My to-do list.

Sorry, if you are on RSS feed. (What does that stand for, anyway?). I had allowed a comment on the site and then realized I was giving out someone's email for the world to have. Not that they cannot get it anyway, but I did not want to be responsible for someone being spammed to death. I could not find a way to erase their email, in their comment, or to alter their comment, once allowed, so I just deleted the whole post and reposted it.

No, you have not landed in "Ground Hog's Day" or in a time warp, it is a repeated of the post of the fourth, and no, it did not fool anyone into thinking it as something new and stimulating.

That said, what is the new news?

• I have eighteen graphics ready to put on the website. That means they are cleaned up, altered to suit and the backgrounds are clear. Two of these are background images.
• I have nine, out of fifteen, text only pages done. From these I will complete the pages that the graphics go to.
• I have completed twenty chapters, and have the wrap up chapter to go. I havecut back to 69,118 words.
• I have also discovered that, before I send the book out, I need to have a Marketing Points, My Bio and a list of reasons why someone would buy my book. That is what I spent yesterday on, and today and tomorrow, and probably all week.

All of this stuff is sooooo important to the process.

Part 9 - The Web Site Design

The above image is a list of the graphics I am working on and getting ready, to place on my INDEX page. I had to create a lot of these, alter, make the backgrounds invisible, and spend a ton of time just on getting the graphics ready.

You can throw up a webpage in a day, but if you are interested in using the website to sell yourself, as a writer, or your writing, you will need to give some thought to:
1. Why are you doing it?
2. Who do you want to reach?
3. What is your message?

This is the fourth web site I have designed: Three were for my artwork, one for another person. But, I still felt the need to spend a lot of hours, this time, checking out other writers, published and non-published, web sites. I made notes on what I liked and what would work for me and notes on what I thought was bad. I googled “What makes a good web site” and I have read a ton of information on what works and what to avoid in web design. Website Ideas for Writers, is a great site to stop at: Website Ideas for Writers, the official idea site for writers

If you are still unsure if you should have a website, as an unpublished writer, here are some reasons to do it. Dawn Chartier ~ A writers life: Websites for unpublished writers

I have mentioned before that I am going a bit off of the “writers” site advice and going directly for the series of books I am writing. I have a few minor writing credits, like a story in “Good Housekeeping” and I would just like to try something different. To me, I am selling, not just myself, as a writer and my writing, but I am selling this story. I want to make my site fun and interesting and something that might make someone, preferably a twelve year old reader, a teacher or a librarian, refer someone else to look at it, and that might entertain and enlighten an editor or agent.

All the while, keeping this doable with the time I have to invest in this site. So, my design is first. I already mentioned working with Master’s Daughter and others on the design for my site. I want it to be interactive, just a bit, and so I have designed a bulletin board interface, with objects that will move a bit and link to other pages. Is this above my capabilities? Possibly, but that has never stopped me before.

Above my bulletin board will be a line telling my viewer to click there for the Text only version, for accessibility. I am creating a simple link to a text version of the page. I know there are programs that will pick this out, but I am just going to cut and past the text and put it on a simple page with no graphics.

A note here: You need to sit down, at this point, and draw a simple sketch of the layout of your page. Where will your links go? What will they be? What text will you have on your index page (that is your first page)? What colors will you use? Google that if you are unsure, or go to 500+ Named Colours with rgb and hex values and drool over all the great colors you can get. Believe me, it is a lot easier to have your design down on a napkin than to keep redoing it in your WYSIWYG html editor.

After I have my graphics ready, I will print out, to scale, the bulletin board and the graphics and do some cutting. I will probably spend an hour or so rearranging the printed objects on the board until I am pleased with the design. I have found, in the past, that this is the easiest way for me to arrange the look of an element of my page, than doing it by rearranging code within my WYSIWYG editor.

There is a ton of help on the web. Not sure of a background? Google it. Need a template? Google it. Want to look at what others have done? Google it.

Web site creation for Writers - page 6 - a few last tidbits on accessibility

I have not forgotten my project, or my own webpage. Late at night, will find me sitting in the dark, fixing the graphics that will be on my index page. This is when I have gotten home for the hospital, and now the rehab, with my mom. First she went to the hospital with three infections. She had double pneumonia, walking pneumonia and an unidentified one. Now, she is in a rehab taking antibiotics for the last infection and getting some therapy.

Once I have gotten my graphics ready, then the putting together part comes. I have designed what I want my, index to look like. The very first page of your website will be titled index. When you upload to your web page, you will have a page (depending on how you lay it out) that shows all the files on the server. Right now, I must have over five hundred graphics in there. I am a visual artist, selling potter, painting and fairies, so that has been the focus of my site. It will all be deleted soon.

Some final quick issues on accessibility:

1. Pop-ups can interfere with navigation. So, there again is where you have to inform the viewer that if they click on a link or area of a window, that it will either open a new window or give you a pop-up. For people with readers, it can be very disorienting.

2. Make links clear. Website visitors will find it easier for your visitors to find what they are looking for if the links are consistent throughout your whole site. If you place them along the bottom, do it on every page. It is most common to look for links along the left side of a webpage. Whichever you choose, just use it on each page. It makes it easier on you too really. Design it once, copy it, paste it to each page and you are set.

MY HINT: Depending on your WYSIWYG website designer, they will have shortcuts to do it. Things that take time to learn, often have me using the secrets I have learned over time. Once I get the background and links of my first webpage (INDEX) done, I then use that same page and name it for every other page I will have on my website.

In case that is confusing. I am just renaming that first page over and over, and will end up with how many ever pages my website will have, right away. Every one of them will have some type of a conistency. Whether it is a banner or background, I want people to know they are till on My Site. And, I do not have to redo the links every page that way. Then, I go back and specialize each individual page. More of that later.

That said, numerous times I have had to go back and make a correction and then redo it, but if I was more careful about checking it to begin with and designing it, I would not use up that extra time.

Okay, back to links. You have a name for a link and the alternate text. Do not use "click here" as link text. A screen reader reads that text to let the disabled viewer know just what they will find if they click on that spot, just as the visual should tell your non-disabled viewer. It should be something like "view the Text only version of this site, here." or "for information about healthy lunches, click here."

One last point on links: An arrow can often convey, more easily, what you want then a button.

3. Despite the abundance of graphics on blogs, the web and my site, the internet is mainly about words. Use clear and simple language for your target audience. I believe I once read that a sixth grade reader was considered average; but I may be wrong. Obviously, if your site is for scientists, it will contain a different language than if it is "Science for non-scientists."

Remember, your audience also consists of those with cognitive disabilities and those whose first language differs from that of the web page.

While the internet is about words, graphics can be an invaluable alternative to help with comprehension of the page. If the information is more easily conveyed visually, then use the graph or chart or photo. Just make sure the alternate text is clear and don't forget you will also have a text only version of your site.