The Structure of an Effective Web Store
When designing a web store, it is always essential to pay attention to its structure. Broadly speaking, the structure is divided into three sections – the Header, Main Area, and the Footer. The main area can be divided into lower columns and the main middle area. The main middle area can be further divided into two, three, or even four column designs (usually found on bookstore sites).
It is useful to think in this “compartment-like” way as it enables you to make optimum use of your design and create a user friendly site. You should also keep in mind that any site design you come across that looks like a wavy or oblique design also incorporates this “compartment” concept. If you look closely at them, you will see how the structure works within such a design.
While there is nothing stopping you from doing it differently, it is advisable to place the Navigation in the Header, Footer and the Left-side column. This is useful as the user is familiar with these locations and automatically looks for the navigation to be there.
The structure of the Main page and the sub-pages can and most often do differ. This is obviously due to the difference in content and focus. Usually, the Main page is formatted to 800×600 but is now moving towards the 1024×768 size. You can design a page that dynamically changes its size to fit the user’s viewing resolution. However, this is harder to do as it is a difficult task to ensure that the page displays as it should in every resolution possible.
The main idea to follow with your structure is to make it as user-friendly as possible. That way, you will find it easier to drive customers towards a sale.