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Specializing in Big Web Sites for Small Businesses |
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Ahh, Frames! Surely there is as much arguing going on for or against frames as there is over the 2 browsers, Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE). Most
people do agree that if you have a frames version it would be very considerate to have a non-frames version too. Some of the drawbacks to using frames are that it can be harder to get to the page
within the site you want. And you can not bookmark separate sections, you always have to go in through the home/index page. As a matter of fact it is difficult to bookmark any
link on a framed site unless you open the link in a new window first and then bookmark it. In addition, frames make the information have to be in a smaller space and often require scrolling (see scrolling notes above).
In support of frames, I find you can display a great deal of information in a small area and it allows the surfer the ability to access most all links at all times. It also allows the
programmer the ability to display the logo or web page name at all times, or an advertisement. Unfortunately, the frames that display advertising are one on the reasons
people don't like them. People don't want to be sold to most of the time. They just want to surf. Tables are your friends! Learn to love tables! Tables allow us as programmers to force pictures and text into different parts of the screen. Here is an example of good tabling:
Or you can take away the border and it split the screen into three or more parts. Like this and take the border away to make it look more clean:
The general consensus on what to write about is to write what you know. It seems simple, but is a perfect rule. If you don't know anything maybe you don't need a web
page! Try to do something useful for society or provide a service if possible. A common mistake is to make the entire page about you and offer no creative or useful
content. I hate to break your little programmers heart, but the world is only interested in you if you have something useful to contribute. Your personal statistics should be secondary.
Before you begin you should do a search on your potential subjects and see what is already out there so you are not just duplicating someone else's work. It is important to
keep track of other web sites that are like your own (on your subject), because later you should make a point to go back and try to exchange links with them.
Contact information is important and should be easily available from every page. When your page has a problem, you may not be the first one to realize it. If you make it easy
to get in touch with you there is more of a chance that a surfer will E-Mail you and tell you that your link to "the best beers of the world" is not working.
There should always be a link to the home or index page on every page on your site also. The way some search engines work the home page may not be the first page people will
access. Due to this fact, if there is no "HOME" or at least a "BACK" page link on the page it is considered an orphan page. Table of contents. See Nav bar above. This seems like such an obvious rule that it seems silly to write it down, but you'd be surprised how many times you will miss a slash or the quote marks at the end of a URL.
Take my advice, after the site is fully uploaded, clear your cache, and go through the site with a fine tooth comb! Write down every single little thing that you want to fix on
every page and check every link! This is a mandatory part that you should just mentally add to the upload process. And if you don't write it down you will miss some of the things
you need to fix. The reason you are clearing the cache before you do a check on the site is that you need to make sure the pictures are loading correctly and that all current
changes will be reflected in the copy you are looking at. A great tool for checking your code is WebTech's HTML Validation Service You can
enter the URL for the page you want to check and the validator returns with a list of any logistical or syntax problems. It's a terrific tool.
There are also programs that check all your links for you and if your site is more than about 6 or 7 pages you might want to invest in one to save the time, but you still need
to check the site for other problems after upload every time.
Meta tags are words within the head section of your HTML document that many search engines use to find your page while doing searches. There are 2 important kinds of meta tags I will talk about here: keywords, and
descriptions. The keywords meta tag is the very important, and you should spend some time trying to get as many words and synonyms as you can find for what is on your page. Some search engines limit you to
using the same word only five times in the keywords section (INFOSEEK). Others allow you to use words over and over. Make sure you put the keywords metafile on every page
of your site (not necessarily for frames). Then your site can be found from every page and not just the index. The meta description tag is exactly that; a brief description of exactly what is on your
site in about two sentences or less. Some search engines will use this information as the blurb that appears next to your name link in a search. If you have ever seen this type of writing you have probably wondered what kind of strange planet these programmers are from! Well, this kind of writing as I understand it
developed from the Warez sites. A Warez site is generally a site where high quality, expensive programs can be illegally downloaded. The combination of upper and lower
case was designed to fool the search engines and make the sites more difficult to find. If you have never been to a WaRez site, it is an interesting lesson in the internet. There
are all sorts of laws about downloading software and there are a lot of gray areas about what is legal. For example, some say it is legal to download the file, but not to open it.
Also supposedly if you delete the program off your hard drive within 24 hours it is also considered legal. If you decide to investigate some of these WaReZ sites, be careful,
there are viruses out there and you should take the proper precautions to protect your hard drive. I do not condone the use of these sites, but it is certainly interesting!
One trick WareZ dudes use is to have the top of the web site clearly state that the site is not functioning and has been shut down, but if you wait for the page to load and scroll
quite a ways down you will find the goodies. Most really great WaReZ sites only stay open for a short time and so you need to find lists that are updated everyday.
Underlined text on a web page must be a link! It is not fair to the reader to have to work
to figure out what is a link and what isn't. The surfer expects any underlined text to be a link and you need to follow that rule like all the rest of us!
Unvisited links should be darker than the visited links. Do not try to change this rule as it only confuses the reader. Also, it is important that the visited links be a different color
than the unvisited ones. The surfer can not be expected to remember which links he has followed. That is why there is a system. Use the system. It works very well the way it is.
If your HTML editor doesn't have a built in spell checker, you need to copy and paste the page into a word processing program like Word, or Works, or Word Perfect and do a spell check. There are always little things that you didn't catch and you may be surprised and discover you have been spelling a specific word wrong for 20 years! The spell check can be a nuisance, but it is worth the effort. Do it! Try to look at your page in both MSIE and Netscape. Your site may look very different in MSIE than it does in Netscape. You will want to make sure it works in either browser. WARNING: One of the problems with having both of these browsers on your hard drive at once is that they compete and sometimes clash. My personal experience was with Netscape first and then MSIE. When I imported my Netscape bookmarks into MSIE they would never work properly again in Netscape. After going back to Netscape the names to the bookmarks were all erased. Chalk up another one for Microsoft's 'anti-competitor' tricks. "Can't we all just get along?"
The most important thing to remember about guestbooks is that they are for you and not the surfer! As a matter of fact, if someone wants to say something to you they will
probably send you an E-Mail. Assuming that you have followed the rules and put your E-Mail address on every page...Of course you did! Do not put the guestbook on the top of the page! It is silly to think you would want
someone to sign the book before they have even viewed the site! How are they supposed to make intelligent comments in the book if they haven't even had a chance to see what you are offering.
Call me a snob, but I personally do not "DO" guestbooks. I consider them to be tacky, but if you must put one on your page, at least don't put it at the top of the page! OK, enough said about guestbooks.
Now this is the thing that separates a good web site from a really great one. You need clean simple, easy to read buttons and classy matching bars and banners. How do you
get them? Well, you can always go to the free gif sites and find lots of graphics and buttons, but what you really need is a nice blank button that you can make your own
custom links from. Your personally designed buttons need to be made with a clear, easily readable font. A great program for adding text to buttons is Paint Shop Pro. You can download a copy at Alchemy Mindworks
. If you really have money you can also use Adobe Photo Shop. Adobe is the standard of the industry and is almost $700 to buy, Paint Shop Pro is $40. Other helpful applications you may want to download are Graphic
Workshop which allows you to crop, scale and convert all types of graphic formats. This program is also from Alchemy Mindworks. Those guys really are great! * No I am not getting paid for this*
When you make the buttons, be sure to write down what font you used and if you used special effects like a drop shadow or a cutout you should notate the settings you used.
This way if you want to add a section on how to handle a pet Iguana in a couple of months you will be able to make an Iguana button that looks like the others. Someday you are going to thank me for telling you this!
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Images and text on this site (non-inclusive of the free gifs and jpgs) are property of Wilkie Web Designs 1997-2000© and may not be copied or reproduced in any way without the expressed written consent of Wilkie Web Designs. All rights reserved. This page last modified on Sunday, January 13, 2002 |
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AMAZING SECRETS: Create your own BODY WRAPS at home and save a fortune! This is really neat! WRAP YOURSELF SLIM Danielle Sims discovered her own home body wrap formulas and techniques that worked better than the wrap she got at the Salon! Fascinating and 100% guaranteed. |
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Web site, design, tips, tricks, programming tips, programming, HTML, javascript,applets, Get paid to surf, Kate Wilkie, Wilkie Web Designs, free web sites, |
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