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Do’s and Dont’s please. I’m planning the website. If anyone has any advice let it fly!
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Lawrence, I'm no guru but...
Do: Have it load quick. Be aware not all machines are on a 56K modem, 300+mhz, and 96M/RAM. Program for IE (barf)and Netscape... use safe colors. Use internal links to provide more information, photos, etc... Provide a "back to home page" link on your new pages. (See http://www.woodweb.com for an extensive, well planned site. Or, http://www.ece.nwu.edu/ohc for a more basic site with good features.)
Don't: Have a very long page. Revolving GIFs, banners, or multiple "cookies." Your page will get hits, be slow to load, and people will be hitting "back" before you get your message across.
*Try this link, courtesy of Dan Morrison (I think it was Dan).Some good general HTML info with links to web page contruction info.
*Clean, appealing design. Many pages are graphic nightmares. The first "home" page should be especially sleek. You might notice that this site is gradually getting cleaner, though it is still a bit jumbled for me.
*O.K. 1 it must load fast. 2 email and contact information on every page.3 Very small images at first(to facilitate easy loading), with enlargable images. I'm planning to have these images act as links to the other sections. 4 The reading material should also load first, since they load faster and it will give them something to do while waiting.Links page y/n, visitor counter y/n, guestbook y/n, site map? Does anyone see inherant flaws in the plans so far? We will have @ 15 pages since there is so much to include, however each of these pages will be clean and simple without a background. Secondary links are another question, are they still necessary?
*I think a site map is only useful if the site is exceptionally large and poorly organized. I have never understood the point to guestbooks, and it is my understanding that very few visitors sign them. I would limit links to places that are directly related to what you are saying, and not to a lot of them. Remember, you need to periocically check the links to be sure they are still good.Regarding pictures, keep the file size small. Given the screens most people are looking at, you don't need lots of resolution or millions of colors.For fifteen pages, I would design something that gives a link to EVERY page and put it at the top and bottom of every page.Rich Beckman
*Here's another link. The one above from Mongo is construction oriented, this one is design oriented. Sucky to SavvyBetween the two you should get a great idea of what you need to do.But don't forget, content is the key.Dan
*Thanks guys...great link Dan. I've sent it to my web designer. He says it should be up by April 9. Thanks for the help. Oh...Content isn't a problem. I'll post it when it's done.L
*Lawrence,The text link navigation also help search engines index your pages. Don't forget to have your designer put in meta tags with keywords, and a description meta tag too. Also some search engines index off the titles of your pages. A good site to find out about search engines is http://www.searchenginewatch.com It explains a lot about how the search engines work. Visitor counters are out dated - if you don't get a lot of hits the people that do visit wonder why they are there.Navigation is the key - make it clear and easy to navigate and visitors will find stuff on their own.Outside links - remember that any opportunity you give people to leave your site is bad - you want them to stay as long as possible - that is not to say don't have them but don't make it a prominent feature of your site.Guest books - I agree with Rich, not many people sign them and it can be $$ not well spent if it means having a guest book vs better design/content. Don't forget having a "contact us" page or your e-mail address and contact info easy to find - especially on the home page. I hate going to sites where you can't figure out how to get in touch with the person - why bother having a site.Page size - don't forget to keep the page design w/in certain pixel size (your designer should know this but just in case) 600X480 pixels. This allows for the lowest common denominator on screen size so that people don't have to scroll to the right to read your text - it is annoying. don't let 480 be your end all be all of page length. Just be aware that you want THE MOST important information (navigation and important text) above 480 pixels so it is above the scroll. Remember most importantly that once you design a site it is NOT set in stone! Frequent changes and updates make it interesting for people to come back. Visit your site frequently and make sure pictures don't get broken - that just looks careless. Spell check and test your site before you make it live to make sure all of the links work across the site to all of the other pages on each page. You never know how someone is going to surf your site, don't limit them.Anyway there is a bunch of advice - I work for a web site design company (www.emji.net if you are interested). Remember why you tell some DIYs to leave certain jobs to the pros. Same thing w/ web sites. If you want a really good one - leave it to the pros. Wife of Crawford
*Good advice from wife-of-crawford (name??). If you hire a pro, of course make sure you hire a GOOD one. Just 'cause someone charges for their services (technical definition of a professional) doesn't make them good ... as I found out ... I have seen some cool DIY sites, but they take a lot of time to create. Maybe I'll do mine soon...Content content content, updated or at least not with literal dates on the screen -- folks avoid old stuff instinctively.