Earth: Layout
Water: Navigation
Air: Content
Fire: Adding Multimedia
Earth: Layout
Water: Navigation
Air: Content
Fire: Adding Multimedia
Organizing the content of a website is similar to organizing the content of a paper except that the paper seems to be created in two dimensions while the site takes on a third dimension by use of links between pages and outside sources. This third dimension can be unwieldy but it adds a layer of usability and information that a traditional essay just cannot provide.
If you create a website, it's almost imperative that you make use of this third dimension of organization. The expansion of information that this provides is what makes the web so useful. To ignore it seems a shame.
Getting Started
With your purpose and audience in mind, gather your materials and get ready to create a hierarchy among your information. Look for main ideas that can be broken into subcategories. These main ideas will be your main pages.
From these main ideas you may need to take a step back to create a homepage (the first page of your site that visitors will see). This page serves as an introduction to your page and is the central point from which all of your main ideas spoke off from.
Air: The Lofty content of your site
How To
This is a rough map of this site. This map doesn't include the links imbedded in each page but it gives the rough outline of the organization of the page's content.
I sketched this out on paper before I began. This version was created in Photoshop for use on this page.
Expanding out
Once you have your main pages outlined you can begin to think about links to pages outside your site that you may want to link to. Add these links within the text through hypertext links or as lists of links (like a bibliography) at the bottom of a page. There are many ways to extend your site past its own limits. The more resources you provide your visitors the more they will appreciate your site. One important note on linking outside your page: It's a good idea to make these links open in new windows instead of in the original. This way you can prevent visitors from actually leaving your site or not being able to find their way back. To learn how to make links on your page see the Water section of this site.