Start with a purpose - Why are you building this site?
Lay out your site before you build it - Start with brainstorming, then
an outline of the site, then a flowchart of pages. This will make building much
easier. Over 80 percent of my site's pages were laid out before they were ever
built. In print, that's called a dummy sheet (i.e. you'd be a dummy to plan
without one). Checking out other sites is a great way to pick up ideas.
Make navigation as easy as possible. Don't use ONLY images as links.
People hate waiting for 25 images of what the links represent to download so
they can click on them. We want to go, go, go. Have text-only links as an
option.
Update your site regularly. A website should NEVER be done (but it
should be complete!). If you put a date last updated on the site and it says
last updated on April 4, 1996, no one will want to read the stuff and they
certainly won't bookmark it for future reference.
Along with updating, don't put under construction signs on a page. We
know its under construction - it's the Web. If an area of your site isn't 90%
complete, don't provide a link for us to see it! It makes you and your whole
site look bad.
Learn HTML. Good HTML editing programs are not as smart as a human.
Every once and awhile you HAVE to edit the HTML directly. Buy a good HTML book
and read it.
Don't EMBED music in pages./ It makes pages take FOREVER to download.
Instead, you can make a link which users can click on to load and play.
Avoid Java if you can. JavaScript is much, much faster. Good
JavaScript can be found at JavaScripts.com. Once again though, a book would be
helpful.
Don't use frames. If you MUST use frames, use only one and offer users
the choice of getting rid of it.
DON'T TYPE EVERYTHING IN ALL CAPS BECAUSE IT MAKES THINGS REALLY HARD TO
READ.
Don't bold everything because bolding is meant for emphasis.
Don't underline ANYTHING. Links are underlined. If you underline
normal text, how can anyone tell if it's a link or not?
Don't create links which aren't underlined. How do we know it's a link
if it isn't underlined?
Don't build your site for a limited audience if you want many people to
visit. What I mean is:
Don't build your site for 800x600 screen resolution. Most people are still
using 640x480. Don't build your site for high or true color. Most computers are
factory installed at 256 colors and you'd be surprised the number of people who
never change that setting. Don't build your site for just one browser. Despite
Microsoft's attempts to take over the browsing world, most people are still
using Netscape. Build your site so it looks the same on Netscape and Microsoft.
Content
is king
Content, content, content - Don't have something useful to say? Then,
no one will want to come to your site. A page of nothing but links (half of
which no longer go anywhere), your resume, an open letter to all of the opposite
sex, or your latest sales brochure really doesn't interest most people.
Keep it simple - Use only a FEW fonts, colors, graphics on each page.
Unify the pages with a common theme, keep the graphics small and clean, make the
layout logical and easy to use.
Check for errors - Spell check for obvious typos, then read your copy,
then read it again. Check your links to make sure they go somewhere. Make sure
all the graphics are coming up. Actually go through the site every once and
awhile to see how it looks to new visitors. (And, yes, I know I spelled spel
wrong, thanks ;-)
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