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Suggestions and Tips

I put together what I feel are some helpful and easy to understand suggestions you should keep in mind when designing your website and getting ready to apply for awards:

Navigation

When you are at the mall looking for a particular store, you may check the directory to see where it is located. Site navigation works the same way as a "directory". By providing a visibly located menu or site map, your visitors can see everything your site has to offer and easily find their way around. Once your visitors have scrolled to the bottom of a really long page, they will need a way to get back to the top. Think of this as being similar to climbing down a long flight of stairs, at the mall, only to find the stairs disappear once you get to the ground floor. By providing "return to top" links, your visitors can always find their way back. Designing a site where the "Back" or "Next" button is the main source of navigation is not a good idea. Visitors can become bored and/or lost going through your site page by page.

Page Loading

How many of you shudder to think about having to wait in a long line, such as at the Department of Motor Vehicles, or in a store (especially around the Holidays!). You want to be able to go in, do what needs to be done and leave as quickly as possible and sometimes you end up leaving because you simply do not feel like waiting. Page loading times on your site works the same way. You want to make sure that your visitors are not waiting too long for your pages to load. Using width, height and alt tags can help, as they tell your browser how much space to allow for an image, and then continue loading the rest of the page.

Graphics

Using images can enhance the visual appeal of a website. However, too many can make your page look unbalanced, cluttered and add to the page load times. Images should be small and most reputable paint programs contain a selection where you can compress the image. For images that need to remain at a larger size, for instance, artwork, consider creating a separate thumbnail for that image and not using width and height tags to make the larger image smaller. By doing this, you have reduced the load time for your page and your visitors can still see the full size image by clicking on the thumbnail. Make sure the images are saved directly to your own server and that you have coded them properly on your page so that your visitors do not see broken images (little boxes with a red "X" in them).

Internal Links

When you are reading a good book and you turn the page, you expect that next page to be there. How disappointed would you be if a page were missing that contained important information regarding the storyline? This is why you should always make sure that all the internal links work properly so your visitors do not miss any pages of your website. You should also make sure that you do not have any pages that are "Under Construction". How would you feel if at the end of the book you are reading, there is a notation from the author stating that the "Ending is coming soon" or that they are still writing the ending? If your pages are not ready to be viewed, don't put them up.

External Links

Let's say a friend refers you to a new restaurant and you can't wait to try the food. But when you get there, you find out they are not at that location. External links on your website can be a great referral for your visitors to obtain further information, so make sure you that when a visitor clicks on that link, it takes them to the proper website. There are many different programs available that can be purchased or used for free, that can regularly check all the links within your website to make sure they work, although the best way is to check them manually yourself.

Fonts and Colors

Imagine reading a newspaper and the font size is too small, a shade lighter than the color of the paper, and the text was covering the pictures. You wouldn't be able to read it and probably would want your money back. Choose your font colors and sizes so that they compliment your background colors and/or any web sets that you are using, this way your visitors can see and clearly read all the material on your website. You should also make sure than you choose a standard font that is available on all computers.

Visual Appeal

Everyone has their own opinions on what is visually pleasing to them. What if a friend redecorated your living room for you and when finished, all the colors and patterns used clashed with one another. Now, your first reaction may be to immediately leave that room and have a word with your friend, but then you may notice that some colors do look good with a certain pattern and that chair looks great in the corner! Keep this in mind when choosing colors, graphics and the layout and positioning of material within your site, this way your visitors feel relaxed and do not "bump" into the furniture.

Browser Compatibility

You are shopping for a new car and there are many different makes and models to choose from. Now, you will notice several differences between vehicles as far as comfort, extra features, and how they handle the road. But, ultimately, whichever car you drive should get you to the end result, which is your destination. When your website is browser compatible it enables your visitors to choose which browser they want to view your site in. They may notice slight differences in the layout of your material when using different browsers, but your visitors are still able to drive down the Information Super-Highway the same way.

Content

Your favorite magazine has just arrived in the mail. You finally get comfortable with a cup of coffee and have been looking forward to reading this all day. But, when you open up the magazine, it is not at all what you expected and you switch on the television instead. Make sure you have something of interest for your visitors, after all, the content is the heart of your website. Now everyone has different interests, and you should never change your pages to please someone else, but if your site offers nothing of interest many of your visitors will become bored, as there is nothing really to "see" on your site. Also make sure that you do not have any spelling errors. Spell checkers are readily available in word processors and online.

Privacy Policy

If you are like me, your postal mailbox always contains some sort of junk mail and you wonder, "How did they get my name and address?" Well, someone shared your personal information with another source and possibly was paid for it. In this day and age, if you collect any information from your visitors, it is important for them to know exactly what is done with that information. This can make your visitors feel more secure visiting your website.

Copyrights

Let's say you have worked very hard to create something, whether it is a piece of artwork or a poem, and this can be found on your website. Now, you come across other websites using your one of a kind creation without your permission and they are either claiming it as their own, or they do not state who the actually owner is. How would that make you feel? Pretty crummy, I'm sure. Make sure that any graphic, web set, music, photograph, or text that you did not create is properly credited back to the original owner and is used with permission according to their terms of use. And, of course, if it is your creation, take the credit!

Contact

Your site contains your original work and someone is interested in using your material, but they are unable to find a way to get in touch with you... So they move on, and you may have missed a big opportunity. Always provide a way for visitors to contact you... It may be important!

Coding

I am not an expert in coding, but the one suggestion I can offer is to make sure that you have coded your pages properly, and that all of your scripts work the way they are supposed to. Visitors do not want to see HTML fragments on the page and, more importantly, you want to make sure that their browser does not freeze because of bad coding or scripts. Sometimes this can be trial and error, as what works in your browser may not function properly in another. But you want to make sure that all of your pages load the way they were intended to.