Any Page
1. An informative links section that tells us what
the nice buttons go to, and why we want to go there,
if it isn't immediately obvious.
2. An appreciation of how many of us do not like
things that make the loading time slow/crash our
computers.
3. An understanding of how the average surfer, if
the page is made for a general audience, finds injokes
tiresome.
4. Proper grammar and spelling. If you are a native
speaker, you have no excuse. This goes double for
fanfic. At least avoid glaring errors.
5. Label sexually explicit material. You don't have
to go overboard, but it will save you flak from
parents, sensitive viewers, etc.
An Info Page
1. Just get your info straight!!! Be aware what's
canon and not canon. Don't make us canon mavens even
more disgruntled and vicious than we already are.
2. See above
3. And credit your sources.
4. Make clear what is speculation/your personal
theory and what isn't.
A Character Shrine
1. Be canonical. Separate opinion from canon.
2. Separate official pics from fanart. Please. And
credit the fanartist.
3. Don't steal fanart/fanfiction. They may not be
copyrightable, but it isn't nice. If you like it and
the artist is not contactable, just the page it was on
in your links section. Also, never, never direct-link
pictures and stuff unless specifically given
permission.
4. Think clearly about whether you have anything to
contribute. What do you have that another webmaster
doesn't? This will help you make a better, more
interesting shrine.
5. Be original. Tell us what makes this character,
in your mind, special enough to make a shrine about.
Be aware of what the other shrines have.
Things that I am frankly getting a tad tired of
seeing....
(obviously, in moderation these things are not
necessarily bad. But many are overused. It's just a
judgement call.)
1. Name analysis from kalabarians/whoever. This
just seems cheap, and a way to get a section without
doing work. I sympathize greatly, but do we really
need to hear that an anime character may be suffering
from colitis in the future or shouldn't eat too much
spicy food because of the number of syllables in their
name (or whatever the cgi-script at that website uses)
one more time? (Since I don't believe in it, and don't
really think it matters whether I do or do not believe
in it when saying that it bores me, I will refrain
from pointing out that the characters' names are
properly in katakana, and that the romanji is just a
convention.) I grant that blood type is a valid thing
to put in a profile, because of the Japanese belief in
it. I just think it's a waste of time to make us see a
computer generated text again, based off of something
the creator never even thought about when creating the
character. Or if you are going to do it, do what some
people do and write amusing commentary.
2. Good old stats. Fine the first time, but if
you're doing the 100th shrine to this character, then
do we really need to see it again?
3. You Know You Like Whoever Too Much When.... I
grant these are fun to write, but they can't make your
whole website. Often they really aren't too
entertaining to read, after the gimmick has worn off.
Make them a tiny corner, maybe, but not the third of
only four sections, when the others are pictures of
the character, the character's stats, and wallpaper.
Then you should just call it an image gallery with
extras.
4. Drooling:of the fanboy, fangirl, hormone or
power or role-model driven and all other varities.
Don't do too much of it, and try to be articulate
about it.
5. Movies and pics that don't work.
6. Do you need two versions of the same site? Do
you need tons of DHTML, pop ups, dozens of frames,
etc.? Really? I like a pretty site, but I won't come
back if all you have is a nice layout. Remember that
style over substance does NOT make it in the long run.
7. Movies (real movies, not gifs) and midis. These
are very unpleasant to those with not large
bandwidths. Put them in the downloads/multimedia
section, not the front page. Or at least give us an
option to have them or not.
8. Lots of animated gifs. These are irritating to
the eyes in large numbers.
Special Couple Shrine Section
Actually, much of the above applies, so this will
be short. Some other notes:
1. Tell us when you are doctoring pics.
Things I'm Getting Tired of Seeing
1. This is minor, nitpicky, stylistic and personal,
but I think "the" is becoming overused. (As in, say, a
TastusmiXTsuzuki shrine: The Miser and The Shinigami
with the Purple Eyes. That sort of thing. ) It sounds
pretentious, at least to my ears, and makes the titles
of shrines longer. Also it sounds so formulaic, as if
all of the shrines were made by the same person.
A Fanworks Page
1. Tell us what the fics are about, at least
vaguely. I mean, what sort of fics are they?
2. Optimize your scans, if possible.