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Step 3 - Planning the website layout.

This is where you need careful planning. A website layout will determine  the user's experience while visiting it.

First, figure out the basic website layout:

• Functionality - what you want your web site to do? Is it a store, with "departments", is it a gallery with "rooms", is it a portal with different subjects, is it a photo album? Each of these website types can function in different ways, the menu can be anywhere, do you need to click on the buttons, or just move the cursor over them? Do you want one product per page, or multiple, or all on one page? Do you want animated transition from one "gallery room" to another? Try to figure our what the application is, is the user's experience is going to be what you want it to be. Take the time and look at other websites, think how they function and what your experience is  while using them, and shape your own functionality to suit your needs.

• The Looks - graphic design of your web site can be as crazy or simple as you'd like. It has to work well with the functionality of the site, and when designing it, keep in mind the same issues of user experience as in the functionality part, after all, you are creating your website for someone else to use. There are almost no limits to what you can do with the graphics on a web site, but implementation can become  very complicated for some design, so compromising in order to simplify implementation will sometimes be necessary.  

Draw first sketches on paper, and try to imagine how it will look and function. Keep looking at other websites with similar functionality or look, to get ideas - having a unique site is great, but you don't have to invent the wheel (and you will not) for all of your website elements. Actually, there's a big advantage in creating a website that its functioning logic is similar to existing sites - the users are already educated trained at using such a site, which makes their experience much easier and fun.

After sketching on paper, you can go and start laying it out on the computer, even just as graphics to see how it looks. This is the time to make changes and alterations to your design, doing after later will be time consuming, as closer you get to the "real thing" in this step, the better.