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How *Not* To Design A Webpage!
By
Neil Shearing
So you're new to the Web. You've heard about this "designing a webpage" idea, and it sounds like fun.
Your Internet-geek friend told you that it was "dead simple" to design webpages. So you thought
"Sure, I can do it". And you're right, you can...but here are a few "design faults" that most beginners
make (I know I did). Your pages will look ten times more professional if you avoid all of these pitfalls...
1: No "under construction" signs. Yes, I had one of
these on my first-ever page back when the Internet was in the equivalent of the Stone Age. And, yes, I
thought it looked great! It even had a little figure digging inside a yellow triangle similar to a
roadsign. This one image will single you out as an Internet-newbie. Why? Well, to put it bluntly, *all*
pages on the Web are "under construction". Some may be nearer completion than others, and some will only
be adding some regular updates, but if the page is never updated it is *dead*. There's nothing worse than
seeing "200 visitors since April 1997", you wonder why on Earth the page is still there! So, lose the
"under construction" sign, it's simply a "given" on the Internet.
2: No broken images. If you check your pages before
submitting to the Search Engines or Award Sites then you will be able to see that your images work
properly. But *don't* believe what you see! It is possible that you are seeing images in your "cache"
(the area of your hard drive where recently-downloaded Internet images are stored for quick retrieval). Ask
a friend to take a look and check that all the images are OK. If you can, check for yourself from another
computer, preferrably one running a different Operating System (Mac vs Windows vs Linux) and Browsers (Netscape
vs Microsoft Internet Explorer vs Opera). It's amazing how different webpages can look through another
computer!
3: Don't put everything in "one big table". I made this mistake, big time. I thought it was the best
way to control page layout and I am still stuck with the "one big table" problem because I have
such a big site, changing every page is a huge undertaking and I simply don't have the time to do
it! So, if you are just starting to build a page or a site, you have the advantage of starting from
scratch. Don't use one big table because, guess what, the friendly browser will not show any part of the
page until it had loaded *everything* and closed that one big table! Your friendly surfer is sitting
there thinking "Why am I looking at this blank screen for days!" and will promptly hit the back button and
find somewhere else to go! Try designing your pages using several smaller tables or, if you're already
stuck, like me, put another table above your "one big table" with a few words which describe your site.
At least then your visitor has something to read whilst the rest of the page loads.
4: Don't link "out" unless you *want* your visitors to leave! I remember doing this just because I thought
that creating links was "cool". I had as many as I could find to anyone who asked (or even if they didn't!).
I just had links everywhere! All this does is gives your visitors many, many chances to leave. Maybe this
isn't important if you don't want to sell them anything, or don't want them to see all your other useful pages.
But if you want them to stay, then be very careful who you link to. For instance, people put "best viewed
with {Netscape or MSIE or both}" with a link and a nice animated logo. Why? Do you think Microsoft or
Netscape need the exposure? Do you think Netscape or Microsoft will return the favour? These kinds of
external links soon disappear from all but the amateur pages on the Net. See the next reason for removing
them too...
5: Keep your load time down! This is important because a page that doesn't load in under 10 seconds
is running the risk of the visitor giving up and going elsewhere. Until everyone has high speed
connections to the Internet, keeping your page load time to a minimum is one of the best things you can
do to keep your visitor happy. This extends to keeping all of your graphics optimised for small size. See
the tool at www.netmechanic.com for help with this. Also, if you have hundreds of
banners, lose them! They only increase download time and frustrate the
visitors you are aiming to please! Another good reason, which relates to number 4 is that unless you have all
the graphics on your server you have to make a connection to another server to retrieve the graphic.
For example, with the "best viewed with {Netscape or MSIE or both}" situation not only is it a point where
your visitor can leave, it is also a connection to another server to retrieve a graphic. Each connection
to another server adds approximately two seconds to the download time (this is not counting the actual
graphic size). You think two seconds isn't much? How about ten such graphics per page, or a total of 20
seconds? When you consider Yahoo loads in about 8 seconds, you are talking a lot of extra time for each
link to another server. Be aggressive in asking yourself "Do I *need* this graphic?" and, if yes,
"How can I minimise the file size?"
6: Awards. Unless these are top-of-the-line, high-caliber awards such as
"Lycos Top 5%" or "Starting Point Site of the Day" then *no-one cares*.
All you are doing is adding yet another link to someone else and another
server connection to download the graphic. Awards are basically
self-serving anyway, all they do is add another link to the award-giving
page and increase their traffic. If you do have to put up an award, make
sure it really is prestigious, make sure the site giving the award links back to you and copy the
graphic to your server space to avoid the additional "server call".
7: Animation. Yes, it catches the eye. It also annoys if your eyes are constantly distracted by
it! Most people *will* see the animation and if it's also a link out of your site, that's bad news
for you...there goes another visitor! If the visitor wants to stay, and there's no way to turn
off the animation you will annoy them by having it on the page. Either way, you, and your visitor lose.
Keep animation to very small, discrete movements if you have to have it at all. This also applies to the
"blink" tag in webpages. If used sparingly it can be effective, but if you go overboard you will alienate
your vistors.
8: Hit counters. Simply, *no one* cares if you've had 16 hits. Most of them were you anyway, right!
Find a way to analyse your "hits" which is invisible to your visitor, it's much more professional (I use
www.stattrax.com). You don't see IBM displaying a hit counter do you?
And at all costs, do not use a counter which requires you to display a banner for them in
exchange, you will just increase your download time, create another server call and potentially lose the
visitor who just added one to your counter!
9: Spelling errors. Yes, it's just sloppy. If you can't be bothered to proof read your site and check
for errors, why should your visitor read it? Check your site several times, yourself. Spell checkers
are not foolproof. In this document I wrote "hot counters", guess how many spellcheckers
would have thought "hot, that's OK"! Ask a friend too, because it is very easy to overlook an error
if you wrote it because you know what you *meant* to write!
10: Guestbooks. In the dim and distant history of the Internet (1997 I think it was) people
signed guestbooks just because they were there. Now people don't. They don't have the time, they
don't want to be spammed and they *just* don't have the time! If people want to reach you, let
them use a feedback form. It's much more professional and you're much more likely to read it!
This article was written by Neil Shearing,
webmaster at ScamFreeZone.com.
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