Respect
the User
1. Use contact forms, not "mailto:"
2. Do not use frames
3. Do not fully Flash-out a site
4. Do write clean code (don't use FrontPage, even if it's
free)
5. Avoid large images (always set images at 100%)
6. Restrict copy width to no more than 400 pixels
7. Use "last updated" on every page
Respect
the Site
8. If you use a database, make it static (cannot grow and
information does not shift)
9. Minimal CSS (font and size)
10. Use relative font sizes (-1, none, +1)
11. Avoid 1x1 background pixels (10x10 okay)
12. Include ALT labels
Respect
the Next Builder
13. Make layout easy to follow
14. carefully plan the nomenclature and folder construction
15. Make sure folders cannot grow beyond 50 files/folders
16. Maintain and protect files used to create graphics (psds,
pngs)
Respect
the Medium
17. Accept basic layout is banner, left navigation, right
update and bottom contact.
18. Accept that the layout will change: don't waste weeks
on a design.
19. Don't assume resolution or monitor size: build for a
common denominator (not your 23" Mother of all Monitors)
20. Test the site in more browsers than IE.
*
The table above includes several elements that may require
some explanation:
Respecting
the web user starts with an understanding of the
nature of that user.
- Web
sites should be constructed to accommodate a variety of
users. For instance, some computers prevent users from
sending e-mail using the mailto: command, e.g., computers
in public libraries. Contact forms solve this issue.
- Frames
and Flash both prevent the use of bookmarks, perhaps the
oldest, most favored, and most frequent habit of web surfers.
- FrontPage
works quite well with Internet Explorer, but may frequently
have issues with other browsers.
- The
use of a “last updated” is a basic courtesy
to users, allowing them to quickly assess the timeliness
of the site information.
Site
rules address both the issues of accessibility
and loading speed.
- Databases,
while easy to maintain, are routinely found to be slower
for the user.
- Using
relative fonts allows the user to set the size of type
within the browser (this can also be accomplished using
CSS—web style sheets).
- Using
a small absolute font size forces the user to manually
increase the font size to make the content readable.
In
respecting the next person to maintain a site,
the builder is also admitting that no site is ever “finished.”
- Information
is always added to sites. The ability to add this information
easily, without getting literally lost in a site, is directly
related to the construction scheme.
- The
control of folder size assures maximum speed for users
(the more files in a folder, the slower to download time),
as well as makes updating easier for others working on
the site.
The
issue of respecting the medium of the Internet and
web itself may be the most opinionated part of
the list:
- The
location of navigation (top or left) is generally accepted
these days, but there are acceptable options.
- What
is more important, perhaps, is the consistent presentation
of that navigation throughout the site.
- It
is equally irritating for users to land on a very wide
site that has been built by designer using a very large
monitor (21” or larger): Users may be more comfortable
these days with scrolling down pages, but they generally
find scrolling across a page an unacceptable bother.
Other
elements not included in earlier versions of this list include
the avoidance of animated gifs, scrolling text, and pop-up
windows (yes, even in advertising sites).
This
advice is based on my experience of screwing up left and
right since 1993. These are the basics. Of course, you can
get more detailed in some areas, but I believe these are
the minimum standards we should all be able to agree on.
I use Dreamweaver, but there are other great editors out
there. Life is too short to go back to handcoding (like
the early 90s), but I will tire of life before I ever use
FrontPage.
