your Web site.

For help writing a title for a page, please see the information on making your Web site search friendly.

Description

The description is the "meta tag," or the place where search engines look to find out what is on your page. The description or "meta tag" helps search engines index your site.

For help writing good descriptions, please see the information on making your Web site search friendly.

Label

This will become the link name for your page. People will click on the label to get to your page. It should be short and clearly convey what the page is. For example, if it is a page with events listed on it, "Calendar" would be a good label.

Default page (yes/no?)

Unless this is going to be your home page, or main page within a folder, say no to this.

Folder

According to how you have organized your site, put the page in the appropriate folder.

Page name

Page names will become part of the URL that will take people to your page.

For example, if you are working in the account www.bsu.edu/gradschool, and you create a page named "housing," the address will be www.bsu.edu/gradschool/housing. 

Page names also need to be lowercase and should not contain spaces, symbols, underscores or any punctuation like hyphens.

When creating page names, keep in mind that they may need to appear in brochures or other printed materials. They should be short and easy to remember.

Create a navigation link for this page?

If this page will be linked on the left-hand navigation for your Web site, say yes. If not, say no.

Finally, click "create page." Your new page is ready for content.