Making a plan for your content is almost as important as the content itself. Making sure that your content in organized in a way that makes sense or follows the users processes (not the processes of the College) is key.

Creating An Outline

One of the easiest ways to organize a site is to create an outline. Think of all the major pieces of information your viewers need and write them down. See if some of them naturally go together or determine which order of importance each piece has to you site. These can become your main pages. Don't forget your Home page!

Example:

  • Department Home
  • Degrees and Certificates
  • Student Involvement
  • Faculty & Staff / Contact
  • Resources

You can then take these higher level groups of informatin and determine what information will be housed in each.

Example:

  • Department Home
    • About the Department
      • Message from the Dean/Chair
    • Location
    • Hours
    • Why this program

…

  • Resources
    • De Anza Resources
    • External Resources

Then, you determine which will be pages, and which will be info on a page under a heading label.

Example:

  • Department Home (Page)
    • About the Department (h2)
      • Message from the Dean/Chair (h3)

Do this for all the information that needs to be on your site. It is best to have an outline before writing or populating content.

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