Presenting Mathematical Concepts on the World Wide Web
Think Visually: Screen vs. Page Design

• Identify your audience.
  In an academic setting, for example, consider:
  • Prospective students (for your class, your department, your institution);
  • Current students (in your class, your department, your institution);
  • Department members (full-time & part-time, faculty & staff, etc.);
  • Colleagues outside your department (at your school, at other schools, etc.);
  • Prospective colleagues (job seekers, potential visitors, potential collaborators);
  • etc.

• Identify and make available the information needed by your audience.
  • For multiple audiences, provide appropriate multiple entry points.
  • Indicate when the last update was made and / or when the next update is expected.
  • Indicate what information is local, what links take the reader into another context (e.g., another site), or what pages are undergoing construction.

• Assist your audience in finding the information you have made available.
  • Categorize your information.
  • Use overview pages.
  • The most important information should be the easiest to find.
  • Provide a mechanism for determining how much content has / hasn't been covered.
  • Provide search facilities.

We will return to some of these issues again, in a later session on Web-site design.