Even in this age of Computer Aided Design often the best way of putting your layouttogether is to start with a set of felt tip pens and a good old fashioned pad of graphpaper! You may not be able to 'Edit | Undo' but the freedom of freehand is not to besneered at.
Most websites use quite a simple page structure. The basic format for GroovyNetpages is very simple:
This type of band / block oriented approach can greatly simplify the design ofyour individual pages. You may need multiple columns of newspaper style text or largeblocks of image thumbnails but they can all be represented in this format. It should be noted that not all your pages need follow the same strict layout. But if you doneed different layouts make sure that you follow logical rules in deciding which layouts to apply to which pages.
How many pages do you need? Try breaking down the content of your site by logical theme. Most designs can be broken down into a 'tree structure'. That is a main pagewith major branches and lesser branches extending from these. For instance the 'tree structure' for this page is:
Home \ Design \ Layout
If your customers feel like they need a compass when visiting your site then thesite structure is too complex.
Layout
