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| Anybody
can slap together some graphics & text and call it a webpage. But taking the
time to plan it out - well.. not many people really take the time to create something that
will be interesting, or really 'good' to look at. There is sometimes 'too
much' or 'too little' or something or other that can leave your site looking less
than perfect. So what is considered 'good'? Well that is all a matter of
personal opinion, but remember one thing. The average guest to a website will only
spend three minutes on a page - if your page takes too long to load or your visitor is
somehow 'repulsed' by it from the start, they may not stick around long enough to really
see what you have created. I know how long I spend creating a web page... hours -
days even... and I do this because I enjoy it and I am hoping someone out in the vast
expanse of the cyber community will enjoy my creation as well. We are in a sense
'artists' or 'novelists' only hoping to leave an impact on the world at large. It is
an expression of the self - the person we are, who we want to be, or just a way to reach
out across the lines and touch each others lives. When creating your website, think about 'who' you are and what you want to share with the world - come up with a theme, a feeling you want to convey and put your heat into it, you might amaze yourself with what you can do. These are just some general ideas to try and help
you put together the best page you possibly can - just remember... it's a work of art -
Don't rush it.
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Graphics & Backgrounds -  When choosing the 'look' of your
site, keep in mind that not everyone is going to like what you choose, but keep it simple.
Simple does not have to mean 'boring' - but the psychedelic backgrounds leave your
page difficult to view the text and it is sometimes distracts the viewer from your
content. Themes should be continued
throughout your site - keep the same background, buttons and lines on all your pages, or,
at the least, very similar. It will let your guests know that they are still at the same
website - not following a link somewhere else on the net. It brings your entire site
together. Don't fill every space up with
whatever you can find... graphics can take over your site if you try to use too many. Not
to mention the fact that the more graphics you include, the slower your pages will load -
most visitors get impatient and just leave without ever seeing your entire page. Animations are 'cool' - but
putting them in just for the sake of having animations will also slow down your
pages load time and leave your visitors frustrated. Keep graphics sizes to a minimum
when designing your page.Frames - There is a lot of
disagreement on the use of frames, some people love them, others absolutely hate them.
If you like them, want to use them, then go ahead. Just try to not use too
many - keep them from overwhelming the guest. And if at all possible - offer a frames free
version of your site, then guests who despise them will still be able to view your site
without being turned off by the frames.Music & Sounds - Everybody loves music -
Right? Well... believe it or not, not everyone likes to listen to tunes while they
surf the net. But you love it - so what to do with the sounds? Since everyone's taste in
music is different, you could design your page to play music, but have an option to turn
the music off. And if you use a plug-in to execute the music, have a link to
the site where you can get the plug-in. Leave it up to the guest if he or she wants
to hear the music you love.Tables - Tables allow you to format your
page to use the horizontal space as well as the vertical. It lets you insert
graphics and text that come together as if on a newspaper, allowing you to line
things up as you want them to appear. They can also help line up your page content
around a border background (like on this page) - One tip I have about tables - make
sure that you close all of your table tags. ( The Netscape 3.0 browser is apparently
'picky' about closed tags and if they aren't your table will not appear in the browser.)
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Links to Other Web Page Design Helpers |
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Web Pages That Suck HTML
Help Bruce's Web Page Help Color Center Gif Wizard |
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This Site Created and
Maintained by Last Updated on 07/19/98
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