There are certain things that make a web page easy to navigate and still others that will chase away visitors. Below are some tips indicating elements that should be in place in every web page in your site.
Who are you? Why do you have a web page and why should they return or do business with you? These are questions that should be answered on your title page and perhaps included in some form in every page on your site. A simple way of contacting you should be in place. One example of this is an invitation at the bottom of each page, to email comments to you, with a link that activates the email portion of the browser.
The download period is your most vulnerable time on your web page. Keep your index page simple.
Make sure you have text enough in the top of the page to give the visitor something to read while your graphics are loading. Keep graphics to a minimum. Use short paragraphs and a lot of room for the eye to rest. A designer or advertiser calls this "White Space." "White Space" is VERY IMPORTANT. It can make or break any advertising space. Too little makes a document seem too busy. Make sure your text margins can float if your skill or HTML editor can manage it. Include graphics that are in harmony with the rest of the page and the message that you want to present. Make sure your background and your text can be seen by persons who are colorblind. AND, if you are colorblind make sure someone else who is not colorblind previews your work before uploading it.
Never place a white text on light background or dark text on a dark background. That is an immediate turnoff. It can make your visitor very irritated at the page designer. It may be just the thing to motivate them to look elsewhere for information and that elsewhere may not be on your site!
If possible, make your site determine if the visitor browser supports frames. If it does not, you should have an alternate page(s) with the information in large type, text only, for persons who are blind or have other sight problems and are visiting your site with a text reader machine. You may include an image in between paragraphs if it is fully described. If you do not want to do this for some reason the graphics should be at the end of the document with a warning that they are there and that this is the end of the text. Again provide your name, business name, phone number, address, and email address on this page if you want them to have it.
One last thing on the text only page. . . . Extra borders and === or -0=-=-= or the like sound like the text machine or the software has hung up like an old record player. Please do not use them.
Daniel Deane
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Presented by Daniel Deane, P.O.Box 3548, Chattanooga TN 37404 /Publisher of Daniel's InfoZene, a general interest/public service ezine Internet tips, Humor, Recipes, PSAs, disability advocacy, and more. Copyright 1997 Daniel Deane