Thinking about web design-determining the directory structure and link structure of a site

link | Design before we make a Web page, we must consider the following three aspects:

1. Determine columns and sections;
2. Determine the directory structure and link structure of the Web site
3. Determine the overall style of the site creative design
Today we continue to discuss "Determining the directory structure and link structure for a site."

I. Directory structure of the website

The directory of the Web site is the directory you created when you built the site. For example, the root directory and the images subdirectory are created by default when you build a Web site with frontpage98. The structure of the directory is an easy to ignore problem, most webmasters are not planning, create subdirectories randomly. The directory structure is good or bad, to the viewer is not much feeling, but for the site itself upload maintenance, the content of the future expansion and transplantation has an important impact. Here are some suggestions for building the directory structure:

Do not store all files in the root directory.

A netizen for convenience, all files are placed in the root directory. The negative impact of this is:

1. File management confusion. You often can't figure out which files need to be edited and updated, what useless files can be deleted, which are associated files, and how efficient they are.

2. Slow upload speed. The server typically establishes a file index for the root directory. When you put all the files in the root directory, even if you upload only one file, the server will need to retrieve all the files again, create a new index file. Obviously, the larger the file size, the longer the waiting time will be. So, the advice to you is: Minimize the number of file stores in the root directory.

Create subdirectories by column content.

The establishment of subdirectories, first by the main menu column set up. For example: Web tutorials class site can be based on technical categories to establish the corresponding directory, such as Flash,dhtml,javascript, and so on; Enterprise site can be company profile, product introduction, price, online orders, feedback links, such as the establishment of the corresponding directory.

Other minor columns, similar to what's new, links more content, need to be updated frequently can establish a separate subdirectory. And some related strong, do not need to update the column, such as: about this site, about webmaster, site experience can be merged into a unified directory.

All programs are typically stored in a specific directory. For example: The CGI program is placed in the Cgi-bin directory. Ease of maintenance management. All content that needs to be downloaded is also best placed in a directory.

A separate images directory is established under each home directory.

By default, a images directory is available under the root directory of a site. When you first started learning the homepage, Atzie used to store all the pictures in the catalogue. But later found very inconvenient, when I need to pack a main column for users to download, or delete a column, the picture management is quite troublesome. It has been found that the most convenient management is to establish a separate images directory for each main column. The images directory in the root directory is only used to put the home page and some minor columns of the picture.

The level of the directory is not too deep.

The level of the TOC is not recommended to exceed 3 layers. The reason is simple, maintenance and management is convenient.

Others to be noted are:

1. Do not use the Chinese directory, the network without Borders, the use of Chinese directory may be the correct display of the Web site caused difficulties.

2. Do not use too long directory, although the server supports long file names, but too long directory name is not easy to remember.

3. Use a meaningful catalogue as much as possible; In the example above, you can use Flash,dhtml,javascript to create a directory, or you can use 1,2,3 to build a directory, but which is more specific and easier to remember and manage? Obviously the former!

With the continuous development of web technology, the use of database or other background programs to automatically generate Web pages more and more common, the site's directory structure will also leap to a new level of structure.

Two. Link Structure of the website

The link structure of a Web site refers to the topological structure of the links between pages. It is based on the directory structure, but can span the directory. The image said: Each page is a fixed point, the link is in the two fixed points between the lines. A point can be connected to a point, or to multiple points. More importantly, these points are not distributed in a plane, but in a three-dimensional space.

The link structure of our research site is designed to make browsing the most efficient with minimal links.

In general, there are two basic ways to build a Web site's link structure:

1. Tree link structure (one-to-one). DOS-like directory structure, the first link to a page, a page link to the level two page. The stereo structure looks like a dandelion. Such a link structure browsing, the first level of entry, the level of exit. The advantage is clear, visitors know exactly where they are, not "fan" road. The disadvantage is that browsing efficiency is low, one column under the sub-page to another section of the sub-page, must be around the home.

2. Star-shaped link structure (one-to-many). Similar to Web server links, each page has a link between each other. The stereo structure is like the steel ball on the Oriental Pearl TV Tower. The advantage of this link structure is that browsing is convenient, you can always reach your favorite pages. The disadvantage is that there are too many links, it is easy to make the visitors get lost, confused about where they are, see how much content.

Both of these basic structures are ideal, and in actual web design, the two structures are always mixed together. We hope that visitors can quickly and easily achieve their own needs of the page, and can clearly know their location. So the best way to do this is to:

The first and first level of the page with a star-like link structure, level and two pages between the tree-like link structure.

Give an example. The page structure of a news site is as follows:

---------------------------------------------------

Level two page of level one page

Financial News Page--[Financial news 1, financial news 2 ...]
/ |
Home--Entertainment News page--[Entertainment news 1, entertainment News 2 ...]
\ |
It news page--[It News 1,it News 2 ...]

----------------------------------------------------

Among them, home page, financial News page, entertainment news page, it News page is a star-like link, you can click each other directly to arrive. and the financial News page and its subpages is a tree-like connection, browse financial news 1, you must return to the financial News page, to browse it news 2. Therefore, there is a site in order to eliminate the trouble of returning a page, the level two page directly with a new open window (POP up Windows) Open, browsing is closed after the end.

Note: Above we are using the level three page for example. If your site is large, classified, need more than three pages, then suggest that you display the navigation bar on the page, you can help visitors to clarify their location. Is that you often see many sites at the top of the page, similar to: "Your present position is: Home-> financial News-> stock Market information-> Shenzhen stock-> Deep Development"

The design of the link structure is very important in the actual Web page production. What kind of link structure is used to directly affect the layout of the layout. For example, where is your main menu, whether you need to place each page, whether you need to use a frame frame, whether you need to add a link back to the first page. After the connection structure is determined, start thinking about the effect and form of the link, whether it is a drop-down form or a DHTML dynamic menu, and so on.

With the promotion of E-commerce, Web site competition is more and more fierce, the link structure design requirements are not limited to a convenient and fast browsing, pay more attention to personalization and relevance. For example, on a baby-friendly theme site, on the 8-month nutrition page, you need to add a 8-month baby's health problem link, a link to intellectual training, or a link to the milk powder promotion, a book, a toy link. Because parents cannot go to each column to find information about a 8-month-old baby, they may leave the site after they have found the problem. How to keep visitors as much as possible is an issue that web designers must consider in the future.