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Updated 4/7/97After viewing thousands of anime web sites (and thousands of other sites), I've noticed the same "mistakes" being made over and over again by some web page authors and have decided to give some suggestions.Under ConstructionDon't do it! Don't do it! Don't do it! It's a given that virtually every page on the WWW is under construction. You're just slowing down the loading speed of your page by including that under construction image. And you wouldn't even need such a thing if you'd just follow the next suggestion. Don't Announce Your Web Page Until It's FinishedI can't begin to tell you how irritating it is load up a page just to see that it's not finished and that the author wishes you to return at a later date. You know what? 99% of the time they won't be back. Who'd want to return somewhere where their time might be wasted again? [IMAGE]Repeat after me: "For every image on my web page, I shall include an ALT value." While it's true that a small percentage of web surfers use text browsers or graphical browsers with the auto load images turned off, why alienate those viewers when it's so simple to just put something as the ALT value. Height & WidthWant to be able to view your entire web page, even while the images are still loading? Then make sure all your images have HEIGHT and WIDTH values. NOFRAMESNo. This isn't a plea not to use frames. It's a plea that if you must use frames, please put a working version of your page between the <NOFRAMES> tags. The Artist formerly known as MIDIMaybe you've had this experience: You're surfing during the early A.M. hours. A nice Tenchi page pops up. Then you're blasted to next week by a MIDI with the volume set way too high. The Wonderful World of Images"3% of 245K". No, that's not a small program being downloaded. That's a giant image on a web page that I'm about to leave because I don't want to wait that long for it to load. While I'm sure that page loads quite nicely with an ethernet connection, it's quite painful for most of your visitors who are using 28.8 or 14.4 modems. If there's a large image you'd like to show, provide a separate link to it. 640x480What resolution to create your web pages for is still constantly debated on the WWW newsgroups. I'll throw in my hat to say that you should limit yourself to a width below 640. There are still a great number of people running computers at 640x480 and most of the major popular web sites are designed for a below 640 width. Multiple Browser CheckIf you are really serious about having a popular web site, it would behoove you to check your creation with more than one browser. Your page will look different from browser to browser (and even from version to version and operating system to operating system), so it's best that you know what you're dealing with. Eye Strain A.K.A. Backgrounds vs TextYou've spotted a super cool "Wings of Tenchi Moon DX 999" image. You just know it would look great as the background of your new web page. You upload everything to your site; pat yourself on the back for a job well done. Unbeknownst to you, at that very moment, a viewer comments, "What the..?!!". She can't read the text on your web page; it clashes with the background making it impossible to view. Ring AbuseThey're the new rave in the web world. Join a web ring and watch your hits skyrocket. However, some people are going nuts with this new fad. They join ten to twenty rings at a time and place ALL of their ring fragments on one page, resulting in a massive slowdown of the loading time of their page. I know you'd love to increase your hits this way, but you really have to consider whether the slowdown of your page is really worth the added weight. The Great Page WipeoutI've found it amazing how often I've gone back to a page that I've enjoyed and found it closed for redesigning. Even famous companies, like the great Studio Ghibli, have done this in the past with their web sites. Who will benefit from the removal of your informative pages, while you fiddle with HTML and images? Your pages couldn't have been that worthless, otherwise you wouldn't have put the effort into creating them in the first place. Anime Web Turnpike © 1995-1999 Jay Fubler Harvey. All Rights Reserved. Last Update: 9/11/97 |