Thanks for your interest in finding out what my web philosophy is. I think it is simple, and hopefully, effective. To me, information content is all. Graphics have a place, and a picture can be worth a thousand words. I'm just going to be sure those thousand words are in the Caption so that people with non-graphic web browsers (such as Lynx for Telnet users, and pwWebSpeak for blind users with speech synthisizers) can know what's going on as well. I firmly believe that web pages should be readable by all, no matter what web browser they are using. For more on the usability of web pages, please visit FlashSucks.Org.
- All images should have ALT components, even if only ALT="" (the area between the two quote marks is called a "null string" by programmers) leaving no trace to the non-graphic user.
- All IMG tags should have WIDTH & HEIGHT components, especially in TABLES.
- A table ordinarily will not display until all images have loaded, but if width & height information is included, the table will display, leaving room for the images to "fill in" later. A user can start reading the copy, while the images fill in. People with slow modem connections will move on before the page finishes loading, because nothing appears to be happening.
- Every page should be considered "stand alone", since the user can be sent directly to it by Yahoo, Google, Alta Vista, or some other search engine.
- All pages should have a link to the Home Page.
- All pages should have an E-Mail link, or a link to a "Contact" page with e-mail links.
- Some pages should have the web address of that page on it, so that people who are given print-outs of the page can find it on the Web. This applies to press releases, legal disclaimers, and similar documents.
- This needs to be included, since web browsers can be programmed to leave out this information, or it can be in an area considered "unprintable" by some printers.
- Besides Firefox and Internet Explorer, we also test web pages with Lynx, the non-graphic web browser.
- Never buy a .ORG without buying the .COM, if it is available. You want to Forward the .COM o the .ORG because people always try a .COM address first.
- Dates will be in the format of YYYY-MM-DD for Year, Month and Day as per ISO Standard 8601. Not only is it human readable, but it is computer sortable as well. Exceptions will be allowed if the client objects strenuously.
Thoughts on web sites for mobile phone web browsers
- You want to buy a .Mobi with a shortened version of your domain name, and link it to the main domain name. Example:
- You should set up a version of your web site easily read on mobile phone web browsers. It can be linked to a regular directory on your web site. Example:
"Your web site is for your customers. End of story. It is not a showcase for your webmasters creativity. It's not meant to be 'cool'. If it is, it's useless."
- Harry Newton
Computer Telephony Magazine,
1999 October
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