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North Bay's Top 100 Web Site's
Top Ten Mistakes Web Developers Make
By Ted McKeown Sept 9, 2002 Here are the top ten mistakes that web developers often make and don't be
surprised to find some of the big heavy weights out there are making some
of these mistakes.
1. Appearance Huge scrolling text, Marquees, and images that are flashing and jumping have a
negative effect on visitors and will result in a shorter attention span. Web pages
should not assault the human senses or emulate Roller Derby. Give your visitors
some peace and quiet while they read the content of your pages.
Constantly moving animations should never be included in web page elements
with lots of text because they're distracting. What about those blinking links?
Well blinking is simply not good etiquette.
2. Link your Links Links that actually work are a good idea. You have probably seen those sites
that look very professional and your so impressed that you click on the
purchase link. Suddenly you find out the link doesn't work. What a bummer and
totally unprofessional, not to mention it's a big turn off. CHECK YOUR LINKS
PLEASE! Then check them again.
3. Old News You need somebody to root out the garbage and plug in to some common sense as
your web site changes and times change but most people would rather spend more
time creating new content than on maintenance. Hire a web Developer as part of
your team. Maintenance is the intelligent way to update the content on your web
site and many old pages can be linked to your new pages. Some pages are better
off being removed completely from the server if the content is stale.
4. Use Standard Web Colors If some of your links are blue and other links to previously visited pages are
green or red, people may not find it so easy to navigate your pages. I believe
that a web site should be consistent in format and color with visible links
that don't jump around or hide behind weird graphics. Links are one of the few
navigational aides that should be standard for most web browsers.
Consistency is the keyword here.
5. Flash Flash is a great tool but what if someone doesn't have the Macromedia plug-in.
Some people are afraid to download plug ins or they just have a slow dialup
connection. If your using flash as your index page at least give your browsers
an html redirect option or you may find some visitors won't even get past your
home page. A major oversight.
6. Long Download Times Traditional human factors guidelines indicate 15 seconds as the maximum
response time before they move on to greener fields. People don't have time to
wait around all day. In china they pay $6 an hour for dialup service. Even web
sites with high end users need to consider download times. Bandwidth is getting
better as the infrastructure keeps improving however people today are more
impatient than ever and will not tolerate slow download speeds.
Crunch your file sizes and clean up your codes. Watch out for popups too.
They will slow your download time big time. Pardon the pun.
7. Using Frames Web sites with splitting frames can give you a splitting headache. I came
across one the other day that had close to a dozen frames on one page. All that
scrolling just to find what you want, you can't bookmark the current page and
URLs don't work. Printouts on these pages are difficult. And even worse, if you
do find what you want how do you get back where you came in? What a mess.
My advice is keep frames to a minimum so your pages will look clean. Hint: not all
frames need scroll bars and there is a way to make frames without bars or
borders. 8. Geek Speak We all have to brag a little about use of the latest web technology, but
mainstream users will care more about useful content and your ability to offer
good customer service. Dreamweaver, Frontpage, Coldfusion and similar products
are all wonderful development tools, but unless you are in the business of
selling internet products it is better to wait until some experience has been gained
with respect to the appropriate ways of using new techniques.
Speak in laymen's terms so your audience will understand the message your putting
across. Let's Communicate in the language of the world. Whats SQL, DNS, TCP/IP,
you ask? As an example: to a computer geek DNA means dynamic network
architecture but to a lab technician it means dianucleic acid. Do you see the
confusion your setting yourself up for when you use acronyms.
9. Orphan Pages Your Host won't appreciate this much and it's not going to help you much
either. Make sure your pages belong somewhere. Can a visitor back space to it
easily and access pages directly without coming in through your home page. All
your pages should have a link up to your home page and here is where a site map
wouldn't hurt. It helps to show where everything belongs. A site map can tell a
confused visitor whether he is coming or going. It's a good way to add
structure to your web space.
10. Scrolling Pages Only 5% of users scroll beyond the information that is visible on the screen
when a page comes up. All important content and navigation options should be on
the top 400 pixels of your page. That's a cardinal rule. Follow all these rules
and you'll do alright.
Please feel free to visit my web site at http://www.geocities.com/goodweb55 You can email me with any questions about web design at goodweb55@yahoo.com