Consider all the material you want to put on your site and think about how it can be grouped together. What bits of information, both text and graphics, go together on a page?
Try using Post-Its to plan your site. Each one represents a page. The first page will be the one called "index.html" (or "home.html" on some servers) so you have the file name for that one done. Where does it lead?
On each Post-It write the file name, title, description of text needed, headers planned for page, pictures needed and links:
Use the Post-Its to think about the relationship of your ideas and pages. Lay out your Post-It mini-pages and think about how the pages will relate to each other. For some ideas about different ways to organize sites, see chapter 18 of Dave Raggett's book or visit the W3C style guide about structuring sites.
Should the pages all lead one from to the next, like a ladder? Should they branch out like a tree? Should they have links from one to the other like a net? This all depends on the content of your site.
As you plan, remember that people do not all think alike. What is obvious to you may mystify your viewer. Consider how you can provide clear paths through your site or alternative ways to navigate.
Continue to "Notes about Content"