Guidelines for Web Graphic Designers

The Tradepoint web site archtecture is built using ASP.NET and master pages in XHMTL 1.1 compliant standards.  This means that most sites can be created by modifying two files in the site archtecture: The master page, and the CSS style sheet.   As a result, Tradepoint's web technology is consistant with all other website requirements.

To that end, the following recommendations are suggested for graphic designers builting web sites:

1. Review http://demo.tradepoint360.com for full information as to out of the box functionality, placement and design. Note that the site structure uses master pages and CSS and is XHTML 1.1 compliant and thus every page shares it's look at feel. This is the full site, with cart, knowledge base, press, member services, and the ability to add custom pages using templates of these types of pages.
2. Decide if the site is "liquid" or fixed width. If fixed with, what width? Typically web sites are designed for 1024 wide, subtracting scrollbars which equals about 920 pixels wide. If liquid, then ensure that all graphics can be "tiled" to adjust for any width of browser window (up to and including > 3000 pixels wide). At this time, our data indicates that 97% of web users are using at least 1024 wide with a significant portion using 1920 or greater.
3. If using a fixed width layout, decide if you wish to have the site centered on browser windows wider than the site, or lefft aligned. In both cases, please ensure that you provide a repeatable background graphic or color.
4. Deside your navigation structure. Ensure that this navigation will  be appropriate for all pages.
5. Ensure that additional navigation elements such as knowledge base, press relations and member services table of contents can also be added to your navigation system, typically with a menu or tree on the left.
6. Ensure that your layout works in HTML. That means, that everything can be laid out in boxes and any rounded areas can be overlayed in a box with transparency and not interfere with background navigation elements.
7. Ensure that certain pages can be displayed without any vertical navigation areas (i.e. shopping cart, and login pages)
8. Ensure that all graphics can be "tiled" vertically so that every page can expand vertically down the page at any arbitrary length.  Ensure that both the main content area, and any vertical navigation fits this criteria.
9. Make sure that all elements that do need to be repeated can be done with small graphic files to enable quick site loading.
10. If Tradepoint is implimenting the site, we require a photoshop file with layers.
11. All rollovers for buttons must be in separate layers, one for each button or element.
12. Buttons with text must be able to be generated as graphics with the text to ensure that different browser font sizes will not cause the layout to display incorrectly.
13. If you wish to use specific fonts, please specify those fonts and ensure that they are "web safe" meaning that they are available in all browsers and that you have specified fallback fonts if necessary.

By following these recommendations you will ensure a successful development of the website with minimal changes.