There seem to be quite a few readers of your column who are business professionals new to the Web and trying to learn about getting on to it in an organised manner. I am no exception. My question relates to actually conceptualising an entire Web site in its own organised manner. I imagine flow charts or tables would be a good way of visually representing the various pages of a Web site and their relationships. What would you use? ARNIE KERBOLD Central Flow charts are the way to go. Just like the organisation chart of a company, a Web flow chart is one of the easiest ways to visualise the contents of a site. You do not need technology to put together a flow chart. Anyone can draw one by hand, and for designing a small site with a dozen or so pages this method is good enough. In the corporate world, however, you would be best advised to do things a little more professionally, and that would involve a computer program. The Draw functions in Microsoft Word 97 or above are good for putting together decent flow charts. Play around with them and the AutoShapes tools and soon you will be able to produce a more-than-half-decent concept chart for a rather complicated Web site, complete with 3D and colour effects. You also can organise a Web-site concept using tables, with the left column representing the first, or home, page and additional columns standing for additional levels of a site. But you would be better off doing a flow chart by hand than trying to plan a decent-sized site this way. If you are just planning the site and intend to give your plans to a designer, this would be one good way to risk being summarily murdered. Most serious Web-site planners use a charting tool such as Visio 2000 (see www.visio.com ). Its standard edition retails for just less than $2,000, which is a lot to pay if you intend to use it only once. The technical edition of Visio 2000, preferred by engineers, costs more than $3,000 and is serious overkill for your needs. Bear in mind that even the standard edition of Visio can help you do a lot more than an organisation chart or Web-site map. You even can produce such things as contoured geography maps. Like its technical counterpart, it also might be more than you need if the basic Draw and AutoShapes functions in Word are too much for you.
