Effective
ESL/EFL web site design
This is the homepage for the following session at TESOL 2004:
Kelly, Charles and Leverett, Thomas (2004). Effective web page design. CALL IS Discussion, TESOL International Conference, Los Angeles, CA (March).
This page was made as a gateway page to resources that I've collected on website design and web marketing in ESL/EFL. My partner, Charles Kelly, has done the bulk of the work for this discussion session and I hope that his work is well represented on these pages. The nature of web design is changing so rapidly that pages done today (Mar. 2004) will soon be outmoded and will no longer represent an accurate picture of web design; nevertheless, we who are interested in keeping up with this craft, such as it is, must use what we can. I sincerely hope that you use and contribute to these resources in the ongoing effort to make better webpages. -TL
[ Links ][ Articles ][ Bibliographies ][ Related Links ][ Linked Quotes ][ Tom's Rules of Web Design ]
Links:
Charles Kelly's page for this presentation.
Charles Kelly's Guidelines for Designing a Good Web Site for ESL Students
My other presentations at TESOL 2004:Using the web to your advantage, Discussion, Program Administration IS.
In progress presentations for TESOL 2005:
Web development for writing teachers, CALL-IS Internet Fair Classics presentation.Role of the web, CALL-IS discussion
Resources for ESL/EFL webpage designers.
Marketing learning, learning marketing in new media: Program Administration-IS discussion
What makes people click, online manual for intensive English program marketers.
Charles Kelly's HTML Quick-start Guide.Articles:
(these came out of earlier discussions of the same name)
Leverett, T. (2001). Web design: Balancing usability and innovation. CALL-IS Newsletter (newsletter of the Computer-Assisted Language Learning Interest Section of TESOL), 19, 1, July 2001. This article resulted from the Discussion session at TESOL 2001, St. Louis MO, USA.
Leverett, T., and Kelly, C. (2000). Effective Webpage Design. CALL-IS Newsletter 18, 1. This article resulted from the Discussion session at TESOL 2000, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Bibliographies
- Web Design bibliography
- Web Marketing bibliography
- Web as a Medium bibliography
Related links:
- Do it yourself page- how I started making webpages.
- How to Make a Successful ESL/EFL Teacher's Web Page, by Charles Kelly, in The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. III, No. 6, June 1997
- Issues in Web Design, from TESOL 2002.
- Other web marketing links: Marketing IEP programs with effective webpage design, gateway page to a Demonstration at TESOL 2001, and Resources for ESL/EFL Web marketing
Linked Quotes about Webpage Design
(also from the dustbin of history - 2000, to be exact)
- General Design & Usability
- International Considerations-what machines are we being viewed from?
- Javascript, bells & whistles
- Linkrot
- Website design, cont'd
- Computer trends
- Flash & Shockwave
Tom's rules of web design
Disclaimer: Don't look for all of these in my own pages...at least, don't look too hard. I do my best, but some distractions prevent complete and total adherence to even my own beliefs...-TL
1. The sour aftertaste of poor usability lingers long after the pleasant taste of good design is gone. Usability trumps design; ask anyone in the airline industry.
2. If one tenth of the males are colorblind, imagine how many people are affected by poor contrast, not to mention bad font sizes, unlabeled pictures, etc. Let every customer walk through your door, if you can.
3. People hate blinking stuff. If you want them to ignore something, make it blink or put blinking stuff near it. If you want them to look at it, draw them down away from the Ginza, where it's easier to read.
4. Leave a trail and MARK IT. Don't let strangers get lost on your property. Even though everyone travels with a backbutton (unless you disable it), a few signposts will go a long way.
5. Linkrot never sleeps. You, however, have to. Only make what you can maintain. The Cadillac rule of maintenance applies.
6. Optimization means looking at every document as half-full. Integrate your optimization...make it part of the way you do things. Being seen is the best part of looking good.
7. Nobody gets on the web to write letters, so nobody likes a laundry chute to their e-mail program. Lit up words look like doors, not free stationary. So "mailto" links are always disappointments, unless they're clearly marked.
8. Get your own stock of unique pictures...free clip-art only goes so far, but unique stuff gives your pages character.
9. The rules are still being written. Make it how you like it. Let other designers KISS...
10. View it as the user would - often. Your viewer can't help it if he/she has an old Netscape, or is in a lab, or has to wait or pay for downloads, etc. Make a system of viewing your pages from different locations if you can.
Spider Web, by Jim Leverett (my father)
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Page maintained by
Thomas Leverett, CESL, SIUC