Irish Rose Kennelz

WEBSITE BUILDING TIPZ

Basic Hints

Decreasing Load Times

Increasing Hits

If you have any questions not covered or any suggestions or tipz e-mail me at iamcrm@juno.com.

Basic Hints and Advice.

Don't use frames, Java programs or ActiveX programs but if you insist remember
- Many people can't use these options
- People can't bookmark a specific page in your site when you use frames
- Many browsers cannot print framed pages correctly.
- Search engines sometimes have problems with frames
- Warn people of non-standard features like frames
- Provide alternatives to those who can't use those features
- Link to software that supports your features - such as a link to Netscape if you use Navigator specific tags
- When using frames make sure you put links in correctly
  - Links to outside your site should contain TARGET="_top"
  - linking to my site you would put this in < A href="http://www.oocities.org/Petsburgh/6889" Target="_top" > Irish Rose Kennelz < /a >
Provide someone coming to your site from another a way to break out of frames.
- < A href="http://www.oocities.org/Petsburgh/6889" Target="_top" > Break out of Frames Here < /a >
Try to build your website without using a web authoring tool
- Web authoring tools are limited
- It is harder to customize web authored pages
- You will learn more about HTML if you do it the "hard way"
- Don't be afraid to learn the complex and hard stuff
- It is only hard because you don't know how YET!
- You might want to use web authoring tools to help you learn how to do something you don't know how to do
- or better yet ask someone they can probably tell you why as well as how
Look at other websites - find what appeals to you
Get permission to use items from other sites
- You can easily borrow from other site but make sure you do it legally and ask permission
- If a Webpage does not explicitly say that it's content can be borrowed assume it is copyrighted and get permission
- Most people are happy to let you borrow from thier site as long as you provide proper attribution and reciprocal links.
- Give credit where credit is due
- If you like the way someone has done something on thier site don't hesitate to ask how to do it.
- Every one I have asked things of so far have been very helpful.
Take advantage of outside links
- Giving your visitors links encourages them to come back
- Visitors will return more often if your site doesn't "dead end"
- Your links can be a valuable resource to visitors
- Other sites will be more likely to link back to you if you contain thier link
Make internal links easy to navigate
- You should have an index page
- You should have a clear way back to your index on every page
- You should have clear navigation between main pages
- You should make it clear what links are on your site and which ones go to other sites.
- Make your navigation consistent throughout your site.
Make the important information prominent
Use graphics
- Graphics make a site more interesting
- Text oriented sites are boring
Ask for feedback
- Put your e-mail address on every page
  - Use mailto: tags
  - < A HREF="mailto:iamcrm@juno.com" >
- People you don't know can give you insites you may never think of otherwise
- You can learn what people want and what they expect
- Take criticism in stride and use it to improve your site
- Be ready to revise based on feedback and criticism
Test your site out
- Follow all your links and make sure they work properly
- make sure all pictures load
- make sure all your text fits together and look good
- Make sure your text is visible and easy to read
- A lot of hosts are cap sensitive so something that loads ok on your computer may not load when on the web
- Try different browers
- Spellcheck your pages
- Use a site testing tool
  - Site Inspector
  - Tune Up
Publicize your website see Increasing Hits
Update your website often
- Sites that do not change are boring
- Tell your visitors what has been updated
- Use new icons or other pointer to show visitors the new stuff
- Tell your visitors when the last time your page was updated
Use Netiqette
- Avoid spamming (sending unwanted e-mails)
- Avoid flaming (belittling or derogatory statement about or to others)
- Avoid putting up possibly offensive material without a warning label
- Check out this website for more info Netiquitte
- Get your site rated at
Don't abuse graphics See Decreasing Load Times
Don't forget using Alt tags
- Every image should have an alt tag
- Many people surf with graphics turned off
  - If you have no alt tags defined they will have no idea what your site is about.
  - Having graphics turned off speeds load time
  - Some people pay hourly rates for Internet access
  - Visually impaired people rely on translated text for information about the pages
  - Alt tags are easy to use
  - Format pic as < img src="image" alt="description" width="125" height="125" >
Include a copyright notice
Remember the World in World Wide Web.
- How does your site look to foreign audience
- Do you use expressions that may not be understood by your foriegn visitors?
- Will your humorous content appear risque or offensive to those of another culture?

Decreasing your load time.

Do not use too many graphics.
- Limit animated graphics to one or two per page.
Keep your page size under 100K
- For a 28.8 modem to load in under 15 seconds your home page should be under 40k and other pages under 30k
- Graphics should be less than 60% of the page total
Convert photo's and complex graphics to JPEG or JPG where possible
Convert simple graphics to Gif Format
Use Gif Optimizer to reduce the size of large graphics
Put large graphics on its own page with a link to it
- put a warning about load time on large graphics pages
Set the width and heigth for your pics
- Format pic as < img src="image" alt="description" width="125" height="125" >
- The size of the picture in pixels
- You should be able to find this in most graphics programs under info
- In Corel Paint it is under image then info.
- In Windows Paint it is under image then attributes.
- Different programs call it different things so you may have to search to find it.
You can make your files smaller by saving them as 256 color files before converting them to gif.
Visit WebSite Inspections places
- Site Inspector
- Tune Up
- They will tell you which files are good canidates for reducing

Increasing your hits.

I get the majority of my traffic from other websites.
- Send me your URL and ask me to add it to my linkz page
- You need to get your link added to as many websites as you can.
- Silver's Petz Search Engine and Christine'z Kennelz are the two I get the most traffic from.
WebRingz are also good if you can get added.
Search Engines are good if you have good META Tags.
- Site inspector and Tune-up can tell you if you do.
- Site Inspector
- Tune Up
Counters are good to let you know how many people are visiting but they don't tell you anything about where they come from.
- Extreme Tracking tells you how many visitors as well as where they came from and what type of system they are using.

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