Principles of website design for authors
- Instructor: Catherine Chant
- Dates: October 1-14, 2016
- $15.00 for CHRWA Members and $25 for Non-Members
- REGISTER HERE
About the course:
At the end of this workshop you will have a better understanding of what goes into making your author website more appealing and inviting to a visitor and thus more effective for promoting you and your work. This two-week workshop will cover the golden ratio of layout design, web fonts and web-safe colors, using white space, user interface considerations and website organization, web graphics for the artistically challenged, and the importance of testing websites with multiple operating systems and browser applications.
This workshop is aimed at writers who have websites already and want to make them better, or writers who are planning to set up a website and want to know more about how the content should be arranged, either because they plan to do it themselves, or they want to be more informed when hiring a professional designer. This workshop is the perfect follow-up to any class you’ve taken on HTML. When you know HTML, you know how to make a webpage. The “Principles of Good Website Design for Writers” workshop guides you through the NEXT STEP in the website development process by showing you how to take what you’ve learned and make a GOOD web page.
PRE-REQUISITE: Students should be familiar with the basics of setting up a website (domain name, software, etc.). This class focuses on design principles and how to make your website more user friendly, appealing and effective. It is NOT an HTML class on how to program your website or how to use website design software. The workshop will include exercises designed to strengthen the concepts discussed. Students do not need to have an active website to participate, but may find the lessons more “hands-on” if they do. The instructor will offer feedback on any student’s website during the workshop if the URL is offered during the class.
About the instructor: Catherine Chant is an active member of the Romance Writers of America (RWA) and a Golden Heart® finalist. She writes rock ‘n’ roll romantic fiction and stories with paranormal twists for young adults. She worked for fifteen years at Boston College as a computing & communications consultant before becoming a full-time writer and online educator.
She began her web design training in 1994, coding websites by hand until Dreamweaver and content management systems came on the market to make designer’s lives easier. She served as the web manager at Boston College for nine years, was involved in two major university-side website re-designs, and assisted hundreds of faculty, staff and students with their website projects. She has also done freelance work for different authors and university professors.
You can learn more about Catherine, her books and her workshops at http://www.catherinechant.
