Think about it. He says he doesn't even have a mouse. Think what that means for page design...
I did a search on Alta Vista, using "click here" for my query. Now ...
please sit down. There were three million counts for that query!
(Oops! I suppose with this paragraph I just upped it to three million
& one!) I see an eloquently written preamble about the upcoming link,
only to see it end with that two-word phrase ... ugh! Can't people come up
with a better name for their links? Is "click here" going to
be the topic of the link I am about to follow? Do you have several
pages about the art of clicking? What if I do not have a mouse? Do I
click my heels three times and say "There's no place like home"
as I hit the <return> key? So for the benefit of those of
us without a mouse in our house, or for the vast millions who have not
yet viewed The Wizard of Oz, please name your link accordingly.
2.
Excessive use of Exclamation Marks!!!!!!!!!!!!
I know ... you have just made this cool home page and are excited about
pointing us to this great new link!!!!!! All your exclamation marks and
declarations about how awesome your page is will not make me as eager as
you are!!!!!!!!! Again, trust that HTML will do its job. Links are
bolded, and that is emphasis enough for me. I follow a link based on
what I think is on the other side, not on how many exclamation marks you
put in it or after it! Exclamation marks used that excessively will make
me think you are over-advertising your page. If a page needs that much
hype before accessing it, do I really want to?
3. Pre-formatted text
Ok, <pre> is necessary if you are displaying your finest ASCII
art, but for everyone else, please learn markup language! Simple
commands such as <p> can separate paragraphs for you, and it will
look nice too. Homepages with links done in all pre-formatted text look
even worse than pages with html mistakes! Please ... lose the <pre>
and learn markup language. Don't be afraid, boldly step out where other
homepages have stepped before. If you are new at html, it is ok to make
mistakes. Don't be too timid to say you are new at html, and that you
want to learn how to do it. You can be sure that anyone who stumbles on
your page will be happy to show you how you can accomplish what you need
to with proper markup. HTML is your friend ... don't try to replace it
with your typing, because you can't.
4. Forgetting to close <em>
... Or even doing it intentionally will make your page look as if you
had used a typewriter on looseleaf. It makes your pages difficult to
read, and whatever useful information you may have for us will be
superceded by underscore. Please, use <em> only where you want
emphasis on a phrase, or a title of a book, and remember to close it with
</em>. Writing your whole page the way this paragraph is written will
make me hit the back arrow key faster than you can say "click here"!
5. Using header tags to increase font
size.
Whoa ... I think I need my sunglasses here! This is what a page looks
like in text when you choose to use an <Hn> tag instead of a
<font size=+n>. It makes the whole page really bright for those
not using a graphical browser! Again, when I see a page that looks like
this paragraph, I look for my backspace key, and fast!
6. Double spaced lists of links
I see people place links to their public bookmark files in which
all the links are double spaced. It takes twice as long to scan your
links before getting to the ones I actually want. Not to mention
that it is just plain unattractive. I once saw a huge list of bookmarks
where each link was made into a list of its own!
7. Long names for your Links
This is a link to the paragraph that
explains long links. You will find that long links that span several
lines can sometimes be very annoying. People will still access your
link even if you decide to make it shorter than a complete sentence!
A short link with a brief
explanation of what it is about will suffice.
8. Hit counts on pages
Sometimes the first thing I see on a page is "You are the 55629th visitor
to this page!!!!!" Is this supposed to give me or your page
higher status? Or is the page any better simply because one more person
stumbled on it?
9. Pages that say nothing
I see some pages that are nothing but links, links, links, and practically
no information about them. So I follow a few of the links and
those pages are nothing but lists of links. You know, sometimes
I access a homepage because I want to read, not because I want to keep
pressing return on links! Please, introduce yourself, or introduce the
subject of your page with an opening paragraph!
10. Pages with all images and no text
Sometimes I follow a link to a page which claims to have information
on a specific topic. Then, from the Lynx browser, all I see is
is [LINK] or [IMAGE] scattered all over the page. I know a
picture is worth a thousand words, but can you please enlighten those
of us with little access to graphical browsers? A [LINK] to
what? An [IMAGE] of what? A page that looks appealing in text
will make me more likely to bookmark it, so I can view it again when
I have a chance to see it through Netscape. Please, try to construct
your page so it will please the entire viewing audience. Those are
the kinds of pages which get viewed over and over again.
Chebucto Connections TOP TEN