ptg16476052Wireframing Your Website 352
Hints for Wireframing
Some things to think about when developing your wireframes are as follows:
n Which topics will go on each page?
Trying to figure out how much information to put on one page can be tricky. Some
websites put all of their content on one long, cleverly designed page. Others split
it up between a great many pages. Still others use modern techniques to dynami-
cally load parts of the page on demand without ever really moving from one page
to another. Without getting too fancy, your best bet is to organize your content so
that each page consists of information on a single topic. If your pages become more
than a few screens long, it might be time to split them into logical subtopics.
n What are the primary forms of navigation between pages?
What links will you need for your visitors to navigate from page to page? They are
the main links in your document that enable your visitors to accomplish the goals
you defined in the first section. Links for forward, back, up, down, and home all
fall under the category of primary navigation.
n What alternative forms of navigation are you going to provide?
In addition to the simple navigation links, some websites contain extra information
that’s parallel to the main web content, such as a glossary of terms, an alphabetic
index of concepts, copyright information, or a credits page. Consider these extraFIGURE 2.8
A wireframe for a
newspaper home
page.