This page offers tips as you plan how people will navigate within your web site. This page is divided into two topics:

1. Avoid Creating an Orphan Page

You want to avoid creating an "orphan page." This is a web page that has no links to navigate to another page within your web site. To avoid creating orphan pages follow these guidelines:

1. Every page should have a link to either the main folder page or a link to your school or class homepage.
2. Your classroom homepage should have a link to your school's homepage. The school's homepage should include a link to the corporation's homepage. The corporation's homepage should have a link to the State Department of Education.
3. If your folder contains more than one file, you need to plan how visitors will advance to the next page or return to the previous page.

2. Tips for Using Graphics as a Navigational Button

If you are using a graphic as a navigational button, you should include a text alternative for navigating. There are two reasons why you should include a text alternative:

Not all web browsers, such as Netscape version 2, will recognize an image as a link to another file or web page.
Some people choose not to download any graphics when they are on the Internet. If you only had graphics for your navigational links, they would have a difficult time getting around within your activity. Within the description of the graphics or image tag, you should include a text alternative so that when images are not downloaded, a text description will appear.
This is a good example of an image that also has a text alternative with it. Whether your visitors are using an old browser or have chosen to turn their graphics off, they are still able to navigate within your site.	top of page