WEAVING
TALES, WEAVING WEBSITES:
Websites 101
Web Site "Pet
Peeves"
Among the most mentioned "pet
peeves" of people surfing the net are the items in the list below. Try to
avoid these high-annoyance features when designing your site.
- Broken
or "dead" hyperlinks. You can check these regularly in
FrontPage using the Reports view and selecting the "Broken
hyperlinks" report.
- Incorrect or
out-of-date content.
Be sure to update your site's content periodically to keep it current.
Visitors rarely return to a site they can tell hasn't been touched in the
last two years.
- "Under
Construction" signs or pages. Web sites are nearly always
in some state of flux, so posting an "under construction" warning
is merely stating the obvious.
- Poor
spelling and/or grammar. FrontPage has a built-in spellchecker,
so if you aren't always the best speller (or just want to scan for any
typos), I encourage you to use this feature.
- Poor
layout and/or poor navigation. By planning most of your site's
structure prior to creating the site, and by using some of FrontPage's
automated features (like themes and shared borders), you can
usually avoid this type of problem.
- Multimedia
"circuses". Too much audio or animation can easily turn
a visitor off to your site. Enough said.
- Pages that
load too slo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-owly.
Unusually large image files can really bog down how quickly a page loads in
a browser, so opt for smaller file sizes whenever feasible.
- Barriers
to accessibility. Keep in mind that individuals with hearing or
visual impairment may visit your site, too. If you like, you can
periodically check how well your site complies with accessibility guidelines
by visiting Watchfire's
"Bobby Online Free Portal" and entering your site's URL,
or Web address.
Fortunately, there are free online
services that can analyze a page from your Web site, and give you a report on
things like spelling, image information, and the service's estimate on how
quickly the page will load in a visitor's browser. They also offer suggestions
on how to improve your results. These services are included under "Improving
and Fine-Tuning Your Site" on the resources
page.
Content copyright © 2002-2003
R. Hardy Garrison / Tell-Tale (de)Sign