Web sites incorporate a wide variety of features and perform quite a few different functions. It is the web designer’s job to skillfully  weave these functions and features together to form a coherent whole tapestry that seamlessly accomplishes the purposes the web site owner requested.

For simplicity’s sake, we have grouped large number of possible web site features into eleven functional groups to improve clarity,.and aid access.

Group Included Features Appearance Images, Buttons, Text Boxes, Fonts, Graphics, Animations, Special Effects, Site Styles   Site Navigation Structure, Navigation Buttons, Site Search, Site Map, Links, Image Maps   Communication Message Boards, Guestbook, Library Archives   EMail Email Forms, Email Newsletters, Auto Responders, Dedicated Email Boxes, Forwarding Email Addresses, Post Office Control   File Downloading Public ftp Directory, Images, Documents, Program Files   Site Management Site Statistics, Visitor Stats, Hit Counters, Bandwidth Usage, Access Logs   Site Structure Dynamic Pages, Database Updating, Directory Hierarchy, Meta Tags   ECommerce Calculating Order Form, Shopping Cart, Online Catalog, Banner Ads   Privacy Password Protection, User Login, ftp Drop boxes, Secure Server   Audio Music, Sound Effects, Narration, Formats, Streaming vs. Downloading   Video Embedded Player, External Player, Formats, Streaming vs. Downloading, Producing for Web Use, Limitations    VIEW SITE PLANNING GUIDE

APPEARANCE FEATURES                                                                           Images Photos, illustrations, and graphics that show while you tell. JPEGs, GIFs, Thumbnails, Zooming Buttons Small images that trigger functions or display other pages when clicked. Can change appearance when mouse pointer is on top of it (rollover) Navigation, Links, Rollover Text Boxes Rectangular areas with selectable border/background colors and images that form the text container box Backgrounds, Rollover Changes, 3D Fonts The appearance of the letters and characters that appear on web pages Style, Size, Color, Emphasis, Fixed or Browser default Graphics Computer-created images and objects 2D, 3D, Bitmaps, Vector-based, Stock, Custom Animations Moving images used to illustrate processes or entertain. Can be combined with audio for higher impact and effectiveness Cartoons, VRML, Flash/Shockwave Animations, Animated GIFs Special Effects Attractive computer-generated image changes and animations that add pizzazz Page Transitions, Image zooming, Panoramic (360°) Images Site Styles The combination of backgrounds, repeating graphics and colors in a site Backgrounds, Banners, Fonts, Buttons, Dividers

SITE NAVIGATION FEATURES                                                               Structure The arrangement of pages into logical groups and hierarchial directories like an outline Vertical / Horizontal Navigation Bars, Directory Tree Navigation Buttons Buttons or text  that link to other pages on the web site. Those on the same level are grouped into navigation bars, which are like menus of related navigation buttons Rollover buttons,  Drop Down Sub Menus,  3D Appearance Site Search Search term is typed into popup dialog box. Links to site pages with term are then displayed Searched-for item on page, in page title or description Site Map Displays a graphical “tree” of a site’s pages, arranged in levels showing a site’s hierarchial structure One or more tree levels, Vertical or Horizontal Orientation Links Hotspots on a web page with transfer programming attached that, when clicked on, sends visitors to another web page, either on the same site or on an entirely new site Link Within site, Link To Other sites, Text, Button or Image links  Image Maps Images displayed on a web page with invisible areas, or hot spots, assigned that contain links or initiate programming actions when clicked on. A single image may have multiple hotspots. Maps, Single Image Graphic Menu (Spokes), Image of a whole system where explanations of each part appear when its hotspot is clicked on

COMMUNICATION FEATURES                                                               Message Boards Users submit questions and comments and the message board software posts them and sorts them by subject in a.public forum. Single Board, Multiple Boards By Topic, Board Administrator Functions, Passworded Access Guestbook Used to form ECommunities, visitors provide names and email addresses to site operator Web site suggestion box, Request to be contacted, Mailing List builder, Email Newsletter Opt-In Library Archives Document access menus allow visitors to download and print compressed articles and newsletters. Photos, graphics, and text are mixed in compressed format. Most popular compression format is Adobe Acrobat (.PDF)  Archive Press Releases, Magazine Articles, Educational Papers, Company Information

EMAIL FEATURES                                                                                                   EMail Forms Web site forms that users fill out and are then emailed to the site owner Orders, Enrollment, Subscription, Registration EMail Newsletters Emailed newsletters sent to those who sign up for them at a web site (opt-in Club news, Company announcements, Product news Auto Responders Email messages you create that are automatically sent to form or email senders Thanks for your Order, Welcome to the club, Receipt Acknowledgement Dedicated EMail Boxes Email addresses created and placed on web sites to deal with a specific function or area Sales, Customer Service, Help, Webmaster, President Forwarding EMail Addresses Invisible email addresses stored on a web site whose email messages are automatically sent to an address at a different site. Used to protect identities sales@companya.com sent to fred@aol.com Post Office Control Administrator functions to allow you to control email functions for your site Create or remove email boxes, autoresponders, forwarding email addresses

FILE DOWNLOADING                                                                                         Public ftp Directory Special directory created on your web server that allows anyone to upload or download files in it Sending large files, Downloading images, programs, audio, and video files Images Enable visitors to download images from your site to their computer Artwork, Photos, Thumbnails with full size counterparts, Locked images that can’t be downloaded Documents Enable visitors to download documents from your site to their computer Articles, Research papers, Newsletters, Manuals Program Files Enable visitors to download software programs from your site to their computer Newly purchased software, Software Demos, Software or definition file upgrades

SITE MANAGEMENT FEATURES                                                       Site Statistics Administrator access to site activity. View reports on various site aspects. Disk usage, Bandwidth Used, Remaining disk space Visitor Stats Obtain information about visitors to a site Bandwidth usage, # of hits on any page, # of files downloaded, type and version of visitors’ browsers, referring URL, site visitors by region/country Hit Counters Displays counter showing the number of visitors (hits) on a given page Discover out the most/least popular pages on your site Bandwidth Usage Displays how many bytes of data (pages, text, image files) has been downloaded from your site in a selected period of time Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly Access Logs Creates printable reports on the number of visitors accessing a site.  Use them to see what effect an ad or marketing program had on your site visitation rate and provide information on who visited it.

SITE STRUCTURE FEATURES                                                               Dynamic Pages Web site is programmed to interact with an external database to obtain page display data or enter its form data into the database. Dynamic pages are created in real time by the web server incorporating data entered into a form or drawn from an external database Completed order form/shopping basket, Shipping manifest, Personalized Portals Database Updating Web page/server updates database records with information entered on a web page form Web page updating, Customer/Sales records, Contact management system, Mailing list Directory Hierarchy Displays a hierarchial tree diagram showing a graphic outline of the directories and pages on a site Site Map, Where Am I? locator for visitors Meta Tags Key words and descriptions entered into the header of each page to help users and search engines define or identify the contents of your site. Description, Keywords

ECOMMERCE FEATURES                                                                           Calculating Order Form Simple client side order form with all products listed. User enters quantity of each item to be purchased and clicks the Calc button to see subtotals, tax, and totals on same page. Items are linked to their respective catalog page for large image, specs, and descriptions. Shopping Cart Used for larger numbers of products in an Estore. Shopping Cart icon is located on each product page or listing. Clicking adds item to shopping cart.  When done shopping, user clicks the Checkout button and an order form with the shopping cart items filled in appears. Checkout often proceeds in multiple screens: View and confirm order, Select Shipping Method, Enter credit card info, Confirm final charges and Submit order.  Server side application. EStore, SoftCart Online Catalog Product catalog with product specs, photos, descriptions of each product. Products can each have their own page or several can be listed on a single page under a single category or as the result of a search. Online catalog options can include zoomable images, product search engine, video product demos, shopping cart selection icon. Downloadable Acrobat catalog for visitors to view or print Banner Ads Advertising boxes usually found at the top or sides of a web page containing text, images and/or animations extolling a product’s virtues and benefits. One click brings up advertiser’s site. Advertisers pay web site owner a fee to display its banner ad. Banner ad popups when key word is typed in a search engine, Banner ad exchanges

PRIVACY FEATURES                                                                                           Password Protection Create private sections on your web site which can only be accessed by entering the correct ID and password assigned to them by web site owner. Can be for a page, a directory, or an entire site. Members Only section, Dealers only section, ftp Download page User Login Forces visitors to enter their name, password, and/or email address to gain entrance to your web site.  Used to better track visitors, build customer and prospect databases. Can store login as cookie to automate future logins. ftp Drop Boxes Sections of a site used to transfer files to and from visitors’ computers and the web server. Can be secret or public, open or restricted. Program updates, Download center, Legal or financial file exchange Secure Server When you connect to a secure web server all information sent between your browser and the web server is encrypted. This means that other people can’t intercept it and read it. Unless you have purchased a secure server certificate for your web site, viewers will receive a warning message. The error message means that though the data from your web site is being encrypted, there is no secure server certificate present that proves that the site they are looking at is actually your site. When viewing any web page there is a remote possibility that someone has intercepted a request and has sent a bogus page in place of your web page. Purchasing a secure certificate removes the possibility, and keeps the warning message from appearing on visitor’s screens. A secure certificate ensures that the web site you are connecting to is really owned by the company you think it is owned by, and that that company really exists (that is, it has a business license or other formal documentation proving it’s a real company.) Secure certificates are issued by third party “certificate authorities” such as Thawte or Verisign. When you purchase a certificate from Thawte or Verisign, they verify that you own the site you are purchasing a certificate for, and that you are who you say you are. The name of your company is encrypted into the certificate they issue. When someone visits a secure page on your site, the visitor’s web browser checks the certificate against the “root certificate” for Thawte that is part of their web browser. If all goes well, then your customer will see the familiar lock or key appear at the bottom of your screen, indicating that the web page they are viewing is secure.

AUDIO FEATURES                                                                                                   Music Play back music as the background upon loading a page or on a click. You can use an embedded player or launch an external player such as Windows Media Player, Real Player, or Music Match Jukebox. Sound Effects Embed sound effects on a web that are heard when it loads or a button is clicked. Narration Used to enhance and expand content such as a series of images into a narrated slide show. Formats The audio on a web page can be in a variety of different formats (WAV, MP3, Real Audio, WMA). Each format offers both advantages and limitations., mainly in the degree and means of compression, file size, quality, players it will run on, and preservation of digital copyright protection. Streaming vs. Downloading Some audio files are streamed, meaning they start playing immediately and later parts are downloaded while earlier parts are playing (Real, Windows Media).  Other audio file formats (WAV, MP3) require you to download the entire audio file first before starting playback. The file remains on the user’s PC and can be played repeatedly without downloading it again.

VIDEO FEATURES                                                                                                   Embedded Player The video window and its controls can be “embedded” within a web page so it appears to be part of the page, not separate. External Player Playing video from your web page on a visitor’s preferred player allows you to include just a link. Windows includes its own media player and launches it automatically. Quicktime and Real may require users to first download and install a plug-in or a separate player before viewing video in their proprietary formats. Formats Like audio, video comes in both streaming (Real, WMV, Quicktime) and non-streaming (MPG, MPEG2) formats. Formats differ in their compression method (codec), image quality for similar file sizes. Streaming vs. Downloading Video can start playing immediately while the rest of it is being downloaded (streaming), or it can require that the whole file be downloaded before playback starts (MPG). Downloaded files can be played repeatedly from the PC it is stored on. With streaming, multiple versions of the same video are available for viewing at different connection speeds. Versions vary in frame rate (frames per second), image size (in pixels), and image quality (Blocky to lossless). Producing for Web Use Deciding what video adds, how much to use, how much of your web budget to spend on it, and what it will require from visitors’ machines is a key part of web site planning. Producing video for the web also requires changes in normal video shooting techniques to accomodate web compression technologies and still maintain image quality while minimizing file size. Limitations Web video can add flair and pizzazz to your web site if used right (clear images, adequate frame rate). If used improperly (slow jerky frame rate, blocky video, images that are too small, audio not in sync) it can detract from both your web site and you.