Authoring Webpages/Authoring websites

URLs

URLs should be permanent. When you begin to put together a website make sure that the URLs you choose will survive redesigns. A useful article on good URLs is Choose URIs wisely.

Navigation bars

Navigation bars normally consist of lists of links. Since they are lists they should be marked-up using the ul or ol elements. (XHTML 2.0 may introduce a special navigation list element when it is released.)

 <ul>
  <li><a href="/" accesskey="1">Home</a></li>
  <li><a href="/news/">News</a></li>
  <li><a href="/contact/">Contact us</a></li>
  <li><a href="/accesskeys/" accesskey="0">Access keys</a></li>
 </ul>

Every page on your website should include a link to your home page. The link should be in the same place on every page. In most cases it will be the first link in your primary navigation bar.

Access keys

Access keys are keyboard shortcuts for links and form elements. Important links that appear on all pages on your website, e.g. the link to the home page, should be given an access key. The access key bindings should be the same on all pages on your website. You should include a web page that lists all the access keys used on your website.

Search and Site Map

You can't have a link from your home page to every other page on the website. If your website contains more than a few pages you need a site map and possibly a search tool so users can find relevant pages easily.

---

Previous: HTML, XHTML and DOCTYPEs - Up: Table of Contents - Next: Promote your website