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How *Not* To Design A Webpage!
by
Neil Shearing of ScamFreeZOne.com
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 http://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 http://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 http://www.scamfreezone.com/
Home Business Opportunities + Resources for Entrepreneurs!
If you liked this article, Neil's 279-page ebook, "Internet
Success Blueprint" is a goldmine of marketing advice. See this page
for more info...
http://www.scamfreezone.com/bizop/
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