Web pages began simply as pages of text, with picures being included only when more sophisticated, graphical browsers were developed. For this reason there were a number of text formatting options included in the first HTML specifications. Because web pages may be accessed by different types of browsers and by different brands of computers, there was also a need to provide some standardization across pages through HTML. What this has produced is what some see as a hodgepodge of text specifications. Slowly some of these have fallen by the wayside, but others still limit how we can display text in HTML. In designing a web page you will have to work within these limits to produce an attractive and functional page that can be accessed by a wide variety of browsers. In the last section, you saw how the limitations in HTML will sometimes restrict your choices of font and layout. The following guidelines work within HTML limits to enable you to achieve a reasonable layout of text information.
Most text that you write for your web pages can be typed in as you normally do, but you do need to restrict yourself slightly. The following are some useful rules of thumb.
As you lay out your text be sure to use appropriate headings to break up the text, blocking it into short paragraphs. Some guidelines are:
When you plan to include visuals in your web pages you will need to consider how they interact with the text. The pictures should always relate in some way to what the text describes and that can be implied by how you position the pictures and text. In those cases where the text describes or explains what is depicted in the visual. Place the text on the left or above the picture. On the other hand, if the text is really just support material for the picture or a collection or labels, it is better to place the visual to the left of or above the picture. This reasoning is drawn from how we read a printed page. We begin reading from the top left and proceed across the page and down. Research has shown that most indivuduals spend a greater proportion of time in the upper left hand part of a page than in any other. In design terms we say that a left or top placed text "drives" or explains the picture on the right or bottom, while a left or top placed picture "drives" or explains the text on the right or bottom.
Of course you can always wrap the text around the picture, but this can lead to confusion on the part of the viewer and is not always a good idea. If you place pictures in text like this, always provide a caption to explain what the picture means and to identify what it refers to in the text.