Learning The Terms:

Defining Mock up terms
When planning a web site there may be many new "web terms" which you will be asked to use and understand. By reading the information presented below and viewing the examples, I hope you will become comfortable using this new Web vocabulary as you plan and build your site.

Opening Screen
This is the first page visitors see when they arrive at most sites. The opening screen is also called the "home" page or "main" page. Regardless of what this page is called it usually contains the following elements; the company name, logo, links to the other pages at the site, and 2-3 paragraphs of text about the company or product. Here is the opening screen for Adobe and Apple.

Splash Page
Students are not required to create a splash page for this class. Some students create a splash page in the animation lesson.

A splash page often contains an animated GIF or Flash animation. There is often only one place to click, and that link takes you to the opening screen described above.

I like to compare a splash screen to a fancy hotel. When you leave your car the doorman greets you and carries your bags to the front desk where you can choose a room. All the doorman can do is walk you into the hotel, he can't give you a room, or answer any questions about the hotel. Having a doorman sets the tone for a hotel. A well done splash page can also set the tone for a Web site, but you can't get any real business done while viewing the splash page.

One disadvantage of a splash page is that it slows down the visitor as they try and find information, or place an order. A splash page is often very impressive the first few times you see it, however if you visit the site often it may become an annoying time waster which you have to sit through before getting to the site content.

Splash pages can be found at Shook Chu Chungs Art Center campus and E Studio.

Second level page
Second level pages contain the content for the major sections of a site. If I have a campus Web site and my opening screen contains links to:

Student Services Admission Programs Faculty/Staff Administration News and Events Site Map Contact A-Z index

Each of those pages would be considered a "second level" page. At most Web sites these pages would all have a similar look, layout, color scheme, navigational placement and share many of the same images.

Smaller sites may only have an opening screen and second level pages. Large sites will require third and fourth level templates since the sites are quite large and complex.

Main Navigation
This is a system for linking to the second level pages. In this class we will concentrate on graphic images which link to these pages, however I encourage you to also create text links which can also be used to access the major sections of the site. The main navigation appears on the opening screen and on all second level pages.

Rollover area
The class requirements are that you have a remote rollover at one of your clients' opening screens. This is an area of the screen that changes when you roll over a link or picture. The change has two phases, the button changes in appearance and another area of the screen will now display more information.

To see a remote rollover visit the Creating Web Pages with HTML site. Place your mouse over the round numbers of 1-8. Not only does the color of the number change, a lesson tilte appears at the left of the number. The area where the lesson title displays is called the rollover area. A common use for this area is to provide further explanation about what each area of the Web site contains.

Sub navigation
At the second level pages there are often additional pages which contain site information. In the campus example when we visit the admissions page there are links to pages where you can:

apply online register online telephone registration residency academic calendar dates & deadlines transcripts download forms faq contact

The links to these pages are referred to as sub navigation. At some sites links to these pages is displayed on the opening screen, however if you have a large site with many sub sections you could end up with a very cluttered opening screen.
Sub navigation is unique to each section, the items found on the "admissions" page are not the same as the found at the student services page.

Both main navigation and sub navigation are required elements on the mock up for the "second level" pages.

Visit Jessica Hirsch's admission page and see if you can find the sub navigation.

Special Note - at some sites the main navigation may fall along the left side or top to the screen, when you visit the second level pages that navigation may have moved. , when we access the second level page the main navigation is along the top of the page and the sub navigation displays along the right.

On Jessica's opening screen the main navigation is placed along the left edge of the screen

You may be asking yourself if this shift is OK? The answer is yes, as long as you are consistent at each of the second level pages. The pages for "student services", "faculty/staff", "administration" etc.. should all have the main navigation for the site displayed along the top of the screen, and the sub navigation which is unique to each section will be placed along the right.