Goals of the design

Goals of the design
Work as an accessable, constantly updated bunch of knowledge

Last modified: 4/21/98

There are several functions the site has to perform:

Explain what it is to new readers
Clear name, introductory titles, "About this site" and "Where to apply this" sections.

Let old readers know what's new
News section, "Last modified" lines on most pages, use of reverse chronological lists.

Be very skimmable
Lots of short titles, use of summaries and lists, subheads in long text areas, examples broken out with bold and red.

Show off some of the techniques
A goal specific to this site, and not to all Tips and Techniques documents, was to use the techniques covered in this site as much as possible. The main one we are not using yet is the "map" technique. We may at a later time.

The technique stating that you should provide detail when appropriate is followed by using example pages, and in the case of the samples, with linear tours of pages.

Separate "what to do" and "why"
Philosophy (including history) is its own section, with Techniques and Samples elsewhere. There is also place for comments on some pages, and the chronological organization of the News and Mail sections help the reader follow changes.